Book of Mormon Anachronisms

(c) Copyright Michael R. Ash 1996. All rights reserved

During the Lehite’s pilgrimage in the wilderness, Lehi was given a device, called “Liahona,” which helped guide them on their journey. Nephi described the Liahona as round, made of brass and containing two spindles or arrows (see 1 Nephi 16:10). Nephi called the ball a compass (see 1 Nephi 18:12) and mentions that there were things written in the Liahona which gave them instructions (1 Nephi 18:27, 29). Likewise, Alma tells us that the word “Liahona” means “compass” (Alma 37:38). The critics, however, have had laugh at the Lehite “compass.”

“The mariner’s compass,” writes one critic, “or an instrument fulfilling an identical purpose, is brought into service six hundred years before the Christian era.” (Sheldon, 49-50.) And yet another critic has written:

Mormons sometimes attempt to defend Nephi’s expression of a compass (not in existence in his time) by the fact that Acts 28:13 states: “And from these we fetched a compass.“ Modern translations of the Scripture, however, refute this subterfuge by correctly rendering the passage: “And from there we made a circle.” (Martin, 166.)

Did the Book of Mormon compass display magnetic north? We must first point out that “the function of magnetic hematite [the principal core of iron] was well understood in both the Old and New Worlds before Lehi left Jerusalem. Magnetite or lodestone is, of course, naturally magnetic iron..., and the word magnetite comes from a place in which it was mined in Asia Minor by at least the 7th century B.C., namely, Magnesia....” (“Lodestone And The Liahona,” F.A.R.M.S. Updates, March, 1984.)

Secondly, non-Mormon writer, Barry Fell, has found “through the decipherment of ancient scripts” evidence that indicates “the existence of pottery compass bowls in Liria, Spain, and in New Mexico, both long before Columbus, about a thousand years earlier than any form of compass was previously known to be in use in Europe.” (Totten, 190.) If the compass was known in parts of the Old and New Worlds at such early dates, it is possible that Nephi might have been familiar with the magnetic compass. To the Tanners this poses a problem with Book of Mormon land orientation as suggested by Dr. John Sorenson. This is not necessarily so (see Book of Mormon Geography [forthcoming]).

Contrary to the critics, however, the liahona, which admittedly is called a “compass,” did not fulfill “an identical purpose” as a “mariner’s compass.” When was the last time someone saw a mariner’s compass that operated by the power of God, was shaped like a ball, and had messages written inside it? As Dr. Cheesman notes: “Lehi’s ‘compass’ indicated the directions in which Lehi should go; the mariner’s compass only tells the traveler which way is magnetic north.” (Cheesman, 1988, 244.)

Thirdly, as the late “Dr.” Martin (noted Mormon critic) explained above, the translators of the Bible have used the word “compass” where the alternative “circle” could be substituted. The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament renders the passage: “Whence having gone round we arrived at Rhegium.” In either case the Greek perierchomai is interpreted as circle, round, or compass. One of the primary definitions of “compass” is round or circular. In fact the word “compass” seems to be just the word to describe the Liahona. As Dr. Nibley has observed, the derivation of the word “compass” remains a mystery. It has, however, two basic meanings: 1) to move together-- always referring to a pair of things in motion; 2) to enclose, embrace, step completely, circle or round. This second definition refers to the motion of making a circle. Either way, the word “compass” could correctly refer to the Liahona because of its round (ball) shape or the motion of the arrows. (Nibley, 1967, 296.)

Lastly we find that the Liahona/compass fits neatly into Old World traditions, thanks to non-Mormon scholar T. Fahd who, in 1959, “published the hitherto scattered, scanty, and inaccessible evidence that makes it possible for the first time to say something significant about the Liahona.” (Ibid., 283.) Fahd engaged in a study of belomancy, which is “the practice of divination by shooting, tossing, shaking, or otherwise manipulating rods, darts, pointers, or other sticks, all originally derived from arrows.” (Ibid., 287.) Fahd notes how the pre-Islamic Arabs consulted the Lord through the tossing, or manipulating of pointers. Thus the Arabs believed that through such divination the Lord instructed his people. Interestingly enough as noted by Nephi and by Fahd, the pointers, or arrows, had inscriptions upon them which gave the people their instructions. “The inscriptions on the arrows themselves give top priority to travel....” (Ibid., 291.) Nibley writes:

...the usual thing was to consult the things at a special shrine, though it was common also to take such divination arrows along on the trip in a special container. The message of the arrows, which were mere sticks without heads or feathers, was conveyed by their pointing and especially by the inscriptions that were on them, giving detailed directions as to the journey. Mr. Fahd deserves our thanks for having called attention to this interesting and forgotten gadget in 1958; but how could Joseph Smith know about it in 1829? (Nibley, 1989, 244-5. )

Michael R. Ash

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