Editor’s note: This the continuation of a series of articles exploring whether the Liahona that was used in the Book of Mormon contained a magnetic needle similar to those found in compasses today. To read the introduction to this series, click here. Also, click here to find all the articles in this series.
Point #4: What amount of personal skill was necessary for Lehi or Nephi to determine directions using the Liahona? In other words, was every working part of the Liahona controlled by the Lord exclusively through spirituality?
From at least the last part of the 1800s, it seems that all the attempts to characterize the Liahona as a magnetic compass came from anti-Mormon writings which attempted to paint the Liahona as an anachronism. Confronted with those arguments, LDS authors naturally took the opposing view
However, after the establishment of the FARMS organization in 1979, which tied itself to the directionally skewed Book of Mormon geography theory of John Sorenson, some writers (but not all) even began extending that opposition to LDS writers that dared broach the subject of a magnetic compass.
From the beginning, the LDS authors said that the Liahona functioned “only according to ‘faith, diligence and heed,’ ” (1 Nephi 16:28; Alma 37:41) emphasizing only the spiritual requirements involved in this “miracle.” From that perspective the Lord not only caused the “spindle” to point in the direction that they should travel (1 Ne 16:10) but also wrote on the Liahona the appropriate complimentary spiritual message to go along with that direction (1 Nephi 16:29). Indeed, the words of Nephi seem to back this up. He writes:
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.
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. (1 Nephi 16:28, 29)
However, taking another point of view, while all of this spirituality certainly played a significant part, this “all or nothing” – “either/or”- argument as emphasized by some does not necessarily have to be. The dependence on “faith, diligence and heed” does not negate the idea that a mixture of physical and mental efforts might have been required by Nephi or Lehi in order to obtain the desired answer.
Anciently, while a magnetic compass would have been nice to have on a voyage, most of the time it wasn’t necessary to solve the basic questions of ancient navigation. As discussed previously, early mariners were accustomed to take many different signs (sun, moon, stars, waves, winds, birds, and so on) into account before making a navigational correction. But sometimes those systems failed, and in such a stormy, life-threatening, truly electrically-charged scenario, all the members of Nephi’s party would have been trusting their lives on Nephi’s ability to correctly read a volatile magnetic spindle. Under such circumstances, Nephi would indeed have needed “faith, diligence and heed.”
Point #5: What about the things that were written on the ball? They certainly weren’t magnetic compass-like were they?
In chapter 16 of 1 Nephi we find the following:
And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord said unto him [Lehi]: Look upon the ball, and behold the things which are written.
And it came to pass that when my father beheld the things which were written upon the ball, he did fear and tremble exceedingly …
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.
And there was also written upon them [the pointers] a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it [the writing] 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 (1 Nephi 16:26-29).
In a 1994 FARMS article, Robert L. Bunker writes the following concerning the interpretation in brackets which appears in the verses above:
Antecedents of pronouns in the Book of Mormon are often ambiguous. Here “them” [verse 29] being plural is assumed to refer to the last plural descriptive noun – “pointers” [verse 28].
So apparently there was writing not just on the ball, but on the spindles also. In a series of articles, Hugh Nibley linked this writing on the spindles to the ancient art of belomancy in which, simply said, arrow shafts labeled “yes” and “no” were tossed and read. After a lengthy discussion, Nibley concluded:
It would be an obtuse reader indeed who needed one to spell out for him the resemblance between ancient arrow-divination and the Liahona: two “spindles or pointers” bearing written instructions provide superhuman guidance for travelers in the desert. What more could you want?
In response to Nibley’s linkage of the Liahona with the art of belomancy and his last question, “What more could you want?” I would pose the following observations and questions of my own. First of all, while I can agree that this divination technique might offer insight into the Book of Mormon story of Lehi in the desert, I would correlate this technique more with Nephi and his brothers “casting lots” on their trip back to Jerusalem rather than with the Liahona.
In Nibley’s article he includes the fact that “Meissner suggests that ‘casting lots’ in Babylonian (salu sha puni) refers to an original shaking or shooting of arrows.” (p. 106) This fits in with the purpose described by Lane, where the arrows designated either to “go” or to “not go.” But Nibley seems to stretch this “go” / “don’t go” technique in order to equate this process with divining directions by a compass.
I might agree with this arrow-tossing divination method (to “go” or “not go”) for some aspects of Lehi’s trip through the desert because he did have some reference points from time to time such as water wells, caravans, Bedouins, tribal sheiks, Frankincense trail halts, mountains, etc. by which to orient himself, and the sun and stars would have usually been visible
The same reasoning becomes somewhat foggy in the midst of an endless ocean on all sides, with stormy overcast skies, and with waves tossing the ship to and fro. For in this watery world reference points might be absent for long periods of time and the orientation of the boat could be constantly changing. Nephi and his brethren were already familiar with the system of “casting lots,” so why would they need a special instrument to do so? On the other hand, the translation by Joseph Smith of the word Liahona–“being interpreted, a compass”–might indeed imply that the Liahona was at least in part just that, a magnetic compass, with directional words written on the ball and spindles.
But some might counter, “What about the words of the Lord written on the ball that made Lehi ‘fear and tremble exceedingly’ (1 Nephi 16:27)?” Without negating the direct power of the Lord to miraculously perform this task, I will suggest that we have whole volumes of the Lord’s words to his prophets, collected in what we term the Standard Works, and that quite often when those scriptures are read to us they specifically reflect on our situation in life and cause us to “fear and tremble exceedingly.
”
Again, without trying to treat lightly the words in the Book of Mormon, I would ask, could the changing of the words on the ball and on the spindles have been accomplished by Nephi with words from the scriptures written on the brass plates? Some who prefer the miraculous might reply, “How narrow minded and small to think that way.” But does not Nephi himself say that the changing of the words on the Liahona was a “small means” to bring about greater things (1 Nephi 16:29)?
Point #6: Is it significant that in describing their travels through the Arabian Desert wilderness, Nephi only refers to the Liahona as a “ball” of “fine brass”?
Nephi states in 1 Ne 16:16 that this “ball” that Lehi found at his tent door “was of fine brass” (without any mention of iron). While this phrase might give support to the opinion that magnetism was not part of the “ball” (or outside shell), it does not negate the idea that at least some of the ball’s internal parts might have been made of a metal other than brass. In this respect, in 1 Ne 16:10 we find that “within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness” (1 Ne 16:10).
If the outside “ball” was made of brass so that one had to lift the top hemisphere or otherwise peer inside to see the spindles, then the spindles might have been considered apart from the outside sphere. Thus while the outside “ball” might have been made entirely of “fine brass,” perhaps one of the spindles “within” the ball was made of magnetized iron or steel, working at least in part on the principle of magnetism. In fact “brass,” being non-magnetic and noncorrosive, would have made an excellent casing for the magnetic needles
Point #7: Does the reference to “spindles” preclude a single magnetic needle?
In a 1984 FARMS Update, Robert F. Smith writes:
While the Book of Mormon does not tell us whether the Liahona functioned partly on geomagnetic principles, Nephi did say that it contained two spindles, one of which functioned as a directional pointer, and that the body was made of “fine brass” (1 Nephi 16:10, 28). Brass is an excellent noncorroding and nonmagnetic case for a compass. Those who are familiar with modern compasses might naturally ask whether the Liahona worked on a similar principle, with a magnetic function for one spindle, and a possible azimuth setting [the angle created by plotting from due “north” the point on the eastward horizon where a planet or star arises] for the other.
Another author writes on this perspective as follows:
Why two spindles? One “pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness,” but what did the other do? Some compasses have two pointers, one magnetic to point north and another to point the direction of travel.
For me the fact that “spindles” (plural) are mentioned here has made the interpretation of the working mechanism of the Liahona somewhat uncertain. Some might wonder just what the word “spindle” implies. According to the Websters Dictionary, a spindle is defined as “any rod, pin, or shaft that revolves or serves as an axis for a revolving part.” Thus a spindle might be used to refer to two different working parts, one that revolves and one that serves as an axis.
If such was the case, Nephi’s description first of “spindles” and then of “the one spindle” might actually refer to the same mechanism; that is, one spindle served as an axis for the second spindle, which revolved according to the magnetic alignment. However, before we jump to any conclusions, we need to consider another verse. In 1 Ne 16:28, Nephi writes that he “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. (1 Ne 16:28)
Although this might be interpreted nicely by some to mean two or more pointers, it also might describe one magnetic needle that has “pointers” on both ends. Intriguingly, while the Western world has always focused on the northern tip of the compass needle to guide us, the Chinese were directed by the southern tip of the needle.
Thus, whether it be the word “spindles” or “pointers” in the text, I can still maintain a view that allows for a magnetic needle.
Point #8: Is it significant that almost immediately after receiving the “ball” from the Lord, Nephi uses a 16-point compass term, “south-southeast,” (1 Nephi 16:13) to designate direction?
Although I have addressed this before in a footnote, I will touch on it here in the text. In my view, whether this term “south-southeast” came from the mind of Joseph Smith in translating or whether it came from Nephi himself is irrelevant because it represents a division of direction into sixteen parts. Perhaps this one-time mention of “south-southeast” might not be considered significant by some, yet when Nephi proceeds to talk about their travels he continually refers back to this specific directional term (“south-southeast”):
And it came to pass that we traveled for the space of four days, nearly a south-southeast direction … (16:13) … And we did go forth again in the wilderness, following the same direction … And it came to pass that we did travel for the space of many days (16:14-15) … And it came to pass that we did again take our journey, traveling nearly the same course as in the beginning; and after we had traveled for the space of many days … (16:33).
To me this conveys the meaning that day-after-day, in completely different geographical surroundings with deep wadis meandering wherever the terrain dictated, in different times of the day, in possibly different weather conditions, Lehi and Nephi oriented themselves to a direction (“south-southeast”) – a direction that is found written on modern-day compasses (as well as compasses of the past) – a direction to which an orienting needle might be fixed to point the way relative to another continually north-pointing magnetic needle.
