600 Years in The Book of Mormon

[Shulem]

I propose that it was Joseph Smith’s original preconceived and calculated plan to dictate stories within a pre-Christ era (BC) of the Book of Mormon using a 600-year timeline based on the starting point of Lehi leaving Jerusalem to the birth of Christ. This idea was preconceived before the translation process began whereby Smith’s ideas for the book would be manifest during the dictation (translation) process.

Yea, even six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem, a prophet would the Lord God raise up among the Jews—even a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world.

Smith dictated stories to Cowdery and managed to keep the chronology consistent in counting the years in consecutive order, and keeping it relatively simple. Smith’s references to individual months focused on the first and last months of the year, often by simply introducing the New Year and then ending with the last month of the year. I’ve determined that Smith used a standard 12-month calendar beginning with April as the “first month” in order to coincide with Christ’s birth and death.

Smith kept track of his 600-year timeline simply by keeping count of the years. He generally narrated his stories within the descriptive bounds of the first and last months of the year, respectively. Oddly enough, the other months were seldom mentioned, five of which were never mentioned! That seems rather peculiar. A narrative keeping track of stories over the span of 600 years only mentions seven of twelve months!

The first month of the year is generally referenced as the “commencement” of the New Year which was a constant refrain in Smith’s chronological storytelling beginning with the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. The following references categorize and detail (directly and indirectly) specific months mentioned during the 600-year span. The first month is usually identified indirectly numerous times as the “commencement” of the New Year, but mentioned directly in three instances. I will list the months in the next segment in the post to follow.

This will get interesting as I reveal how Joseph Smith fabricated his preconceived chronology into his story of The Book of Mormon before Cowdery even wrote it!

[Shulem]

FIRST MONTH = commencement of the year

Alma 2:1 commencement of the fifth year
Alma 4:11 commencement of the ninth year
Alma 8:3 commencement of the tenth year
Alma 30:5 commencement of the seventeenth year
Alma 43:4 commencement of the eighteenth year
Alma 45:20 commencement of the nineteenth year
Alma 50:1 commence in the commencement of the twentieth year
Alma 50:17 commencement of the twenty and first year
Alma 50:25 commencement of the twenty and fourth year
Alma 51:1 commencement of the twenty and fifth year
Alma 52:1 first morning of the first month (New Year’s day)
Alma 52:19 commencement of the twenty and eighth year
Alma 54:1 commencement of the twenty and ninth year
Alma 56:20 commencement of the twenty and seventh year
Alma 56:1 commencement of the thirtieth year of the reign of the judges, on the second day in the first month
Alma 57:6 commencement of the twenty and ninth year
Alma 62:12 commencement of the thirty and first year
Alma 63:1 commencement of the thirty and sixth year
Helaman 1:1 commencement of the fortieth year
Helaman 6:16 commencement of the sixty and seventh year
Helaman 11:30 commencement of the eighty and first year
3 Nephi 1:4 commencement of the ninety and second year
3 Nephi 2:17 the commencement of the fourteenth year
3 Nephi 6:17 commencement of the thirtieth year
3 Nephi 7:23 commencement of the thirty and third year
3 Nephi 8:5 in the first month, on the fourth day of the month


TWELFTH MONTH is alluded to in general terms as the end of the year or thereabouts

Alma 3:25 commenced and ended in the fifth year
Alma 8:2 And thus ended the ninth year
Alma 15:19 ended the tenth year
Alma 16:9 ended the eleventh year
Alma 51:37 endeth the twenty and fifth year
Alma 52:14 in the ending of the twenty and sixth year
Alma 52:18 latter end of the twenty and seventh year
Alma 55:35 ended the twenty and ninth year
Alma 58:38 the twenty and ninth year, in the latter end
3 Nephi 3:22 in the latter end of the year
3 Nephi 4:1 latter end of the eighteenth year


Only eight other references of other months occur during the 600-year time span. Notably, the third, fourth, fifth, eighth, and ninth months have no representation in the chronological narrative.

SECOND MONTH

Alma 16:1 on the fifth day of the second month
Alma 56:27 in the second month of this year

SIXTH MONTH

3 Nephi 4:7 in the sixth month
3 Nephi 4:11 commenced in this the sixth month

SEVENTH MONTH

Alma 10:6 fourth day of this seventh month, which is in the tenth year
Alma 56:42 of the third day of the seventh month

TENTH MONTH

Alma 14:23 twelfth day, in the tenth month, in the tenth year

ELEVENTH MONTH

Alma 49:1 eleventh month of the nineteenth year

[Shulem]

It’s reasonable to expect that a genuine Jewish account utilizing the Hebrew calendar and language would preserve some of the authentic names of the monthly Hebrew calendar. But this is not the case in the Book of Mormon. Nowhere in the Book of Mormon, via the Golden Plates, are any of the Hebrew biblical months mentioned like they are sometimes in the Old Testament. Why didn’t Smith provide reference to any of the Hebrew months to correspond chronologically with the numerical timeline as it does in the Bible? This may be viewed as a moot point or a technical weakness by Book of Mormon defenders but it serves to show that Smith did not have a working knowledge of the ancient Jewish calendar while translating and that those months were not committed to his memory wherein he could use them consecutively while dictating a timeline. This little discrepancy *IS* key in understanding why Smith never mentioned any of the proper names for the Hebrew months in the Book of Mormon.

נִיסָן
אִיָּר / אִייָר
סִיוָן / סיוון
תַּמּוּז
אָב
אֱלוּל
תִּשׁרִי
מַרְחֶשְׁוָן
כסליו
טֵבֵת
שְׁבָט
אֲדָר א׳

[Shulem]

The absence of Hebrew months is one thing but the absence of Sabbath day observance in the course of traveling is also glaringly obvious throughout this period when Sabbath day observance was said to have been strictly observed:

And now, behold, two hundred years had passed away, and the people of Nephi had waxed strong in the land. They observed to keep the law of Moses and the sabbath day holy unto the Lord. And they profaned not; neither did they blaspheme. And the laws of the land were exceedingly strict

Sabbath observance in connection with the Law of Moses was a strict commandment for all Nephites and was reiterated in the teachings well over 400 years after Nephi came to the promised land:

But the seventh day, the sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;

And he commanded them that they should observe the sabbath day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God.

A clear case of forgetting (or neglecting) to include Sabbath observance into a story is when Alma fled from king Noah to escape the land of Nephi. Alma packed up everything they had and fled the land having received special protection from the Lord insomuch as the army could not overtake them.

Now Alma, having been warned of the Lord that the armies of king Noah would come upon them, and having made it known to his people, therefore they gathered together their flocks, and took of their grain, and departed into the wilderness before the armies of king Noah. And the Lord did strengthen them, that the people of king Noah could not overtake them to destroy them. And they fled eight days’ journey into the wilderness. And they came to a land, yea, even a very beautiful and pleasant land, a land of pure water. And they pitched their tents, and began to till the ground, and began to build buildings; yea, they were industrious, and did labor exceedingly.

Alma in the Lord’s strength traveled eight days’ straight with no mention of Sabbath observance! That is a blooper within the context of the story. One of those days should have been set aside as a day of rest and hallowed as a day of observance and prayer. But the story is clear. They fled eight days’ and nothing is said about a Sabbath. There are other examples during the 600 year period of strictly keeping the Sabbath with no mention of actual practice by the numbers.

1) The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites and journey many days

“And we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible for us, and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days. And after we had journeyed for the space of many days we did pitch our tents.”


2) Zeniff leads a group for many days from Zarahemla to possess the land of Lehi-Nephi

“Nevertheless, after many days’ wandering in the wilderness we pitched our tents in the place where our brethren were slain, which was near to the land of our fathers.”


3) Alma flees from the Lamanites for twelve days

“And now the Lord said unto Alma: Haste thee and get thou and this people out of this land, for the Lamanites have awakened and do pursue thee; therefore get thee out of this land, and I will stop the Lamanites in this valley that they come no further in pursuit of this people. And it came to pass that they departed out of the valley, and took their journey into the wilderness. And after they had been in the wilderness twelve days they arrived in the land of Zarahemla; and king Mosiah did also receive them with joy.”


4) Ammon finds the land of Lehi-Nephi after wondering for forty days

“And now, they knew not the course they should travel in the wilderness to go up to the land of Lehi-Nephi; therefore they wandered many days in the wilderness, even forty days did they wander. And when they had wandered forty days they came to a hill, which is north of the land of Shilom, and there they pitched their tents.”


CONCLUSION:

The stories above fail to mention required Sabbath observance which must take place every seven days. This omission is less forgivable than not mentioning a single Hebrew month throughout the entire novel. I’m afraid that leaving out Sabbath observance is a hole in the script.

[Shulem]

A Comparison of The Book of Mormon and The Late War Between the United States and Great Britain

“Joseph most likely grew up reading a school book called The Late War by Gilbert J. Hunt and it heavily influenced his writing of The Book of Mormon.”

the fourth day of the seventh month, which is the birth day of Columbian Liberty and Independence

the fourth day of this seventh month, which is in the tenth year of the reign of the judges

There are eight specific dates listing both Month & Day during the 600 year time line:

01/01 first morning of the first month
01/02 on the second day in the first month
01/04 in the first month, on the fourth day of the month
02/05 on the fifth day of the second month
07/04 fourth day of this seventh month
07/03 of the third day of the seventh month
10/12 twelfth day, in the tenth month
11/10 in the eleventh, on the tenth day of the month

Eight days from a 365-calendar year = 3.65% of the year.

What are the odds that Smith would include the ever-important (beloved) American Independence Day into the 600-year time frame by accounting for just eight days of the year? The odds are less than 1 in 46!

It’s easy to believe that Smith had a natural infinity for July 4th and may have appreciated that it was mentioned in Late War, assuming he was familiar with that novel. It’s logical to think the date was imprinted in his mind since childhood and naturally came out in the process of inventing a date for an important event during the dictating process -- the date representing the day the angel appeared to Amulek to liberate his household by teaching the gospel. It makes sense that Smith popped out July 4th as a preferred date in his thinking process while dictating an important event involving liberty.

Again, the odds are 1 in 46 that July 4th made it into the timeline. That’s incredible given the circumstances of the underlying importance of that date and the likelihood that Smith was familiar with Late War and honored Independence Day as the result of God intervening for in behalf of the American people. In the case of the Book of Mormon, God intervened for in behalf of Alma & Amulek because the wicked people of Ammonihah were studying at that time how they may destroy the liberty of the people.

Yes, July 4th was a perfect day to mark the event and that is what popped out of Smith’s head during dictation!

[Shulem]

The Book of Mormon makes it quite clear that the Law of Moses was strictly adhered to:

1 Nephi 17:22 And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses

2 Nephi 5:10 And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord in all things, according to the law of Moses.

Jarom 1:5 And now, behold, two hundred years had passed away, and the people of Nephi had waxed strong in the land. They observed to keep the law of Moses and the sabbath day holy unto the Lord. And they profaned not; neither did they blaspheme. And the laws of the land were exceedingly strict.

Alma 30:3 Yea, and the people did observe to keep the commandments of the Lord; and they were strict in observing the ordinances of God, according to the law of Moses; for they were taught to keep the law of Moses until it should be fulfilled.

Please permit me to put it bluntly and make it simple: The commemoration of New Year’s Day was never recorded in the Book of Mormon! Not once! The annual event and all the ceremony that goes with it is completely missing. It’s NOT in the Book of Mormon, period. Let’s keep it simple and examine the foundational biblical reference regarding New Year’s Day and what was expected according to the Levitical Law.

24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

The one and only time New Year’s Day is mentioned is during a war in which Teancum (Alma 51:33,34) is battling the Lamanites and on New Year’s Eve, he sneaks into the tent of Amalickiah at night and assassinates the king by putting a javelin to his heart while he slept.

Happy New Year?

There is never a mention of New Year’s Day and no reference to the requirements of the Levitical Law with the accompanying rites of commemoration associated with it. It’s obvious to me that Smith completely forgot to write this into the story and his novel. Every time the “commencement” (24 times) of the New Year is mentioned nothing is ever said about keeping the required statutes required to honor the commemoration of the New Year. It’s abundantly clear that the New Year was entirely overlooked and Moroni’s epistle from Helaman on the second day of the New Year is proof that it was entirely overlooked by Joseph Smith.

And now it came to pass in the commencement of the thirtieth year of the reign of the judges, on the second day in the first month, Moroni received an epistle from Helaman, stating the affairs of the people in that quarter of the land.

This is another hole in the 600-year script!

[Shulem]

“And it came to pass” is repeatedly or painfully repeated well over a thousand times in the Book of Mormon. Mormonism is determined to communicate a simple expression of “Then” or ‘it happened’ in long form, an unnecessary explanation that can be expressed in other ways.

Here are 1,000 of them:

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So, did you learn anything new? Let’s review:

“And”

“It”

“Came”

“To”

“Pass”

Declarations made within the Book of Mormon clearly state that the book was written and preserved for the benefit of modern man who would receive the record as a testimony in the last days. In other words, it’s written for you and me. The vast percentage of people who have read the book are alive today so clearly the book has become a modern phenomenon of scripture that claims ancient origin through its author, Joseph Smith.

“And it came to pass” is written hundreds of times in the Bible, more especially the KJV, but has been phased out and expressed differently or more effectively in modern versions. Coincidentally, the biblical sounding modern novel of Late War which is believed by many to have influenced Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon writing style also contains “and it came to pass” or “it came to pass” literally dozens of times.

The bottom line: It seems reasonable to think that God could speak to us today in a more effective manner rather than bombarding us with an ineffective phrase that can be expressed in better ways within the context that it given.

[Lem]

Lol. Nice thread. Doesn't the removal of the 'it came to pass' reduce the word count by 5% or something?

[Shulem]

Lol. Nice thread. Doesn't the removal of the 'it came to pass' reduce the word count by 5% or something?

Lem, I was just thinking about you over the past few hours! I was even thinking about sending you a PM to tell you about this thread. I’ve been working on a killer post that I consider very enlightening and very revealing in proving Smith was up to no good in copying the Bible into his Book of Mormon narrative. This thread is intended to move forward in a special way where I will turn the Book of Mormon on its head! I will do so in a polite and kind manner. I don’t want to offend anyone in the Celestial Board. Everyone is welcome here.

Lem, it’s true that the “it came to pass” is wasting a lot of space. I’ll be talking about that more a little later.

Lem, the next post is dedicated to you and I hope you enjoy the implications in which I reveal an amazing new thing! I hope you like it. I’m ready to copy and paste it and it’s killer!

[Shulem]

1 For behold, it came to pass that fifty and five years had passed away from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem; wherefore, Nephi gave me, Jacob, a commandment concerning the small plates, upon which these things are engraven.

1) Jacob was born in the wilderness after Lehi and his older brother Nephi fled Jerusalem in 600 BC
2) Jacob was a baby in the wilderness (1 Nephi 18:7)
3) Jacob was a young child on the ship (1 Nephi 18:19)
4) Jacob was at least 47 years old when he received the plates from Nephi

It’s interesting to note that Nephi did not give the plates to one of his sons assuming he had a son who was deserving of such honor. Also, it’s interesting to note that Nephi anointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people (Jacob 1:9-11) who later was called Nephi but is not specifically distinguished as an actual son of Nephi. The line of succession for receiving the plates went from Nephi to his brother, Jacob.

26 And it came to pass that I, Jacob, began to be old; and the record of this people being kept on the other plates of Nephi, wherefore, I conclude this record, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days.

27 And I, Jacob, saw that I must soon go down to my grave; wherefore, I said unto my son Enos: Take these plates. And I told him the things which my brother Nephi had commanded me, and he promised obedience unto the commands. And I make an end of my writing upon these plates, which writing has been small; and to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, adieu.

1) Jacob acknowledges the passing away of time since leaving the Old World
2) Jacob acknowledges he is about to die
3) Jacob gives the plates to his son Enos
4) Jacob tells Enos about the commands given by Nephi regarding the plates
5) Enos agrees to obey those commands
6) Enos makes his presence known in the very next verse of the Book of Mormon:

1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it —

1) Enos makes the announcement that his father (Jacob) was a just man
2) Enos reveals that his father (Jacob) taught him “in his language”

Indeed, it was Jacob & Joseph who “had been consecrated priests and teachers of this people, by the hand of Nephi” and gave the people the word as he “taught them in the temple”(Jacob 1:17,18). In verse 3, Enos recalls being taught by his father saying, “the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life.” Enos, having the plates, seems to have assumed the mantle of Jacob and began to prophesy to the Nephites saying, “I, Enos, went about among the people of Nephi, prophesying of things to come, and testifying of the things which I had heard and seen.” Enos states that there were “many prophets among us” and they were trying to establish peace and order throughout the land. Then he reveals the date (421 BC) in which he was beginning to be old:

25 And it came to pass that I began to be old, and an hundred and seventy and nine years had passed away from the time that our father Lehi left Jerusalem.

1) Enos was old and will soon go down to his grave
2) It was 179 years since Lehi left Jerusalem
3) The year was 421 BC

The 179 year reference in which Smith dictated to Oliver Cowdery is nearly impossible by any standard. It was a fatal mathematical mistake on Smith’s part and the error just can’t be rationalized. Jacob was born in the wilderness sometime between 600-592 BC. This means that Jacob was born some 171 years from the time Enos made his statement about being old and about to die. That’s a huge generation for just one father and son! How can the Book of Mormon account for this 171 year time span? Once theoretical scenario would be that Enos would have to have been born when Jacob was 91 years old which would make Enos 80 years old when he was about to die!

But wait! Is it possible that Smith was copying the age of biblical Jacob who is calculated in the genealogy (by working deduction) to have been 91 years old when he begat Joseph who was later sold into Egypt? Was Smith just copying the Bible or is just bad math on his part? The age of 91 was something Smith would have known by reading the Adam Clarke Commentary and perhaps he calculated that into his story when dictating his preconceived timeline:

‘Jacob was one hundred and thirty when he went down (with sixty-six persons) into Egypt. Joseph had then been governor ten years; and when made governor was thirty; therefore Jacob could not be more than ninety at the birth of Joseph.’ (Mr. Skinner)

91 JOSEPH born of Rachel *

And there you have it. This may simply just be another case of Smith copying Adam Clarke and plagiarizing the Bible, yet again. In any case, what does the very next verse of the Book of Mormon say after Enos dies?

1 Now behold, I, Jarom, write a few words according to the commandment of my father, Enos, that our genealogy may be kept.

Notice that Jarom is next to get the plates from his father Enos and confirms that the genealogy is being maintained in the record. In verse 15, Jarom says, “And I deliver these plates into the hands of my son Omni, that they may be kept according to the commandments of my fathers.”

The Geneology:

Jacob
Enos
Jarom
Omni


QUESTION: Who in their right mind believes that Jacob in the Book of Mormon could have been 91 years old when he begat Enos?

ANSWER: Apparently, Joseph Smith did!