Lehi Died and Was Buried

Alan C. Miner

According to Clate Mask, it is well known that ancient Semitic people revered sacred occurrences and sometimes built commemorative shrines. Father Abraham made his near-sacrifice of his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah located in what is now the Holy City of Jerusalem. The descendants of Isaac built the Temple of Solomon on that sacrificial spot and many centuries later the descendants of Isaac's brother Ishmael erected the Dome of the Rock which still stands today on that same Temple Mount. Another significant location to both Arab and Jew is found in Hebron. The Tomb of the Patriarchs is built over the traditional burial spot of their common ancestor Father Abraham, venerated patriarch of both nations.

Mask then makes an interesting query: "How would a people from Jerusalem (and now in the New World) with their Near Eastern Semitic customs, feel about Lehi's death? Having such honor, respect and reverence for their venerable patriarch, Father Lehi, what would they have probably built at the site where Lehi "died and was buried" (2 Nephi 4:12)? [Clate Mask, "And They Called the Place Bountiful," pp. 2, 5]

Note* What Mask seems to be alluding to here is the idea that in Mesoamerica, when rival civilizations took over the territory and temple sites of their competitors, they defaced and destroyed many of their temple monuments. At the archaeological site of Izapa, located on the Pacific coastal route between Mexico and Guatemala, for the most part most of the monuments remained intact. If both Lamanites and Nephites venerated Lehi, if "their fathers' first inheritance" bordered "on the west" by "the seashore" (Alma 22:28), then Izapa might be a candidate for the land of first inheritance and Lehi's burial place. Although such a proposal might seem extremely tentative, Garth Norman has made some remarkable correlations at this site with the Book of Mormon. (See Norman's commentary on Lehi's dream and the Stela 5 "Tree of Life Stone" at Izapa--1 Nephi 8; 11; 18:23.) [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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