Chapter 4
1 Nephi 17-18 – First 8 years of Unaccountability
JST, Genesis 17:11 “…thou mayest know forever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old.”
Nephite Timeline
Lehi’s band of weary travelers have finally made it through the Arabian peninsula, down their respective wadi, and have entered into a lush coastal region, likely somewhere along the Dhofar coast in modern day Oman. This area Nephi aptly called the Land Bountiful “because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish” (1 Ne 17:5). Besides fruit and honey we learn that there are mountains nearby with flint and ore for making tools, great trees that would be needed in constructing a large ocean-going vessel, and some sort of inlet or bay to launch such a vessel.
At the time of Joseph Smith’s translation of these chapters the Arabian Peninsula was thought to be an arid wasteland, and critics mocked the idea of such a place that could provide all the above-mentioned elements. It wasn’t until much later that such a place became more well known, at least to the degree that someone in Joseph’s circumstances would have any knowledge of it. In the words of two LDS scholars “It took these two authors six years; thousands of hours of research and reference to many hundreds of books, articles, and maps; and 35,000 miles of personal travel to verify that what Nephi wrote in his account squares with modern scientific research as an accurate historical portrayal of a voyage along the only known trails that led from Jerusalem to Dhofar in 600 bc. And yet the poorly educated 19th-century farmboy Joseph Smith, who had never left the eastern United States nor had access to any of these resources, dictated the pages that cover this journey in just over one day.” (George Potter and Richard Wellington, Lehi in the Wilderness, Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, Inc., 2003)
We have discussed potential locations for the Land Bountiful, after extensive research I tend to lean towards Khor Rori which is just a little east of Salalah, sorry Grandpa! This area truly appears “prepared of the Lord” providing accessibility for caravan arrival from the dessert and a rich abundance of ancient and modern groves of large trees suitable for timber. There is fresh vegetation with an abundance of fruit and honey extending from Kohr Rori many miles up the Wadi Darbat, a large freshwater river with beautiful waterfalls and pools of water teeming with fish and wildlife. An annual monsoon floods this river allowing for transport of the timber found more upstream. Archeological digs have found evidence of iron tools, ship building remains, and even a temple culture! There is also an inland natural port framed by almost unnatural appearing twin seaside cliffs that creates a protected harbor in which a ship could be built, rigged, and launched into the sea called “Irreantum, which, being interpreted, is many waters” (1 Ne 17:5).
While interesting to surmise the location of Bountiful, for our discussion this is less relevant than what took place there. We are told the company spent “many days” there, likely resting and recuperating from the long journey they had just undertaken, when “the voice of the Lord came unto [Nephi], saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain” (1 Ne17:7). Nephi then in faith, goes to the mountain, calls on the name of the Lord, and is commanded to build a ship that is to cross the great waters that lie before him. We have another great example of the dichotomy between Nephi and his older murmuring brothers, the shocking experience they receive for their wickedness, and eventually the completion of the ship and their preparations for the next stage in the journey.
Individual Timeline
Bountiful/Childhood
Congratulations! You’re here! You made it through your own wilderness developmental journey, the birthing process, and are now resting in the Land of Bountiful. Hopefully for most readers here, the first few years of life can be described as a Land of Bountiful; with ample nourishment, rest, exploring, and divine guidance to prepare us for the next (first) step of our covenantal path, the crossing through the waters of baptism. I can almost see little Jacob and Joseph, Lehi’s two sons born in the wilderness, in their own Bountiful years, wading through wadis, jumping off cliffs into clear pools of water, exploring behind waterfalls, catching all sorts of critters, and helping their bigger brothers build a boat. How cool would that be?!
I’m sure we can all think back on fond memories from our childhood when we engaged in similar activities (except maybe building gutter boats, not real ones). Life was so simple and carefree, everything was provided for us; put into families, homes, and with parents that were “prepared of the Lord” for our upbringing. For the majority in a position to be reading this, early childhood was truly a Land of Bounty, even for those that had less, as a child we wouldn’t have known it. This time of rest and relative ease we are told lasts 8 years, the years of unaccountability. The Lord teaches this explicitly to Abraham as found in the JST of Genesis 17 vs 11, “…thou mayest know forever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old.”
Certainly this is an overgeneralization and simplification. My heart goes out to so many that have been brought into this world, expecting a bountiful land, a place prepared of the Lord, and find themselves in a land more akin to the wilderness wasteland Lehi’s family traveled through to reach said oceanside paradise. The accounts of abuse, starvation, child molestation, trafficking, neglect, and poverty, to say nothing of the spiritual wilderness a vast number of children find themselves in, are harrowing to the minds and hearts of any that are still in possession of even a sliver of their divine light. If you have come from these situations, bless you; bless you for enduring, for persevering, for overcoming such odds, and take solace in the promise that somehow “all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly” (D&C 90:24). For everyone else, if as a child you had clothes, a roof over your head, a somewhat loving family, and most nights didn’t go to bed hungry, count yourself blessed and recognize we’re in the category of “unto whom much is given much is required” (D&C 82:3).
Gospel Principles
The gospel highlights throughout the Book of Mormon seem also to be intentionally placed to fit this narrative and are as instructive in sequence as they are in content. The first few chapters highlighted the obedience of Lehi and Nephi to the word of the Lord and sacrifice needed to give up everything they had to embark on this journey. Contrasted with the rebellion and disobedience of Laman and Lemuel. How akin to the lessons and covenants of the premortal world that these chapters symbolize; obedience to the Father’s plan and willingness to sacrifice our heavenly home and everything we had to begin this journey into spiritual death, contrasted with the third that rebelled against their father. We have a third that rebelled (Laman and Lemuel) and were forced to leave Jerusalem, a third that were noble and great (Nephi and Sam) who left willingly in faith, and a third that didn’t initially polarize to either camp but were persuaded to come on the journey and seem to waffle back and forth between the two, eventually giving into the voices of dissension and rebellion (two sons of Ishmael). The main gospel principles taught in the Land of Bountiful are likewise instructive and follow the allegory.
The main event that happens in the Land of Bountiful is the building of the ship to take them across the great waters. The faith of Nephi, although previously highlighted well, is again brought to the forefront in perhaps his greatest test of faith yet. It is one thing to follow his father into the wilderness, the spirit back into Jerusalem, the Liahona into the mountains to slay food, but to start to build a ship without any prior knowledge of seamanship, without tools initially, to put his entire family and friends into it, and set out into the apparent never-ending water before them would be a heretofore unparalleled feat of faith. A faith Nephi well possessed as highlighted in his testimony: “If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?” (1 Ne 17:50-51) And yet, Nephi in faith, asks the most basic questions first, where to get ore to make tools so he can start this task of ship building.
Like Nephi, our time in the Land Bountiful is not supposed to be wasted in idleness, we are expected to be learning to build a ship, a ship of faith, that will carry us through the waters before us and beyond. Joseph Smith wisely taught that the first principle of the gospel is Faith. And how do we build our ship of faith? Like Nephi, we start where we are, with the most basic and rudimentary elements and doctrines available. We learn to approach the Father in prayer asking for our needs. We are led to find the ore of the gospel and with it make tools that serve us in our shipbuilding. It is no coincidence that some of the favorite primary songs heard across the world teach that we are children of God, that He has sent us here, that He lives and loves us too, that He hears and answers every child’s prayer, that Jesus was once a little child, and how families can be together forever (sorry couldn’t work in popping popcorn on apricot trees). This is the ore of the gospel, the fundamentals, with which we build tools of faith, obedience, sacrifice, service, and prayer. All gearing up for that first step onto the covenantal path, taking our ship of faith into the waters of Baptism.
Of course, this works for individuals that have started this covenantal journey later in life as well. Those that come into the gospel as “babes in Christ” need to start with the same fundamentals, to be fed “with milk, and not with meat” (1 Cor 3:1-2). For such the second principle of the gospel, highlighted in the narrative, may have more relevance than those ship-builders in the “unaccountable years”. As we become accountable at the age of eight, having been sufficiently instructed in basic principles of right and wrong, and being unable to choose right all the time, we begin to sin. Having sinned and falling short of perfection we are thus in need of a Savior to redeem us from our sins making us clean again. This is accomplished through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and is made operative in our lives through the process of repentance.
Repentance in the Book of Mormon Allegory is actually shown at this time by Laman and Lemuel. Incensed by their younger brother’s cutting remarks, “the guilty [took] the truth to be hard”, it having cut them “to the very center” (1 Ne 16:2), and went deeper into darkness desiring to throw Nephi into the depths of the ocean. We all in life have these moments, when we are faced with an uncomfortable truth that cuts us to the center. Like Laman and Lemuel we have a choice at these junctures to either repent and humble ourselves, or ignore the voice and loose yet more of the light, going deeper into spiritual darkness. Having done so, these two brothers rekindle their murderous disposition and require a literal shock from the Lord to get them back on track. Having been so “shaken”, the brothers fall down before Nephi in humility and are encouraged to worship the Lord which, almost surprisingly, they do. Nephi notes “they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship” (1 Ne 18:1).
Occasionally we too need a shock from the Lord, a figurative shaking of our world to get us to “awake to a sense of [our] awful situation” (Ether 8:24). Guaranteed the Lord would rather us “humble [ourselves] because of the word” instead of being “compelled to be humble” (Alma 32:14), but if like the penitent prodigal a few shocks and shakings bring us back on the path that leads home to Him, He seems to be more than willing to oblige.
We have learned the principles of faith and where necessary employed the principle of repentance. Having done so, we join with Nephi in building our ship of Faith, and eventually come to a point where the ship is ready. We note that the ship we build during our primary years or through our investigations is “good, and that the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine” (1 Ne 18:4). A ship that will need constant renovations and upkeep in the future, but for the time being, is able to take us across the next formidable step in the journey. After some final preparations and gathering of spiritual provisions, we are ready to go “down into the ship” and “put forth into the sea”. (1 Ne 18:8)
Global Timeline
The reformation is well underway in Europe with the fracturing of the Holy Roman Empire. Protestant states are springing up offering some form of protection, lands of Bountiful if you will, to those wanting to break away from the Catholic faith. In particular the Church of England has been formed by King Henry VIII who failed to obtain an annulment from his wife by the papacy. The Church of England becomes the national religion for all under English rule. That being said, the fruit and honey of these protestant lands of Bountiful are offered for those that follow these new state religions, and true religious freedom, a true land of promise, is not to be found here. To find such the crossing of Irreantum is in order.
Personal Timeline My land of Bountiful was on 17th E and 17th S in SLC. Well do I remember playing in the field behind our house, the canopy of bushes we would hide in, the forts we would make, games of tag on the playground, the carefree nature of walking to friend’s houses blocks away as long as we were home by supper. I remember going to Grandparents houses for Sunday dinners, the Arabic food and ancient artifacts at one, the boisterous, nearly chaotic, frenzy at the other with 12 Uncles and Aunts and over 50 cousins. This was the land prepared of the Lord for me, abounding with spiritual fruit and honey. I loved hearing stories of Levi Savage Jr, “Wild Bill” Hickman, Hugh Hilton, and many other Pioneer forebearers, not to mention my own parents and Grandparents, whose own fire of faith was held aloft as a beacon to light my way. Their faith and tales of sacrifice made for rich soil that this little sapling could grow in as I prepared my own ship of faith to enter into the waters of Baptism.
The Way 