According to Glenn Scott, as Jared's colony traveled northward, they probably followed the course of the River Tigris because had they followed the other great river, the Euphrates, they would have been diverted far to the west of the mountain valley named for Nimrod (Ether 2:4). It would also have added some 270 miles to their journey, only to bring them to the same area near Mount Ararat.
Following the Tigris River, at about 260 miles north of Babel, they would reach one of the major cities of that distant time. Originally named Calah, it is said to have been built by Asshur, one of the sons of Shem (Genesis 10:11). Later it was renamed Nimrud, no doubt by (or in honor of ) the mighty hunter who unified the cities of Mesopotamia under his rule. Another 180 miles north they would pass a mountain called Nimrut Dagi and a small lake called Nimrut Golu, just west of a much larger lake named Van Golu or Lake Van. Lake Van may have been the first of the "many waters" they crossed on their long journey (Ether 2:6). [Glenn A. Scott, Voices from the Dust, p. 25]
Ether 2:5 Into that quarter where there never had man been ([Illustration]): The Initial Migration Route of the Jaredites. The Jaredites left the site of the Great Tower and traveled north to the valley called Nimrod. Sometime thereafter they crossed the Sea in the Wilderness beginning their long, long migration across central Asia. [Glenn A. Scott, Voices from the Dust, p. 26]
Geographical [Theory Map]: Ether 2:5 Into That Quarter Where Never Had Been Man (Year )
“They Should Go Forth into the Wilderness Yea into That Quarter Where There Never Had Man Been”
According to Hugh Nibley, from the plain of Shinar (the location of the tower), the Jaredites moved northward into a valley named after Nimrod, the mighty hunter, and thence "into that quarter where there never had man been." This would take them into the land of great broad valleys where the Tigris, Euphrates, Kura, and Araks rivers have their headwaters, a "hub of radiating valleys and routes to which the Euphrates owes its importance as a highway of commercial and military penetration. The frequent occurrence of the name of Nimrod in this area may not be without genuine significance, for no historical phenomenon has been more thoroughly demonstrated than the extreme tenacity of place names. [Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites, p. 181] [See the commentary on Ether 2:1]
Ether 2:5 Into that quarter where there never had man been ([Illustration]):
A. The Land of Shinear, where the Great Tower was (P. Dhorme, in Rev. Biblique (1928): 509-511). Ether 1:33.
B. "The valley which was northward" (2:1). (The northern headwaters of the Euphrates "command a hub of radiating valleys and travel routes, to which the Euphrates owes its importance as a highway of commercial and military penetration." A. Moret, Hist. de l'Orient 1:306).
C. "And the name of the valley was Nimrod" (2:1). Nimrod country: home of Nimrod place-names and legends. (N. Emin).
D. "That quarter where there never had man been" (2:5). Anau, once thought to be the oldest city in the world, was originally built in a wilderness.
E. "The sea in the wilderness" (2:7). Both the Aral and Caspian Seas were much larger in ancient times than they are today.
F. "Many waters" (2:6). The Turanian plain was anciently full of lakes, marshes, and streams. The Oxus Delta was a vast lake.
G. Ancient course of the Oxus (as recently as the time of Alexander), now dried up.
[Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites, p. 202]