“We Journeyed in the Wilderness”

Brant Gardner

Historical information: This verse gives us one of the best "catalogues" of the people involved in Lehi's party. There are Lehi and Sariah, Laman, Lemuel, Nephi, and Sam as the mentioned members of the Lehi family. While it is possible that there were daughters, they are not mentioned, even in this verse which does specifically mention the daughters of Ishmael. However, since Ishmael's daughters have an important role to play, and are significant to the events of the verse, this might not preclude daughters of Lehi who were not central to this part of the story. Still, on the consistent lack of evidence, they cannot be counted.

In addition to Lehi's family, we have Zoram and Ishmael's family. Ishmael and his wife have five mentioned daughters. It is fairly clear from this verse that two of them became betrothed to Laman and Lemuel, and that they were convinced by Laman and Lemuel of their particular view of the enterprise.

The numbers in the group have a bearing for the later presence in the Americas. With a beginning population of only 14 numbered persons, what are the chances that this group would populate a significant portion of the Americas given their time of arrival? Even accounting for the births along the way, this population base is too small to account for Book of Mormon numbers, particularly noting the rapid separation of the group into the Nephites and Lamanites.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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