A bit of evidence for the "interplanetary Book of Mormon" hypothesis

In my August 2024 posts "Thoughts on the Astronaut Nephi theory" and "Tight like unto a saucer?" I looked and Bill and Leo's theory that Lehi and Jared traversed not ordinary seas but the "great waters" of outer space. I was mostly critical of the idea, but in my current read-through of the Book (yes, the Book of Mormon will now be known as "the Book"), I noticed a detail that does lend it some support.

The Book's "promised land" is 13 times referred to as being "choice above all." Here are 10 of these instances:

a land which is choice above all other lands (1 Ne. 2:20)

the land which is choice above all other lands (1 Ne. 13:30)

a land which is choice above all other lands (2 Ne. 1:5)

a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands (2 Ne. 10:19)

choice unto me above all other parts of the land of my vineyard (Jacob 5:43)

the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands (Ether 2:7)

a land which is choice above all other lands (Ether 2:10)

a land choice above all other lands (Ether 2:15)

choice above all other lands (Ether 9:20)

a choice land above all other lands (Ether 13:2)

The key word I want you to notice here is other. This is required by logic, since a land that is choice above "all lands" would have to be choice above itself, and that is impossible. Something can be choice above all members of a given category only if it is not itself a member of that category.

Now look at these two instances from Ether:

a land which is choice above all the earth (Ether 1:38)
a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth (Ether 1:42)

These differ from the others it two respects: (1) they omit the word other, and (2) they refer not to "lands" but to "the earth" or "the lands of the earth." Logically, this implies that the choice land, though it is a land, is not "of the earth." Another planet seems to be indicated.

There is, alas, one counterexample:

a land that was choice above all lands (Ether 10:28)

As stated above, it is logically impossible for what is said in this verse to be strictly true, and if the language here is logically loose, so could the language of those other two Ether verses be. This weakens the evidence presented here but does not disprove the interplanetary theory. What would potentially disprove it would be the other sort of counterexample -- "choice above all other lands of the earth," which would place the promised land firmly on planet Earth -- and this we do not find in the Book.

As evidence, this is extremely tenuous, and by itself it is hardly enough to tip the scales in favor of the interplanetary hypothesis. I thought it was worth mentioning, though. Some additional tenuous evidence may be found in the command that the Jaredites bring "seed of the earth of every kind" (Ether 1:41) -- a phrase not used anywhere else in scripture -- and in the fact that "they did also prepare a vessel, in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters" (Ether 2:2) -- scarcely necessary on an ordinary sea voyage.

Tight like unto a saucer?

My last post, "Thoughts on the Astronaut Nephi theory," looked at Nephi's ship and his family's voyage to the promised land through the lens of the theory that the voyage was an interplanetary one. This post will give the Jaredites the same treatment.

Earlier use of barges

Nephi only built one vessel and crossed one body of "water." The Jaredites' travels are a bit more complicated, which poses special problems for the space-travel interpretation:

And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.

And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people. . . .

And now . . . it came to pass that the Lord did bring Jared and his brethren forth even to that great sea which divideth the lands. And as they came to the sea they pitched their tents; and they called the name of the place Moriancumer; and they dwelt in tents, and dwelt in tents upon the seashore for the space of four years. . . .

And the Lord said: Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord (Ether 2:6-7, 13, 16).

So the Jaredites first used barges to "cross many waters," arriving in a wilderness "beyond the sea." From there they continued their journey until they reached "that great sea which divideth the lands." To cross this latter body of water, they built "barges after the manner which they had built" before, when they crossed many waters.

I trust the problems this poses for the space travel theory are obvious. There narrative has the Jaredites crossing at least two distinct bodies of water, but there is only one outer space. Therefore at most one of these can be a space voyage -- presumably the second, across the Great Land-Dividing Sea, since that is presented in the text as a much more difficult and impressive feat than their earlier crossing of many waters. However, they cross this latter "sea" with barges of the same sort -- built after the same "manner" -- as those with which they had earlier crossed literal seas of water. Even without knowing any details of the technology the Jaredites used, I think we can safely say that a spacecraft would be constructed after an entirely different "manner" from a seagoing vessel.

Just as the Lehites called the great sea Irreantum, the Jaredites gave a name either to the great sea or to the place on its shore where they camped: Moriancumer. I have analyzed Irreantum as Aire-yan-tum -- meaning simultaneously "vast, deep sea" and "holy darkness." William Wright has analyzed Moriancumer as Elvish before ("Jaredites in Moria: Making sense of the Brother of Jared and his shining stones"), but he wants to connect it to Moria, so he just ignores the letter n. I would instead assume that Moriancumer includes the same yan morpheme as Irreantum and thus analyze it as Mor-yan-kuma. (For the interchangeability of -er and -a in Joseph Smith's transliterations, see the Book of Abraham manuscripts, where the same name is rendered variously as Elkenah and Elk-kener.) The first morpheme of course means "dark, black," as in Mordor. The second, yan, means "wide, vast, huge" and also "holy". The third, most appropriately for the outer-space hypothesis, means "void." So they arrived at "that great sea which divideth the lands . . . and they called the name of the place" Vast Black Void.

That's a pretty good name! But, as discussed in my last post, it's hard to know how interpret their "coming to" the "shore" of outer space.

Making the barges

Here is the description of the new barges, built to cross the Great Land-Dividing Sea:

And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord. And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water.

And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish.

And it came to pass that the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me. And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish (Ether 2:16-19).

The repeated emphasis "tight like unto a dish" (flying saucer?) seems odd -- of course any ship has to be watertight! -- but then the Brother of Jared's prayer makes it clear that these vessels are going to be hermetically sealed, making it impossible for the passengers to breathe. This is certainly consistent with their being spacecraft -- or at least it seems so until we get the Lord's response:

And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood (Ether 2:20).

I don't see any possible way of reconciling this with the outer-space hypothesis. Obviously you can't restock a spacecraft with air by unstopping a hole in it and letting the air in! The Lord also mentions the possibility that water will come in when the hole is unstopped. It's not clear what that could mean if the "water" is actually the vacuum of outer space.

Perils of the voyage

Prior to the voyage, the Lord explains some of the conditions the Jaredites will have to face:

And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.

For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea? (Ether 2:23-25)

The comparison to "a whale in the midst of the sea" makes it sound as if these "barges" will actually be submarines, which is consistent with a space voyage, in which the ship is immersed in the "sea" rather than floating on its surface. This is followed by a warning that "the mountain waves shall dash upon you," though, which seems like something that could happen only on the surface. Perhaps the meaning is that they will sail on the surface but, due to the "mountain waves," the vessels will be submerged from time to time. Or we could see the apparent paradox of waves in the midst of the sea as evidence that it is not a literal ocean that is being described.

The voyage

After a digression, Moroni returns to the narrative in Chapter 6:

And it came to pass that when they had prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them—and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.

And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters (Ether 6:4-7).

This seems to make it clear that the vessels were sometimes "buried in the deep" and other times "upon the top of the waters." This makes sense on a literal sea, but it's not clear how we could interpret that distinction if this were a space voyage.

And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind. . . . And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water (Ether 6:8, 10).

The reference to whales and sea monsters poses another serious problem for the outer-space theory, unless we want to propose that animals of some kind live in the void of outer space, and that the vacuum is densely enough populated with them to make them a danger to space voyagers.

And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water. And they did land upon the shore of the promised land (Ether 6:11-12).

Their voyage took about five times as long as Columbus's crossing of the Atlantic, despite the fact that they were continually driven by "a furious wind" and thus should have made good speed. This is perhaps evidence that this was not a normal ocean voyage.

One other thing I should mention is that neither here nor in the account of the Lehite voyage are there any references to the points of the compass. As long as the Lehites and Jaredites are traveling by land, we are told which direction they are going, but when they sail it is only "towards the promised land," with no indication of whether that meant north, south, east, or west. This is a curious omission from an account of a nautical voyage, but is of course consistent with a voyage through space, where such terms would have no meaning.

Conclusion

Despite a few intriguing hints, any attempt to read the Book of Ether as we have it as describing a space voyage runs into multiple extremely serious, perhaps insuperable, problems. If we want to maintain that the Jaredites did in fact traverse outer space, I think our only option is to conclude that the version of the story we have in the Book of Mormon -- written by Ether, who lived centuries after Jared; and abridged by Moroni, who lived centuries after Ether -- is a distorted one, with the space voyage incorrectly interpreted by later writers who no longer understood such things.

Later Nephite understanding of being "cut off from the presence of the Lord"

"Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments, ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord." My last two posts discuss the origin of this Nephite saying and what Nephi himself may have understood it to mean. In this post I want to look at later Nephite (and, in one case, Lamanite) interpretations.

Jacob

Nephi's brother Jacob, the priest, is the first to relate being "cut off from the presence of the Lord" to the fall of Adam:

For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.

Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement -- save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more (2 Ne. 9:6-7).

From various references scattered throughout the Book of Mormon, it appears that the Nephites had an Adam-and-Eve story broadly similar to the one we have in Genesis -- perhaps even identical, if mainstream scholars are correct in identifying the story as very old "J" material, not the Levitical "P" source which the Nephites seem not to have had. In Genesis, it appears that the Lord walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but after eating the forbidden fruit, they "hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God" (Gen. 3:8). We can infer that such direct contact ceased altogether after they were expelled from the Garden. In a fairly straightforward sense, then, the fall resulted in their being "cut off from the presence of the Lord."

This sense of the expression would not seem to apply to Laman and Lemuel (who were reportedly "cut off from the presence of the Lord" shortly before Jacob's sermon), as they never had access to the kind of direct "presence" Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden. Or did they? In 1 Ne. 3:29-31, Laman and Lemuel are visited by "an angel of the Lord" (often understood in the Old Testament to be a manifestation of the Lord himself), and they seem to take it in their stride, as if it were no very unusual occurrence. In 1 Ne. 16:39, "the voice of the Lord" speaks "many words" to Laman and Lemuel, and this seems not to have been an isolated occurrence, either. Nephi later reminds Laman and Lemuel, "ye have heard [the Lord's] voice from time to time" (1 Ne. 17:45). Quite unusually for those characterized as "wicked," Laman and Lemuel appear to have had quite direct access to the Lord's "presence" while Nephi was with them, and this apparently ended later.

Looking back at Jacob's words quoted above, though, is this really the kind of cutting-off he is talking about? Perhaps not. The context is all about physical death and resurrection, as if to die were to be cut off from the presence of the Lord, with resurrection remedying this.

This is the opposite of how we are accustomed to thinking; we tend to assume that it is here in mortality that we are more or less separated from God, to whose presence we return after death. This common understanding is reinforced by Alma the Younger, who teaches that between death and resurrection, "the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life" (Alma 40:11), while after resurrection "the wicked . . . are cast out" (Alma 40:26).

Alma the Younger

While preaching in Ammonihah, Alma the Younger repeats Nephi's claim that the Lamanites have been cut off:

Now I would that ye should remember, that inasmuch as the Lamanites have not kept the commandments of God, they have been cut off from the presence of the Lord. Now we see that the word of the Lord has been verified in this thing, and the Lamanites have been cut off from his presence, from the beginning of their transgressions in the land (Alma 9:14).

Alma points to the cutting-off of the Lamanites as having verified the word of the Lord to Lehi and Nephi. In order to qualify as evidence for anything, the cutting-off must be an observable fact, so it cannot refer (only) to their inner spiritual status (not being in a state of grace or whatever), nor to their fate in the afterlife. Neither can the cutting-off be death itself, since it occurred "from the beginning of their transgressions in the land" but the Lamanites did not die at that time. It could refer to the withdrawal of angelic visitations and such, as suggested above -- or, more observably, to their exclusion from the Nephite temple and priesthood.

In Alma's advice to his son Corianton, he goes into more detail about the "cutting off" that came from the fall of Adam:

But behold, it was appointed unto man to die -- therefore, as they were cut off from the tree of life they should be cut off from the face of the earth -- and man became lost forever, yea, they became fallen man. And now, ye see by this that our first parents were cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord . . . .

Now behold, it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of happiness. Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal, that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord, it was expedient that mankind should be reclaimed from this spiritual death. . . .

And now remember, my son, if it were not for the plan of redemption, (laying it aside) as soon as they were dead their souls were miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord. . . . And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence (Alma 42:6-9, 11, 14).

Alma refers first to being "cut off both temporally and spiritually" and later to "a spiritual death as well as a temporal," suggesting that one of the meanings of cutting-off is death. This seems to be how Mormon uses the expression when he says of one holding heretical views on baptism, "should he be cut off [i.e., die] while in the thought, he must go down to hell" (Moro. 8:14).

Alma's "cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord" is syntactically ambiguous, but in context I think it means "cut off both (a) temporally, by dying; and (b) spiritually, by being separated from the presence of the Lord." Being cut off from the presence of the Lord would them be synonymous with "spiritual death." This spiritual death or cutting-off apparently comes in two phases: Adam and Eve were immediately cut off from God's presence, but also "as soon as they were dead" they would be "cut off from the presence of the Lord." Perhaps this means being even more cut-off than they were in life, or perhaps it means that a provisional cutting-off during mortality would become permanent after death.

As noted above, Alma has just said that upon death "all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life" (Alma 40:11). Here he explains that this universal homecoming is an effect of "the plan of redemption," without which death would bring immediate and permanent cutting-off.

Samuel the Lamanite

Samuel the Lamanite follows Alma closely in equating cutting-off with spiritual death and connecting it to the fall of Adam:

Yea, behold, this death [of Christ] bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death -- that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual. But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.

Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness (Hel. 14:16-18).

For Samuel, the "first death" and "second death" are both spiritual in nature. The first death means being cut off from the presence of the Lord, and the second means being "cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness." I'm not sure if the use of again means that this is just another way of expressing separation from the Lord, or if "things pertaining to righteousness" means something else.

Although Samuel characterizes both "deaths" as spiritual, the first death also seems to have something to do with physical mortality. He says that resurrection brings "all mankind . . . back into the presence of the Lord," which is a curious thing to say. It's not clear why being physically resurrected would mean returning to the presence of the Lord, or how "all mankind" being brought into his presence is to be reconciled with the statement that some of them will be "cast into the fire" of hell. (Contrast Samuel with Alma, who explicitly says it is before resurrection that all men are brought home to God.) I think it's better to deal with this more fully when I reach that part of the Book of Mormon. Here I merely want to note it as a later development of the "cutting-off" idea introduced by Nephi or Lehi, one which apparently differs from Nephi's own interpretation.

Mormon

In Helaman 12, Mormon gives a long list of things that God can cause to happen just by speaking. This is one of them:

And behold, if the Lord shall say unto a man -- Because of thine iniquities, thou shalt be accursed forever -- it shall be done.

 

And if the Lord shall say -- Because of thine iniquities thou shalt be cut off from my presence -- he will cause that it shall be so. And wo unto him to whom he shall say this, for it shall be unto him that will do iniquity, and he cannot be saved; therefore, for this cause, that men might be saved, hath repentance been declared (Hel. 12:20-22).

Mormon does not spell out what he means here, but it seems to refer to damnation after death, the "second death" spoken of by Samuel.

Moroni

Moroni's abridgment of the Book of Ether twice mentions cutting-off, though again the exact meaning is not clear:

And the Lord said unto him: I will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt not sin any more, for ye shall remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man; wherefore, if ye will sin until ye are fully ripe ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And these are my thoughts upon the land which I shall give you for your inheritance; for it shall be a land choice above all other lands (Ether 2:15).

This is interesting because, just as in the original revelation to Nephi, it pairs the threat of cutting-off with the promise of a land "choice above all other lands." It's not clear if cutting-off here means death (the Jaredites were destroyed), a withdrawal of direct revelation, or something else. (Also, "these are my thoughts"? What does that mean? Not a topic for this post.)

Another reference in Ether is interesting because it makes it very clear that (in this case anyway) cutting-off does not mean death:

And [Morianton] did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself because of his many whoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord.

And it came to pass that Morianton built up many cities, and the people became exceedingly rich under his reign . . . . And Morianton did live to an exceedingly great age, and then he begat Kim; and Kim did reign in the stead of his father; and he did reign eight years, and his father died (Ether 10:11-13).

Whatever cutting-off means here, it obviously doesn't mean an untimely demise, nor does it mean being "cursed" in any material sense. I don't think it refers to damnation after death, either, since it is reported as an an observed fact, and reported before he builds cities, becomes rich, lives a long life, and dies. I guess the likeliest reading is that, like the priests in Leviticus, he was "excommunicated" by the religious authorities and excluded from certain holy places or rites.