Evidence #468 | October 23, 2024
Book of Mormon Evidence: Lions
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
Abstract
The Book of Mormon’s descriptions of lions may draw upon Old World imagery but could also correspond to New World fauna. The text’s discussion of these creatures in a military context is particularly at home in an ancient Mesoamerican setting.Lions are mentioned thirteen times in the Book of Mormon, primarily in quotations from biblical writers like Isaiah and Micah, but also in two passages unique to the Book of Mormon.1 That ancient American peoples mentioned lions can seem puzzling if one supposes them to be African lions.2 Some commentators have even criticized the Book of Mormon on this point, probably due to that very assumption. For instance, concerning the lion and other animals mentioned in the Book of Mormon, one writer in 1838 claimed that these animals “are not now, and it is likely never were, inhabitants of America.”3
Because most mentions of lions in the Book of Mormon are actually quoting from the Old Testament, these references can best be explained by exploring how biblical authors described lions.4 In biblical times, lions roamed the land of Israel, but they have since gone extinct in the region.5 Lions were fearsome beasts that sometimes killed humans but were also said to have been defeated by individuals like David, Samson, and Benaiah.6 Though many today think of lions as symbols of pride and nobility, the Bible treats them as a metaphor for terrifying fierceness because of their loud roars, dangerous ambushes, and ability to maul their prey.7
Relief depicting the lion hunt of Ashurbanipal, Assyrian, 645–640 BC, British Museum, London, ref. no. 124874.
The references to lions that originate in the Book of Mormon also focus on their predatory nature. When Limhi’s people had an unexpected conflict with the Lamanites, “the battle became exceedingly sore, for they fought like lions for their prey” (Mosiah 20:10). On another occasion, after crowds of people witnessed Alma and Amulek emerging unscathed from the collapsed prison in Ammonihah, the people “fled from the presence of Alma and Amulek even as a goat fleeth with her young from two lions” (Alma 14:29).8
Since Old World lions were not known in pre-Columbian America, it is likely that in Nephite understanding, the word lion came to refer to similar creatures familiar to ancient Americans, primarily the jaguar or the cougar.9 As John L. Sorenson notes, the jaguar is an obvious candidate for the Book of Mormon lion and was a feared animal.10 Taxonomically, the jaguar (Panthera onca) falls in the Panthera genus with lions, tigers, and leopards, and it is the American cat most similar in size to an Old World lion. The two species have notable differences in appearance, but they were similar enough that Spanish colonists repeatedly referred to jaguars as lions.11
Like Old World lions, the jaguar is an ambush predator, though to a higher degree. It can lie in wait, hiding on the ground, in trees, or in the water. This propensity for ambush tactics may explain the mention of lions in Limhi’s military conflict:
And now Limhi had discovered [the Lamanite army] from the tower, even all their preparations for war did he discover; therefore he gathered his people together, and laid wait for them in the fields and in the forests. And it came to pass that when the Lamanites had come up, that the people of Limhi began to fall upon them from their waiting places, and began to slay them. And it came to pass that the battle became exceedingly sore, for they fought like lions for their prey. (Mosiah 20:8–10)
The cougar (Puma concolor) is also a viable candidate for the Book of Mormon lion. Even today, it is often referred to as a mountain lion. Like the jaguar, cougars can be dangerous to humans and look similar to Old World lions, though they are smaller. The creature lives throughout North, Central, and South America. Like the jaguar and most big cats, it is an ambush predator that would work well as a metaphor for Limhi’s ambushing warriors.
Another intriguing aspect of lions in the book of Mosiah is that they are used to describe warriors in a military context, as are dragons which were perhaps understood as crocodiles or caimans.12 Animal predation is not an uncommon metaphor for combat in many cultures, as Homer’s Iliad demonstrates.13 However, a unique feature of Mesoamerican culture is its strong connection between animals and warfare in clothing and ideology. Warriors, particularly elite ones, were often dressed in the likeness of an animal.14 At least by the time of the Spanish conquest, Aztec warriors were divided into warrior orders that included the elite jaguar knights.15
Beyond simply dressing like jaguars, Mesoamerican cultures also envisioned individuals as having an “animal spirit companion” called a way (plural, wayob) or a tonal, into which shamans, kings, and gods could magically transform.16 “In a state of shamanic transformation, a Maya lord would take on an animal self or [way], most commonly the jaguar,” explain Mary Miller and Karl Taube.17 This supernatural transformation was ideologically connected to their armed conflicts. As other scholars note, “The ancient Maya also transformed into their wayob when they fought their wars.”18 Furthermore, “jaguar gods were present in every major Mesoamerican civilization.”19
Conclusion
Although some have criticized the Book of Mormon’s New World references to lions, such claims arbitrarily assume the text is referring to African lions, which aren’t known to have existed in the Americas during Book of Mormon times. Even if that assumption is granted, it is always possible that Old World lion imagery was simply perpetuated among Lehi’s posterity, despite the absence of such lions in their immediate environment.20
The fact remains, however, that there are two large cat species in the Americas—the jaguar and the cougar—which were prevalent in Book of Mormon times and could easily correspond to the text’s discussion of lions in a New World context. There is historical precedent for labeling these cat species as “lions,” and even today it is common to speak of cougars as “mountain lions.”21 Thus, there is no compelling reason to see this textual feature as a problem for the Book of Mormon’s historical authenticity.
Not only is it not damaging to faith, but there is reason for believers to view this item as a net positive. This comes from the way that large predatory cats were ritually and militarily significant in ancient America. The New World references to lions in the Nephite record are particularly at home in a Mesoamerican setting, where many scholars believe the primary events of the Book of Mormon took place.
Matthew Roper, “Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms, Part 1: Animals,” forthcoming.
John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book (Neal A. Maxwell Institute; Deseret Book, 2013), 320.
Dana M. Pike, “Passages from the Book of Micah in the Book of Mormon,” in They Shall Grow Together: The Bible in the Book of Mormon, ed. Charles Swift and Nicholas J. Frederick (Deseret Book; Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2022).
Scripture Central, “Why Does the Book of Mormon Mention Dragons? (Mosiah 20:11),” KnoWhy 732 (May 21, 2024).
- 1. For biblical quotations, see 2 Nephi 15:18, 29 (quoting Isaiah 5:18, 29; 21:6–7); 2 Nephi 30:12–13 (quoting Isaiah 11:6–7); and 3 Nephi 20:16, 21:12 and Mormon 5:24 (all quoting Micah 5:8). For unique Book of Mormon references, see Mosiah 20:10; Alma 14:29.
- 2. Matthew Roper, “Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence in Book of Mormon Criticisms, Part1: Animals,” forthcoming.
- 3. H. Stevenson, A Lecture on Mormonism Delivered at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Alston, December 7th, 1838 (Newcastle, UK: J. Blackwell, 1839), 11. Some of the animals mentioned by Stevenson, such as the zebra or the horned horse, aren’t specifically mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Although his argument is somewhat sloppy, the fact that he considered the lion to not be a New World animal is nevertheless notable. For a related criticism, see Thomas Key, The Book of Mormon in the Light of Science, 15th ed. (Utah Missions, 1997), 79.
- 4. Dana M. Pike, “Passages from the Book of Micah in the Book of Mormon,” in They Shall Grow Together: The Bible in the Book of Mormon, ed. Charles Swift and Nicholas J. Frederick (Deseret Book; Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2022), 402–403; Brent A. Strawn, What Is Stronger Than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (Academic Press Fribourg, 2005).
- 5. The lion in Israel was likely the Asiatic lion, a subpopulation within the lion species with shorter manes, but this isn’t certain. Strawn, What Is Stronger Than a Lion?, 31, notes: “Indeed, while some have made much of the African/Asiatic distinction, notably Koehler, it is best not to speculate on which type of lion was encountered and where. As Wapnish notes, ‘Several subspecies of lion ranged throughout the greater Near East until modern times, but it is impossible to determine which were closest to ancient Levantine populations.’” Previous taxonomy considered the African lion and Asiatic lion to be two different subspecies, Panthera leo leo and Panthera leo persica, though newer taxonomy considers them to be different populations of the same subspecies. A. C. Kitchener et al., “A Revised Taxonomy of the Felidae: The Final Report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group,” Cat News Special Issue 11 (2017): 71–73. The last surviving Asiatic lions reside in India. See C. A. W. Guggisberg, Wild Cats of the World (Taplinger, 1975), 139, 143–144; Strawn, What Is Stronger Than a Lion?, 29–31; Annik E. Schintzler, “Past and Present Distribution of the North African–Asian Lion Subgroup: A Review,” Mammal Review 41, no. 3 (2011): 220–243.
- 6. For lions killing humans, see 1 Kings 13:24–26; 2 Kings 17:25–26. For humans killing lions, see Judges 14:5–6; 1 Samuel 17:35–36; 2 Samuel 23:30.
- 7. Strawn, What Is Stronger Than a Lion?, 14–15: “In most instances, at least in North America, it seems that when someone is likened to a lion this indicates pride, nobility, or bravery. This is probably due to the fact that the lion is understood today as ‘The King of the Beasts’ despite marginal (and non-canonical!) stories of cowardly lions. But does ‘bravery’ capture the full tenor of the lion metaphor in ancient Israel? … In the case of the Hebrew Bible, for instance, while a few instances of leonine metaphor do support notions of bravery (e.g., Prov 28:1; Job 10:16) or nobility (e.g., Prov 30:30), and are perhaps the origin of our own dead metaphor, the vast majority do not carry such significance, though this does not mean that they are antithetical to such conceptions.”
- 8. Goats are also seen by many as anachronistic in the Book of Mormon, but the mention could well refer to a mammal that was a regular part of the jaguar or cougar diet like brocket deer (genus Mazama), which was sometimes equated with goats by Spanish colonists. See Matthew Roper, “Deer as ‘Goat’ and Pre-Columbian Domesticate,” Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship 26, no. 6 (2006): 2–3. A few other caprines are possible candidates for Book of Mormon goats, like the Rocky Mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) or the extinct Harrington’s mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni), though these are less preferable. See Roper, “Anachronisms, Part1: Animals.”
- 9. John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book (Neal A. Maxwell Institute; Deseret Book, 2013), 320. See also Roper, “Anachronisms, Part 1: Animals”; Scripture Central, “Why Does the Book of Mormon Mention Dragons? (Mosiah 20:11),” KnoWhy 732 (May 21, 2024). Sorenson also suggests some other smaller cats as potential possibilities, but these are less likely. These include the bobcat (Lynx rufus) in North America and northern Mexico, the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) throughout Central and South America, and American spotted cats (genus Leopardus) that are primarily in South America, except for the ocelot, which ranges into Southern Mexico. See Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex, 320. Another unlikely candidate is the extinct American lion (Panthera atrox), a larger relative of the Old World lion that ranged throughout North and Central America; its most recent fossils date to the end of the Pleistocene (about 10,000 BC), so it probably went extinct before Book of Mormon times.
- 10. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex, 320. See also Roper, “Anachronisms, Part 1: Animals”; Scripture Central, “Why Does the Book of Mormon Mention Dragons?”
- 11. See Roper, “Anachronisms, Part 1: Animals.” They would primarily be differentiated by their spotted coats, lack of mane, and occasional dark, melanistic coats. A cougar, despite being smaller, would have a closer coloring to an Old World lion. One potential objection to this possibility is that jaguars are usually solitary hunters, unlike Old World lions, and the Book of Mormon uses a metaphor of two lions hunting together (in Alma 14:29). However, jaguars are known to hunt together during mating season, and males occasionally form coalitions for hunting; similarly, females stay with their cubs, which could explain the presence of multiple lions. Andrew F. Fraser, Feline Behavior and Welfare (CABI, 2012), 79–80: “Hunting and feeding [for jaguars] are usually performed alone, although mating pairs and mothers with cubs will share their catches. In addition, siblings that are on the move during dispersion may stay together, dividing their kills amongst each other. … At 2 months of age [the cubs] begin accompanying [the mother] on hunting trips. … This is their hunting tuition, and in these initial stages they spend their time observing.” See also Włodzimierz Jędrzejewski et al., “Collaborative Behaviour and Coalitions in Male Jaguars (Panthera onca)—Evidence and Comparison with Other Felids,” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 76, no. 121 (2022): 1–15. Cougars share food but are quite solitary hunters. See L. Mark Elbroch et al., “Adaptive Social Strategies in a Solitary Carnivore,” Science Advances 3, no. 10 (2017): 1–8; Anthony J. Stuart and Adrian M. Lister, “Extinction Chronology of the Cave Lion Panthera spelaea,” Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2010): 7. Other extinct cat candidates could include the saber-toothed cats in the subfamily Machairodontinae.
- 12. Mosiah 20:10–11; Scripture Central, “Why Does the Book of Mormon Mention Dragons?”
- 13. Maureen Alden, “Lions in Paradise: Lion Similes in the Iliad and the Lion Cubs of IL. 18.318–22,” Classical Quarterly 55, no. 2 (2005): 335: “The Iliad uses more than twenty-eight extended similes in which lions attack domestic cattle or timid wild animals to describe heroic aggression.”
- 14. Mary Miller and Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (Thames & Hudson, 2014), 102: “To assert lordly power, chiefs and kings wore jaguar pelts, jaguar sandals, headdresses fashioned of jaguar heads, and necklaces made of jaguar teeth—and even necklaces of jade beads carved as jaguar teeth. Along with the mat, jaguar pelts and cushions were the symbol of the enthroned lord, and many stone thrones, particularly among the Maya, took the shape of jaguars, sometimes double-headed.”
- 15. Miller and Taube, Illustrated Dictionary, 183.
- 16. David Freidel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker, Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path (William Morrow, 1993), 190. They also note (on page 52), “The Classic word way refers to kings, ritual performers, and gods in their magical alternative forms as animals, stars, and fantastic beasts. In ancient times these wayob were powerful, terrifying conduits of supernatural power who could defend those who conjured them up, as well as being able to destroy those who opposed them. For the Yukatek Maya of today, wayob are witches who turn themselves into animals to annoy, attack, and steal the souls of their neighbors.”
- 17. Miller and Taube, Illustrated Dictionary, 201. They also note (on page 102) the antiquity and ubiquity of the practice: “jaguars were also important shamanic creatures, and in states of ritual transformation, humans changed themselves into jaguars from at least Olmec times onward.”
- 18. Freidel, Schele, and Parker, Maya Cosmos, 192. Another author notes concerning the modern Maya, “All of the animals identified by the Maya of Chiapas as potential spirit co-essences are respected for their fierceness and courage when trapped in dangerous situations.” Inga Calvin, “Where the Wayob Live: A Further Examination of Classic Maya Supernaturals,” in The Maya Vase Book: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases, ed. Barbara Kerr and Justin Kerr, vol. 5 of 5 (Kerr Associates, 1997), 870.
- 19. These include Tezcatlipoca, the Central Mexican “god of rulers, sorcerers, and warriors”; the Mayan jaguar god of the underworld; and the Olmec “were-jaguar.” Miller and Taube, Illustrated Dictionary, 102–104, 164.
- 20. Many cultures preserve idioms and metaphors that do not reflect the symbols, practices, or environment of their own time period. For instance, English speakers today might speak of someone “resting on their laurels” even though the imagery (involving a crown or wreath of laurel leaves) comes from ancient Greek and Roman cultural practices and is largely foreign to contemporary societies.
- 21. For some historical precedents, see Jedidiah Morse, The American Universal Geography (Boston: Thomas & Andrews, 1812), 783, 799; Bernal Diaz, The Conquest of New Spain, trans. J. M. Cohen (London: Penguin, 1963), 78, 229, 290, 305, 327, 373, 387, 395; Diego Duran, The History of the Indies of New Spain, trans. Doris Heyden (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994), 207n6, 426; Diego Duran, Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar, trans. Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971), 116, 244, 295–96; Patricia de Fuentes, ed. and trans., The Conquistadors: First-Person Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993), 11, 167. For a discussion of the phenomenon of loan-shifting, see Neal Rappleye, “‘Put Away Childish Things’: Learning to Read the Book of Mormon Using Mature Historical Thought,” 2017 FAIR Conference, online at fairlatterdaysaints.org.