Brass Compass
1 Nephi 16:10, 16, 26, 28-29; “And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness. 16 And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness. 26 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord said unto him: Look upon the ball, and behold the things which are written.
28 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them. 29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.”
Mosiah 1:16; “And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him.”
Alma 37:38, 40; “And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass…40 And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done…”
From Wikipedia this is what it says about the compass:
The compass was invented in China, during the Han Dynasty between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD. [1] The first compasses were made of lodestone, a naturally magnetized ore of iron. [3] Ancient Chinese people found that if a lodestone was suspended so it could turn freely, it would always point in the same direction, toward the magnetic poles. Early compasses were used for geomancy “in the search for gems and the selection of sites for houses,” but were later adapted for navigation during the Song Dynasty in the 11th century. [3] Later compasses were made of iron needles, magnetized by striking them with a lodestone. The dry compass was invented in medieval Europe around 1300. [12] This was supplanted in the early 20th century by the liquid-filled magnetic compass. [13]
Prior to the introduction of the compass, position, destination, and direction at sea were primarily determined by the sighting of landmarks, supplemented with the observation of the position of celestial bodies.
Now with our lesson on compasses out of the way, how does the text from the BoM fit in with the reality of what this is?
The “compass” or “director” in the examples above sound more like the magic 8 ball I used to play with as a child – (keep in mind I also played with the Ouija Board as well). Why would God just surreptitiously drop a ball in the middle of the night for Lehi to find and read from the next day? It sounds a lot like magic and the occult more than anything God would do. We find no other example of this anywhere in the Bible.
Again, we need to look at the text – is it plausible Lehi would know what a compass was in 600 BC if they were invented by the Chinese for another 400 years? And how did they know about a compass if they were in or around Jerusalem? China is more than 4,400 miles away from Israel!
When the Israelites were “wandering” through the wilderness for forty years it was because they weren’t obeying what God had already told them to do, not because they woke up in the morning and didn’t read the magic lesson of the day.
Furthermore, compass needles were made of iron, not brass. In the 3rd example listed above it said the compass directed them according to their faith. Compasses work according to the laws of electromagnetism and not because of something (your behavior) which isn’t absolute. It’s a tool and has no abilities to gauge your moral aptitude. They also didn’t point or lead to any fertile ground as it says in 1 Nephi 16:16.
It seems Joseph took that scenario and used it to make up yet another story. I want to clarify the “wandering” of the Israelitesr so if you’re LDS you can read in the Bible they weren’t lost and just aimlessly wandering about the Sahara.
A prudent reading of the text tells us the reason their travels lasted so long was because of their unbelief.
Numbers 14:22-23, 33-34; “Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it. 33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.”
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