rcrocket wrote:Nephi writes that they found in the promised land when they first arrived domesticated animals, specifically a goat as well as an ox (the latter usually meaning a castrated bull) but does not mention who domesticated them. Suggests an intent not to mention others.
Soooooooooooooooo.... They bother to mention The Others' animals, but not The Others. Ever. I won't even touch the issue of what kind of animals were mentioned. *queue circus music*
rcrocket wrote:Nephi writes that they found in the promised land when they first arrived domesticated animals, specifically a goat as well as an ox (the latter usually meaning a castrated bull) but does not mention who domesticated them. Suggests an intent not to mention others.
I doubt Joseph thought that far ahead. He was familiar with farm animals; he assumed everyone was familiar with farm animals. He probably thought farm animals had always been domesticated. This is just one more example of him not thinking the thing through to the end.
rcrocket wrote:Nephi writes that they found in the promised land when they first arrived domesticated animals, specifically a goat as well as an ox (the latter usually meaning a castrated bull) but does not mention who domesticated them. Suggests an intent not to mention others.
I doubt Joseph thought that far ahead. He was familiar with farm animals; he assumed everyone was familiar with farm animals. He probably thought farm animals had always been domesticated. This is just one more example of him not thinking the thing through to the end.
And of course they were all to be found in "the wilderness" or " the forest":
1 Ne. 18: 25 25 And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper.
Given Joseph's statements (in e.g. the Wentworth letter) which make it clear he believed the Indians were an Israelite remnant pure and simple, it is a much more economical hypothesis to assume he wrote rather carelessly and in some ignorance at this point - that is hardly a surprise. Of course there weren't any oxen or goats in pre-Columbian America in any case.