WHICH WAY DOES THE RIVER SIDON FLOW?

[BookofMormonArchaeologicalForum]

April 24, 2013

WHICH WAY DOES THE RIVER SIDON FLOW? 

by BMAF member Brant Gardner 

reproduced from Maxwell Institute with permission of author

The geography described in "This Land: Zarahemla and the Nephite Nation" by Edwin G. Goble and Wayne N. May published in 2002 has the New York hill as the final Cumorah/Ramah of the Book of Mormon. Goble locates most of the Book of Mormon lands along the Mississippi, which he considers to be the Book of Mormon Sidon. This allows the Nephite homeland to be mostly in Ohio and to be correlated with the Hopewell culture, the "mound builders" who occupied that land during Book of Mormon times. Because we know that these theories are the products of mortal speculation rather than divine revelation, we must use the tools of scholarship to examine them and determine whether or not a particular geographic and cultural correlation could possibly represent the place and culture behind the Book of Mormon.

The claim that the Nephites can be seen in the remains of the Hopewell culture and the Jaredites in the earlier Adena has problems, I believe, from the perspectives of both geography and archaeology. The problems in the geography on which Wayne May hangs his artifacts are numerous.(see "Wayne May Distorts Facts about Hill Cumorah" by Duane Dahlem at http://www.bmaf.org/node/277)

Perhaps the most significant problem is that the Mississippi flows south but the Sidon must flow north. The city of Manti is south of Zarahemla and is close to "the head of the river Sidon" (Alma 22:27). That the phrase head of the river should be taken for the headwaters rather than some other definition that might allow for the river to flow south is confirmed when we find that when Alma inquired of the Lord concerning the flight of a Lamanite attack party, he tells Zoram that "the Lamanites will cross the river Sidon in the south wilderness, away up beyond the borders of the land of Manti" (Alma 16:6). The Book of Mormon uses the terms up and down in ways that are consistent with topography and may be used to envision the general lay of the land. John L. Sorenson uses this information to describe the reasons why a north-flowing Sidon is most consistent with the Book of Mormon text:

We have more information about the surface features of the land than a casual reading of the scriptures might imply. The recordkeepers consistently wrote about going "up," "down," or "over." (Some readers have maintained that these expressions reflect mere cultural conventions, like the Yankee expression "down South." But in many cases, the scripture connects the words to clear, consistent topographic circumstances; I see no reason not to take the prepositions literally.) This information allows us to draw a neat picture of relative elevations.

A dominant feature is the major river, the Sidon, which flowed down out of the mountains that separated the lands of Nephi and Zarahemla. This river ran "by" the local land of Zarahemla, which lay mainly on the stream's west (Alma 2:15). The only populated part of Nephite lands surely on the east of the river is the valley of Gideon (Alma 6:7). Since travelers had to go "up" to Gideon, and since there was a "hill Amnihu" just across the river from the city of Zarahemla extensive but gentle enough to accommodate a large battle, the Sidon basin must have slanted up more sharply on the east side than on the west. We also know that the river must have been fairly long. Its origin was deep in the wilderness above the highest Nephite city on the river, Manti (Alma 16:6). Zarahemla was downstream.

Read the article at:  

http://www.bmaf.org/node/277

ARTICLES PLACED ON THE BMAF WEBSITE SINCE OUR LAST EMAIL:

The "This Land" Series and the U.S. Centric Reading of the Book of Mormon by Brant Gardner 

http://www.bmaf.org/node/576

The Dangers of Gospel Hobbies  by Larry Barkdull

http://www.bmaf.org/node/574

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The Dangers of Gospel Hobbies  by Larry 

Barkdull   The Dangers of Gospel Hobbies  

by Larry Barkdull   http://www.bmaf.org/node/574