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“For they are my friends”

“For they are my friends”

Last updated on: June 19, 2026 at 10:58 pm by Dan Peterson

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“For they are my friends” 2026-06-19T22:58:19-06:00 Dan Peterson

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NASA does the Arabian Peninsula. It’s bounded on three sides by water, beginning with the Persian Gulf in the upper right (including the currently-notorious Strait of Hormuz, formed by a dagger-like protuberance), the Arabian Sea on the right, and, in the left half of the photograph, the Red Sea (an image in the public domain from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

A new article has appeared at Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 69 (2026) : 67-98: “Nephi’s “Shazer”: New Insights into an Arabian Pillar of the Book of Mormon,” written by Warren P. Aston and Wanless Southwick:

Abstract: Shazer was a brief hunting stop, given that name by Lehi and Sariah’s group journeying to the New World. It has the unique distinction of being a place in a real-world location that is clearly defined in Nephi’s text using precise parameters. Because a highly viable location for the Valley of Lemuel has been established as a seemingly certain location, there is a solid anchor for further exploration. After reviewing earlier proposals, this paper presents the findings of a new research effort. While absolute certainty will likely remain elusive, the new information discussed here demonstrates the accuracy of Nephi’s record-keeping. It shows his description to be significantly more literal and consistent than previous commentary has assumed. This can be illustrated primarily by examining travel distances and directions he recorded that embody geographical specifics that no one in 1830 could have known. This paper then presents a new candidate for Shazer and its adjacent hunting area, which appears to match Nephi’s description much more closely than other proposals. This article thus refreshes the picture of this brief but highly significant part of the Old World crossing, with its implications for the route taken from Shazer deeper into Arabia.

Newly posted on the Interpreter Foundation’s website: Interpreting Interpreter: “Locating Shazer,” written by Kyler Rasmussen:

This post is a summary of the article “Nephi’s “Shazer”: New Insights into an Arabian Pillar of the Book of Mormon” by Warren P. Aston and J. Wanless Southwick in Volume 69 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https:/interapreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https://youtube.com/shorts/E0Gvrh-stt0.

The Takeaway: Aston and Southwick report their findings from on-site explorations on the coast of Arabia, providing details of Lehi’s departure from the Valley of Lemuel and arguing for a location called Maharish as the most likely candidate for Shazer in the Book of Mormon.

This isn’t actually a photograph of the projected Fairview Texas Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rather, it’s a Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph of the just-opened Obama Presidential Center on the south side of Chicago.

The mayor of the friendly and hospitable town of Fairview, Texas, has published an opinion piece in the very receptive Salt Lake Tribune (to an enthusiastically supportive chorus of reader comments): “Voices: I’m a small-town mayor, and I’m asking the LDS Church for a simple compromise: The communities where the church builds and where it hopes to build are watching.”

I have absolutely no doubt that “The communities where the church builds and where it hopes to build are watching.” That’s why this matter is so important.

If completed as currently intended, the Fairview Texas Temple will tower over the Thai Papaya restaurant and the CVS pharmacy and the Ryan Dental Group and the Vivi Foot Spa and the Pizza Hut and the Fairview EyeCare facilities that are located across the divided four-lane Stacy Road from the temple site, thus disturbing the hamlet’s sleepy and undeveloped rural vibe — to say nothing of the cud-chewing cows and the sheep in the surrounding meadows.

Downtown Fairview, Texas, prior to the arrival of LDS Inc. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Well, I spoke to the Joseph Knight Sr. Family Reunion this evening (“A Time of Decision: The Knights Follow Brigham and the Twelve into the West”), and I judge the venture to have been a success — at least in the sense that nobody threw anything at me and that the overwhelming majority of the audience stayed until the bitter end. Of course, the organizers were offering cookies afterwards, so there was a powerful incentive to stay.

Here is a story that I included in this evening’s remarks: One day in January 1842, a reflective Joseph Smith decided to list in something that he termed “the Book of the Law of the Lord” the names of those “faithful few” followers who had stood by him since the beginnings of his ministry—“pure and holy friends, who are faithful, just, and true, and whose hearts fail not” (History of the Church, 5:107; hereafter HC). Among these faithful few were:

my aged and beloved brother, Joseph Knight, Sen., who was among the number of the first to administer to my necessities, while I was laboring in the commencement of the bringing forth of the work of the Lord. . . . For fifteen years he has been faithful and true, and even-handed and exemplary, and virtuous and kind, never deviating to the right hand or to the left. Behold he is a righteous man, may God Almighty lengthen out the old man’s days . . . and it shall be said of him, by the sons of Zion, while there is one of them remaining, that this was a faithful man in Israel; therefore his name shall never be forgotten. (HC 5:124-25)

The Prophet also recorded the names of two of Joseph Knight’s sons, Newel and Joseph Knight, Jr., in the same book “with unspeakable delight, for they are my friends” (Ibid). For what it’s worth, I’m honored to include Joseph Knight Sr. and Joseph Knight Jr. among my ancestors.

The late historian William Hartley, who wrote a collective biography of the first two generations or so of the Latter-day Saint Joseph Knight family, commented as follows:

At that time, Joseph Smith had known the Knights for almost 16 years, since 1826, when the Knights hired him to work on their New York property. This contact came after Joseph’s First Vision but before he had received the gold plates. Joseph was trusted and his message believed within the extensive Knight family network. Some 12 family units eventually accepted his prophetic calling and the restored gospel which he proclaimed. After the Smiths, the Joseph Sr. and Polly Peck Knight family could be considered the Second Family of the Restoration. The Knights knew Joseph Smith and accepted his claims before Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, or David Whitmer. These Knights stood by Joseph more steadfastly than some in the Prophet’s own family. The Knights’ lives and statements serve as a special type of witness—a family witness—of Joseph Smith’s divine calling, which those investigating Joseph Smith’s claims should weigh carefully.

I agree.

A sunset view toward the west from atop Mt. Pisgah, Iowa, taken with my cellphone near the grave of Joseph Knight, Sr., two or three months ago

My slight contribution tonight, if I made any at all, was to draw attention to their additional “family witness” to the succession of Brigham Young and the Twelve as the leaders of the Church following the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Nobody outside of the Smith family had followed Joseph Smith longer than they had. All of those who were still alive for the decision followed the Twelve westward, even (in the cases of Newel and of Joseph Sr.) at the cost of their lives.

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