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“Nephi’s “Shazer”: The Fourth Arabian Pillar of the Book of Mormon”

“Nephi’s “Shazer”: The Fourth Arabian Pillar of the Book of Mormon”

Last updated on: August 22, 2020 at 4:24 pm by Dan Peterson

“Nephi’s “Shazer”: The Fourth Arabian Pillar of the Book of Mormon” 2020-08-22T16:24:48-06:00 Dan Peterson

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On the façade of an IKEA store in Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf
(Provided by Dr. Dilworth Parkinson; original source unknown)

It’s Friday, so another new article has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. This one is by Warren P. Aston:

“Nephi’s “Shazer”: The Fourth Arabian Pillar of the Book of Mormon”

Abstract: Many Book of Mormon students are aware that several locations along Lehi’s Trail through the Arabian Peninsula now have surprising and impressive evidence of plausibility, including the River Laman, Valley of Lemuel, Nahom, and Bountiful. One specific named location that has received much less attention is Shazer, a brief hunting stop mentioned in only two verses. After reviewing the potential etymology of the name, Warren Aston provides new information from discoveries made during field work in late 2019 at the prime candidate for the Valley of Lemuel, discoveries that lead to new understanding about the path to Shazer. Contrary to previous assumptions about Lehi’s journey, Aston shows there was no need to backtrack through the Valley of Lemuel to begin the “south-southeast” journey toward Shazer. It appears that Nephi’s description of crossing the river from the family’s campsite and then going south-southeast toward Shazer is exactly what can be done from the most likely candidate for a campsite in the most likely candidate for the Valley of Lemuel. In light of fieldwork and further information, Aston also reviews the merits of several locations that have been proposed for Shazer and points to a fully plausible, even probable, location for Shazer. The account of Shazer, like Nahom, the River of Laman/Valley of Lemuel, and Bountiful, may now be a fourth Arabian pillar anchoring and supporting the credibility of the Book of Mormon’s Old World account.

***

And, while we’re in or around the Arabian Peninsula, I’ll share this little item:

My longtime friend and BYU Arabist colleague Dilworth Parkinson sent the photograph above to me and to others this morning. “I came across this IKEA facade from Bahrain,” he wrote, “and thought that the translation method involved could really save our students a lot of time.”

The Arabic that’s below the English on the façade reads roughly “The same as written above, only in Arabic.”

***

And here are three new items on the Neville-Neville Land blog:

“When the facts don’t fit your narrative, change the facts”

“Rebutting falsehood and misrepresentation, again”

““I’ll take ‘Things That Never Happened’ for $800, Alex””

Posted from Bountiful, Utah

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