“In the Days of Lib the Poisonous Serpents Were Destroyed”

Brant Gardner

Although Moroni states that the poisonous snakes were destroyed during Lib’s reign, realistically, they would have receded more than two hundred years earlier, after the great drought ended. This detail is obviously out of place; but Moroni needed to add it here because the Jaredites move southward during Lib’s reign. However, he had last mentioned this direction as “hedged up” by the serpents, and his narrative requires him to remove that barrier. In other words, Moroni’s story works, even though the historical facts may have been different. This consistency in detail reveals that he is not simply engaged in haphazard storytelling but reflecting his considered understanding of the Jaredite record. Although modern readers can identify instances of manipulation, he would have considered his history faithful to the original.

The movement south is justified as a hunt with the implication that the animals are in the south. Although Moroni does not cite the drought explicitly, he leaves the impression of a connection. Obviously, Ether’s record indicated a population movement south, but Moroni interprets the reason according to his understanding of the story.

History: During the Jaredite movement southward, circumstantial evidence suggests that Zoquean speakers moved into the Grijalva Valley. Zoque was spoken in the Grijalva Valley and particularly at Chiapa de Corzo.

The Escalera phase, an identified development period at Chiapa de Corzo, begins approximately 500 B.C. and “apparently witnessed the introduction of large platform structures,” according to archaeologist Gareth W. Lowe. An earlier population had lived at this site; however, the introduction of large platforms suggests new influences. The confluence of language and visible innovation is the basis for my conclusion of a possible migration from Olmec lands about this time.

Linguist Lyle Campbell indicates that, by 500 B.C., common Zoquean was a separate language from the Mixe-Zoque language that is attributed to the Olmec. The separation of languages presupposes a separation in geography that allows for independent language drift. This development is significant for understanding the cultural connections of the Jaredites and the Mulekites, who appear in Jaredite lands (somewhere on the Gulf Coast) at approximately this period. As I interpret the record, the Mulekites absorbed Jaredite/Olmec culture and language, then moved up the Grijalva Valley to found Zarahemla. While it is doubtful that the Mulekites landed and immediately moved up the Grijalva, Moroni’s description of Lib indicates Jaredite interest in the south. The Mulekite move to Zarahemla was simply part of a larger population expansion southward. (See Ether, Part 1: Context, Chapter 1, “Historical Background of the Book of Ether.”)

Chronology: An average reign of thirty years places Lib at 620–590 B.C.

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6

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