Lifespans in the Book of Mormon

This is a bit different from what I usually post about. It's a purely academic exercise with no deeper meaning, symbolism or spiritual lessons. But in addition to the Book of Mormon's main purpose to remind Israel of their covenants and bring us to Christ, there is a historical element that fascinates me. These were real people who were a branch of Israel living in a promised land. I am very interested in the historical elements and would love to learn more about the Nephite society and people. Mormon, who abridged their records, comes across as a historian. In addition to inviting us to Christ and conveying important spiritual lessons, he is a thorough narrator of events and places.

Still, we don't have many examples of the exact age of Book of Mormon people. A few years ago, I tried to track the timeline and deduct some reasonable lifespans for Book of Mormon prophets. I will not go into all that speculation here but list the ones that we know directly from the text:

• Alma-I: 82 years old (Mosiah 29:45)
• Mosiah-II: 63 years old (Mosiah 29:46)
• Coriantum's wife: 102 years old (Ether 9:24)
• Coriantum: 142 years old (Ether 9:24)
• 9 Nephite disciples: 72 years old (3 Nephi 28:3)

The last one is interesting. 72 years old is simply a result of the disciples' own granted wish and the Lord's decision. But their granted wish to come to Him in his kingdom after having "lived unto the age of a man" says something about what the typical "age of a man" was considered to be at the time.

As far as I know, these 5 examples are the only ones we have knowing the exact age of someone in the Book of Mormon. There are others that come close, Mormon himself was born 310 AD and the last battle at Cumorah was likely in 385 AD. He did not die in that battle but according to his son, he died shortly after. So Mormon must have been 75 years old or a bit older. For the timeline of the keepers of the Small plates of Nephi to work, some of them must have been quite old, perhaps more than 100. The record keepers after Alma-I until the coming of Christ did not seem to live that long, typically somewhere between 45-60. These are some rough calculations I have made and I will not go into all those details. But it is also important to note that two of those prophets, Alma-II and Nephi-II did not seem to die natural deaths and just left the land at a certain point without anyone knowing where they had gone. 

In the above list with specific ages, obviously, Coriantum, and partly his wife, stand out. One might even claim that 142 sounds unrealistic. Some scientist (but definitely not all) would claim that it is simply beyond the upper limit of a theoretical human life. It is also reasonable to ask how 72 years old could be considered the "age of a man" when it was possible to live twice as long. But I find it quite interesting that we get this apparent difference between Nephite and Jaredite lifespans, because it aligns very well with the Bible. We know that the ancient patriarchs lived much longer lives than this. They could become more than 900 years old. I have my own theories about how that was possible, but that requires some explanation that I will keep for myself for now. This does not appear to be merely symbolic because there are certain trends in these Old Testament lifespans, eventually stabilizing around the values we expect today. 

I have written before on the timeline of the Book of Ether. Coriantumr, who lived to 142 years old, was the seventh generation from Jared. Based on the calculations in that post, he lived around the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham was 175 years old, Sarah 127, Isaac 180, Jacob 147 and Joseph 110 at their death. At this time, the convergence into what is considered normal lifespans today had not yet been reached. But Coriantum's age fits well into this small sample. 

By the time of the first Israelite kings, this convergence had been reached. They lived up to ages between 40 (41 in the case of King Jotham) and 80 (in the case of King Solomon), quite consistent with the few Nephite lifespans we know about and the idea of 72 years as the "age of man". 

Endowment Narratives in the Book of Mormon, Part 4 -- More symbols and their meaning

This has turned into a pretty long series so far, but we aren't done yet.  I hope you've enjoyed the ride.

This post will cover a few additional symbols which appear frequently in the 'endowment pattern' I've outlined in this series.  

Before I get to that, it's probably useful for us to recap what we've covered already:

In part 1, I outlined the basic story structure:

1) There is a call to leave the fallen world behind.
2) Those who heed this call find themselves cast out into the wilderness.
3) Through obedience they gradually regain the presence of the Lord and they are led to a state of rest and abundance.

I included a list of twelve symbols commonly included in the story.

In part 2a and part 2b, I detailed eight different examples of this story pattern in the Book of Mormon.

Part 3 focused on the meaning of each of these twelve symbols and how they relate to the symbolism of the endowment. (Part 3a, part 3b, and part 3c.)

Two Additional Symbols

In the process of reading and rereading these example, I noticed a few additional elements which seem to belong on the list: 'Seeds' and 'crying for mercy.'

Seeds/Grain

The symbolism of the seed is found in many of the examples I've listed. The symbolism here is pretty easy to see.  Partly, the seed "of every kind" language evokes creation imagery. Also, the seed is often likened to the word of God. In another sense, seed/grain represent domesticated plants which are useful for man, and so the same symbolism related to flocks and herds applies to seeds/grain. This helps explain why these two elements are often mentioned together.

A related symbol ("tilling the ground") is a reference to Adam and Eve and is also found immediately after Lehi and his family reach the promise land (1 Nephi 18:24) and right after Jared and his group reach the promise land (Ether 6:13). See also Mosiah 9:9.

Lehi: 

1 Nephi 8:1; 1 Nephi 18:6

Nephi:  

2 Nephi 5:11

Mosiah - Benjamin - Mosiah: 

Not found.

Limhi: 

Mosiah 23:1

Alma-1: 

• (First Pattern) Mosiah 23:1
• (Second Pattern) Mosiah 24:18

(This is very interesting. In consecutive chapters this pattern is repeated in describing two different escapes by the same group of people, and both times it describes them bringing their grain with them. That indicates to me that the grain is an important symbol.)

Anti-Nephi-Lehi: (Not found)

Jared: 

Ether 1:41

Omer: 

Ether 9:17

'Crying' or praying with 'all their heart'

I've posted on this topic in the past (here, here, and here). A person finds mercy through Christ after they cry out to God. In the covenant/endowment context, this is extremely powerful symbolism.

Lehi: 

1 Nephi 1:5 - "my father, Lehi, as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his people."

Nephi:  

2 Nephi 5:1 "I, Nephi, did cry much unto the Lord my God"

Mosiah - Benjamin - Mosiah: 

Mosiah 4:2 - "they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men."

Limhi: 

Mosiah 21:14 "they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions."

Alma-1: 

(First Pattern) Mosiah 23:28 

...they hushed their fears, and began to cry unto the Lord that he would soften the hearts of the Lamanites, that they would spare them, and their wives, and their children.

(Second Pattern) Mosiah 24:10-12

10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.

11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.

12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

Anti-Nephi-Lehi: 

I couldn't find a perfect fit, but Alma 22:17 describes the King of all the land crying to God.

Jared: 

38 And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, and if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance.

39 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord according to that which had been spoken by the mouth of Jared. (Ether 1)

Omer: 

Ether 9:34 "...Now when the people saw that they must perish they began to repent of their iniquities and cry unto the Lord."

Conclusion

Now that we've added in these two details, I think our list is pretty strong.  So many common elements between these eight stories cannot be a coincidence. The creation of a new covenant people is recorded with these Adam and Eve symbols in order to tell the reader they were striving to fulfill the first commandment God gave to Adam and Eve.

In the next part, we'll look at a few additional scripture stories and see how the archetypal Adam and Eve endowment narrative follows in the stories of Christ, Moses, Abraham, Enos, Lehi's dream, and a few others. Recognizing the pattern helps us unlock additional meaning from these important stories.

Endowment Narratives in the Book of Mormon, Part 2b -- The (second half of the) Big Picture

This post will continue detailing five additional examples of the "endowment pattern" I am describing in this series. By the end of this post, I hope you will be convinced that there is a pattern. Future posts will detail the deeper meaning of the pattern.  

Please read part 1 and part 2a if you haven't already. I will discuss the significance and possible symbolic significance of each symbol in future posts. I will also outline how this pattern fits a pattern we also see in the accounts of Adam and Eve, Abraham, and Moses.

As a side note -- The first two examples given below are variants of the main pattern. I'll explain more about this in a future post. I believe there is a purpose for these stories, and the contrast between the two accounts helps teach an important spiritual lessons. This is a technique frequently employed by Mormon, as detailed in a recent series of posts (here, here, and here).

Let's get into the details for the five additional examples:

Limhi

	Detail	Limhi (variant account -- no prophet among them)
1	Warned to depart	By Gideon and a consensus of the people (Mosiah 22: 1, 3)
2	Escaping from secret combinations/plan to murder	"Bondage by the sword" (Mosiah 22:2)
3	Bring all who would "hearken"/listen	The people prosper by hearkening to Gideon (Mosiah 22:3,9)
4	Pass through a wilderness	Mosiah 22:2, 6, 8, 11-13
5	"Many days"	Mosiah 22:13
6	Tents	Mosiah 22:2
7	Animals	Mosiah 22:2, 6, 8, 10, 11
8	Inherit a new land	Joined Mosiah's people (Mosiah 22:13)
9	New names	---
10	Obedience to the commandments of God	---
11	Abundance/Prosper	---
12	Led by a righteous patriarch/king/royal family member	No prophet among them -- their king was a good man but not a prophet

Alma-1

	Detail	Alma-1 (double pattern)	second pattern (escaping Amulon)
1	Warned to depart	Mosiah 23:1	Mosiah 24:13
2	Escaping from secret combinations/plan to murder	"wicked priests of King Noah would come upon them" (Mosiah 23:1)	"persecution" Mosiah 24:8, see also verse 11
3	Bring all who would "hearken"/listen	Mosiah 18:3	---
4	Pass through a wilderness	Mosiah 23:1	Mosiah 24:20
5	"Many days"	"eight days' journey" (Mosiah 23:3)	"all day" Mosiah 24:20
6	Tents	Mosiah 23:5	Mosiah 24:20
7	Animals	Mosiah 23:1	Mosiah 24:18
8	Inherit a new land	Mosiah 23:4	"Valley of Alma" Mosiah 24:20
9	New names	(see Mosiah 18:10)	Mosiah 24:20
10	Obedience to the commandments of God	Mosiah 23:18	---
11	Abundance/Prosper	Mosiah 23:19	---
12	Led by a righteous patriarch/king/royal family member	Alma-1 refused to be their king	Alma-1 refused to be their king

Additional Notes: There is a third mini-iteration of the pattern when Alma is warned by the Lord that the enemy is approaching and they "took their journey into the wilderness" for twelve days and traveled to Zarahemla

Anti-Nephi-Lehi

	Detail	Anti-Nephi Lehi
1	Warned to depart	Alma 27:11-12
2	Escaping from secret combinations/plan to murder	Alma 27:2
3	Bring all who would "hearken"/listen	** (see Alma 27:14)
4	Pass through a wilderness	Alma 27:14
5	"Many days"	implied in Alma 27:15-25
6	Tents	Alma 27:25
7	Animals	Alma 27:14
8	Inherit a new land	Alma 27:22, 24
9	New names	"they were called by the Nephites the people of Ammon; therefore they were distinguished by that name ever after." (Alma 27:26)
10	Obedience to the commandments of God	"perfectly honest and upright in all things" (Alma 27:27)
11	Abundance/Prosper	"a highly favored people of the Lord" (Alma 27:30)
12	Led by a righteous patriarch/king/royal family member	Lamoni -- ANL; also Ammon son of Mosiah

Jared

	Detail	Jared
1	Warned to depart	The Lord commands them to gather and depart in Ether 1:40-41
2	Escaping from secret combinations/plan to murder	N/A (but the Lord was confounding and scattering the people because of the Tower of Babel
3	Bring all who would "hearken"/listen	Families and "friends" (Ether 1:37)
4	Pass through a wilderness	"the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been." (Ether 2:5)
5	"Many days"	four years (Ether 2:13-14)
6	Tents	Ether 2:13
7	Animals	"of every kind" Ether 1:41; 6:4
8	Inherit a new land	Ether 1:38, 42; 2:7-12, 15;
9	New names	---
10	Obedience to the commandments of God	Ether 6:17
11	Abundance/Prosper	Ether 6:28
12	Led by a righteous patriarch/king/royal family member	First prophet is BoJ; first king is his son Orihah

Additional notes: They are commanded to gather animals and grain "of every kind" (Ether 1:; see also Ether 2:3 "all manner of that which was upon the face of the land, seeds of every kind."

Omer

	Detail	Omer - Emer -- Corinatumr
1	Warned to depart	Ether 9:3
2	Escaping from secret combinations/plan to murder	Ether 9:1, 5
3	Bring all who would "hearken"/listen	"all his household but Jared" (Ether 9:3)
4	Pass through a wilderness	Shim and Ablom; no definite wilderness
5	"Many days"	Ether 9:3
6	Tents	Ether 9:3
7	Animals	Ether 9:17-18
8	Inherit a new land	"a place which was called Ablom" (Ether 9:3)
9	New names	---
10	Obedience to the commandments of God	Ether 9:21
11	Abundance/Prosper	"All manner of ..." Ether 9:17-19; "Exceedingly rich" Ether 9:16
12	Led by a righteous patriarch/king/royal family member	Omer -- Emer -- Coriantumr

Conclusion of this part

Between this post and part 2a, we have detailed eight examples of this same pattern. I hope you will take the time to read each account in this set of examples and notice how tight the pattern is.  It seems clear to me that the author of each of these accounts was intending to show that each of these groups were embarking on a new path and playing the role of Adam and Eve on their journey to a new land.

As I stated above, in the next part I'll begin detailing what these symbols mean and how they fit into a temple/covenant context.