Why isn't there evidence of ancient warfare surrounding the Hill Cumorah in New York? Ep. 104

In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites (spoiler alert) make their tremendous last stand on a hill called “Cumorah.” Since the mid-1830s, Latter-day Saints have been calling the hill from which Joseph took the golden plates, “Cumorah.” But if that New York hill is “Cumorah,” what happened to all of the evidence of ancient warfare that should be littered around it? In this episode, Dave takes a closer look.

Transcript and potentially additional notes: https://bit.ly/35PXllo
What Book of Mormon Central has to say on this topic (more in-depth, with additional source documents if you want to dive deeeeep): https://bit.ly/3diYOmJ
An analysis of the location of Cumorah based on internal Book of Mormon geography: https://bit.ly/33SBrNE
“Saints and Book of Mormon Geography,” by Jed Woodworth and Matt Grow: https://bit.ly/3jTzc2i

Notes:

-In a July 1835 letter from Oliver Cowdery to William W. Phelps (which I believe was later published in “Latter Day saints’ Messenger and Advocate”), Oliver writes: “[Mormon], however, by divine appointment, abridged from those records, in his own style and language, a short account of the more important and prominent items, from the days of Lehi to his own time, after which he deposited, as he says, on the 529th page, all the records in this same hill, Cumorah and after gave his small record to his son Moroni, who, as appears from the same, finished, after witnessing the extinction of his people as a nation.” Source: https://bit.ly/2VoXbM2

One theory presented in this video is that early leaders called the hill “Cumorah” due to a misreading of the Book of Mormon text. In the case of Oliver Cowdery (in light of the letter quoted above and his acknowledgment that some plates were not buried in the hill when all other records were), his reading of the text may have led him to believe that, because all other plates were buried at Cumorah, Moroni must have later returned to that same hill to interr the Book of Mormon plates. The text does not specify where Moroni ultimately buried the Book of Mormon plates. Thus, Oliver may not have suffered from an incomplete reading of the verses in question, but those verses may have prompted him to make an understandable, though false, assumption.

-The Introduction to the Book of Mormon states: “After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son, Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the hill Cumorah.” This introduction was, of course, not part of the original translation Joseph Smith gave of the golden plates. It was added in 1981. The problem is that Latter-day Saints can rightly refer to the New York hill as the Hill Cumorah—but the erroneous assumption has historically been that this is the same Cumorah described in the Book of Mormon, which does not seem to be the case.

-The first time Joseph refers to the New York hill as “Cumorah” occurs in the Doctrine and Covenants. That does not necessarily mean it was the revealed name of the hill, in correspondence with the Book of Mormon hill. Joseph was likely simply using the name the Saints had attributed to the hill.

-From Book of Mormon Central: “In the decades after Joseph Smith’s death, other prominent early Latter-day Saints, including Lucy Mack Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and David Whitmer, recounted earlier incidents in which the New York hill was identified as Cumorah by the angel Moroni and by Joseph Smith. Since these statements are somewhat late recollections, coming after the identity of Cumorah as a hill near Palmyra, New York, had become widespread, they should be used cautiously.” Source (and additional source): https://bit.ly/3diYOmJ

-Some people wonder, if early church leaders made incorrect assumptions about the name of the New York hill, why didn’t God correct them? I have a few thoughts on that. First, maybe (via inspired scholars) God has pointed out the error (it has just taken longer than some may have hoped). Second, on God’s heavenly “to-do” list, I’m not sure this error ranks as terribly important. There seems to be precedent for letting plenty of things slide. For example, why didn’t God correct the early prophets’ incorrect assumptions about the nature of the cosmos (i.e. flat-earth vs spherical-earth)? Why didn’t he tell the prophet Jacob that his 11 sons were lying to him about Joseph’s demise? He seems to give people, including prophets, a long leash. He often allows things to play out, and we learn as we go.

SUBSCRIBE:
http://saintsunscripted/subscribe

Follow Us:
Facebook:   / saintsunscripted  
Instagram:   / saintsunscripted  
Website: https://saintsunscripted.com/

Follow the Hosts:
Justin:   / motioncoaster  
Mimi:   / mimi.bascom  
David:   / davidesnell  
Taylor:   / tsyorg  
Samantha:   / sam.iris.yello