Part 5: "We Called the Place Bountiful"

Title

Part 5: "We Called the Place Bountiful"

Book Title

Lehi and Sariah in Arabia: The Old World Setting of the Book of Mormon

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

2015

Authors

Pagination

101–155

Publisher

Xlibris Publishing

City

Bloomington, IN

Terms of use

Items in the BMC Archive are made publicly available for non-commercial, private use. Inclusion within the BMC Archive does not imply endorsement. Items do not represent the official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of Book of Mormon Central.

Bibliographic Citation

Abstract

The terminus of the Lehite land journey of some 2,100 miles/3,400 km across Arabia was a place that caused the group to rejoice “exceedingly.” Like others since then, the group’s relief and enthusiasm is vividly captured in Nephi’s words as he writes of the group’s arrival at the shores of the Indian Ocean. The green vista they emerged into indicated that arduous years of desert travel were behind them. The place where they arrived from the interior desert was full of trees and other vegetation, including edible fruit, something that would impress anyone after eight years of desert travel. Nephi mentions “much fruit” twice (17:5, 6), indicating that abundant fruit was the specific reason that Bountiful was so named.
 
The text makes clear that the group was also impressed with the vast ocean panorama spread out before them. Nephi was careful to record a proper name for the ocean, Irreantum, as well as the translation of the name into his own language as “many waters.” Despite a superficial resemblance to a Greek term for the ocean (Erythraem), a more plausible South-Arabian origin for the name that fits this meaning of the word has recently been suggested. Since Lehi’s group had just spent some eight years in the Arabian wilderness, such an etymology would not be surprising.

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