(Supposed)

Book of Mormon Anachronisms

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

Animals

“Ox” or “oxen” is mentioned six times in the Book of Mormon (Ether 9:18 ; 1 Nephi 18:25; 2 Nephi 17:25; 2 Nephi 21:7; 2 Nephi 30:13; Mosiah 13:24), but as anti-Mormon Thomas Key is quick to point out: “Contrary to what 1 Nephi 1:25 asserts, North America had no ...oxen... between 600 B.C. and the time European colonists brought them.” (Key, 1.) Other anti-Mormons with whom I have corresponded have pointed out that the “ox” is a castrated bull and therefore the Book of Mormon’s reference as finding the “ox” among the “wild” animals (1 Nephi 18:25) is anachronistic.

A quick scan of my 1992 Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia, however, reveals that the term “ox also refers to members of the subfamily Bovinae, in the family Bovidae, and includes the Asiatic buffaloes, Bubalus and Anoa, the African buffalo, Syncerus, true cattle, Bos, and bisons.” In addition, it lists as “wild ox” the banteng, Bos banteng, yak, Bos grunniens, and a wild North African ox. (STW.) If the editors of this Encyclopedia believe that the term “ox” can be used for various different animals, and if they believe that the ox can be found in the wild, then I think we can allow the same latitude for the Book of Mormon people. Dr. Sorenson has suggested that the Book of Mormon “ox” may refer to the tapir, camelidae, or perhaps bison. (Sorenson, 1985, p. 299.)

Michael R. Ash

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