“The Place Moriancumer”

Brant Gardner

The end of the sea voyage has the Jaredites coming to a place where they pitch their tents, name the land, and are “upon the seashore for the space of four years.” This series of events tells us that they ended the first voyage in barges, and now are still in the shore where they landed. Thus there is no significant traveling noted between the first water-journey in barges and the second one. They embark on the second journey to the New World from the basic location where they landed from the first journey.

Cultural: They name the area Moriancumer. With our information that the brother of Jared has this as part of his name, we see that the area is probably named for the brother of Jared. It is unclear why the brother of Jared would have right of name, unless there was an understanding that they would eventually be moving on, and Jared was reserving his right of naming to the perceived more permanent colony in the land of promise.

Redaction: [And now I proceed with my record]: Moroni knows that he has strayed from his narrative, and now signals us that he is returning to it.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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