[e-mail]
By Doctor Jerry Ainsworth
Since living in Salt Lake City during the last three months, I have had the opportunity to speak with a variety of people concerning The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni. Invariably when we engage in this discussion I am asked about the view that the Book of Mormon took place, at least partially, around the great lakes. Principle among those questions, indeed challenges is the account of Zelph.
I have therefore decided to revisit this account and share my views on what this account may imply and what it may not. At the on-set, let me say that I accept the fact that the Prophet Joseph Smith did indeed identify the bones that were exhumed as being the remains of an ancient man named Zelph.
The thrust of the questions posed to me about this account is that the event is proof that the battle of Cumorah took place in or around the banks of the Missouri river. I will present the essentials of the story as given in Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 3, by Joseph Fielding Smith.
The Zelph incident event took place in June of 1834. There are seven written accounts of what the Prophet Joseph Smith said, when shown the remains of this man. Joseph Smith himself never recorded the account. Joseph Fielding Smith quotes Wilford Woodruff’s account, which is the only account of the seven that mentions Cumorah. The other six accounts simple state that Zelph served under a great prophet named Onandagus, who was known from the eastern seaboard, to the Rocky Mountains. I will give Wilford Woodruff’s account, as presented in Joseph Fielding Smith’s book.
“The brethren procured a shovel and a hoe, and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot, discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between his ribs the stone point of a Lamanitish arrow, which evidently produced his death. Elder Burr Riggs retained the arrow. The contemplation of the scenery around us produced peculiar sensations in our bosoms; and subsequently the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large thickset man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph. He was a warrior and a chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains. The curse was taken from Zelph, or at least, in part – one of his thigh bones was broken by a stone flung from a sling, while in battle, years before is death. He was killed in battle by the arrow found among his ribs, during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites.”
Joseph Fielding Smith also quotes the account in Heber C. Kimball’s journal, to wit:
“While on our way we felt anxious to know who the person was who had been killed by that arrow. It was made known to Joseph that he had been an officer who fell in battle, in the last destruction among the Lamanites, and his name was Zelph.”
You will notice that Heber C. Kimball’s journal does not mention Cumorah, nor did any of the other five men who made journal entries of this event. Cumorah is only mentioned in the account of Wilford Woodruff. Most scholars conclude that the term “Cumorah” was added to the comments of Joseph, as the writer just assumed Missouri was the land of Cumorah. Evidence of this is that the account mentioned in the other six journals, do not indicate that the prophet Joseph included the name Cumorah. For more documentation and insight on this issue, see In Search of Cumorah by David Palmer.
Excluding the mention of Cumorah, which is assumed to be an errant entry, here is a summary of the several facets of this event:
1. Zelph was a white Lamanite
2. Zelph was a Lamanite warrior/chieftain, and a man of God
3. Zelph served under a great prophet named Onandagus
4. Zelph was killed in the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites
5. Zelph was killed by a Lamanitish arrow
Looking over these five points, I ask, “Is there anything in these five points that would lead me to conclude that this warrior was killed in the battle of Cumorah?” The answer is “No, there is nothing that would lead me to believe that, indeed, just the contrary.”
According to Mormon, there were no Nephites or Lamanites that were “men of God,” during his tenure as commander of the Nephite nation.
In 4 Nephi 1:45-46 Mormon writes:
“And it came to pass that when three hundred years had passed away, both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceeding wicked one like unto another.”
“And it came to pass that the robbers of Gadianton did spread over the face of the land; and there were none that were righteous save it were the disciples of Jesus…”
These two verses from Mormon make it clear that during his life time, there were no “men of God,” in the lands of the Book of Mormon, either Nephite or Lamanite. The one exception to this statement was the Three Disciples, who were themselves removed soon after this was written by Mormon. If there were no “men of God,” among the Lamanites or Nephites during Mormon’s day, that pretty well excludes a Lamanite warrior, (man of God), being killed at the battle of Cumorah, indeed a man of God of either group. It certainly excludes a Lamanite that was so righteous that he had turned white.
This leads me to believe that Zelph may have been a Lamanite man of God, but was not killed during the battle of Cumorah, which addresses and explains
items # 1 and # 2.
Item # 3 indicates that Zelph served under a great prophet named Onandagus and this prophet was known from the eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains. During Mormon’s day, the Lamanites did not serve under a prophet of any kind. They served under the very wicked King Aaron, (see Mormon 2:9 and Mormon 6:2).
Onandagus was a righteous prophet of God, while the King and commander of the Lamanites, King Aaron was a wicked and brutal cannibal, (see Moroni 9:7-10).
Not only were the Nephite and Lamanite armies devoid of any men of God, but Mormon says of them, “And there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as among this people.”
Mormon is not describing conditions in which a Lamanite warrior would lose his dark skin color because of his being a man of God. Nor is he describing a prophet who would have been the commander of a Lamanite warrior, such as the one named Zelph.
In
item # 4, the account indicates that Zelph was killed in the last great struggle between the Nephites and Lamanites. The battle of Cumorah was not the last great struggle between the Nephites and the Lamanites. The battle of Cumorah took place in AD 385.
The struggle in which Mormon was killed, took place in AD 399, some fourteen years later, (see Moroni 9:24 and Mormon 8:1-8). Mormon had been chased by the Lamanites for fourteen years after the battle of Cumorah and assumedly he had traveled many miles from Cumorah during those fourteen years.
Not only did the Lamanites and Nephites continue to have military struggles after Cumorah, culminating in the death of Mormon, but the Lamanites continued to chase Moroni for an additional 21 years. During those years, the Lamanites “put to death every Nephite who would *not deny the Christ.” (see Moroni 1:1-2)
And lastly,
item # 5, which states that Zelph was killed by a Lamanite arrow. Why would Lamanites be killing Lamanites?
*I remind the reader that the 3rd chapter of Helaman states that during the time period of BC 50 to BC 40, thousands of Nephites and Lamanites, (People of Ammon) had left the lands of the Nephites and Lamanites and gone into the land northward to get away from the wars of these two groups. Lamanites (the People of Ammon) would therefore have been in the land northward for almost 400 years before Mormon was chased in that direction after the battle of Cumorah.
So, there were no righteous Nephites or Lamanites in their lands, (the land southward). There were however, still righteous Nephites and Lamanites in the land northward. Proof of this can be found in Moroni 1:1-2 where the Lamanites are putting to death every Nephite who “will not deny the Christ,” and in Moroni 7:1-5, where Mormon is preaching to members of the church who are going to the Celestial Kingdom and who he represents as “having a peaceful walk with the children of men.” In other words, the People of Ammon, who were certainly people of God and who did lived in the land northward, could have easily migrated as far as Missouri, during these 400 years. They were just not part of the Nephite or Lamanite nation, per se.
Not only does Helaman indicate these righteous Lamanites went into the land northward along with thousands of Nephites, but states “there were many of the people of Ammon, who were Lamanites by birth, did also go forth into this land. And now there are many records kept of the proceedings of this people, which are particular and very large, concerning them.”
We therefore know that during Mormon’s day there were righteous Nephites and righteous Lamanites living in the land northward, and were still living the gospel. Not only had they separated them selves from the Nephite and Lamanite nations, but they were keeping their own records. I suggest they probably also had a prophet who led them – one different from Mormon.
I suggest this prophet’s name could have been Onandagus. If there was indeed a person from the People of Ammon serving as a warrior under a prophet named Onandagus, it could explain two things. It could explain how this Lamanite was a man of God. It could also explain how he had lost the curse of dark skin. From what little we are told about the People of Ammon they were certainly people who lived the gospel.
This could also explain why Zelph had been killed by a Lamanite arrow. Even though he was a Lamanite, remember the wicked Lamanites hated the People of Ammon because of their belief in the teachings of the Savior. Therefore it would make sense to me for those Lamanites who had been chasing Moroni for 21 years to encounter a Lamanite warrior, (from the People of Ammon), who was a man of God, a Lamanite warrior named Zelph. I assume the Lamanites chasing Moroni, would want to put such a man to death.
Putting the story in this context, all of the five points of the story identified by me, now make sense. They don’t make sense, if you attempt to force this story into the battle of Cumorah.
I believe the remains of a Lamanite warrior, who was a man of God, was discovered on the banks of the Missouri river. I believe that the Prophet Joseph did identify him as Zelph, and that he was involved in the last struggle between the Lamanites and Nephites. That struggle was in the lands of the Missouri river, some 36 years after, and thousands of miles from the location of the battle of Cumorah. The remains of Zelph were therefore not found in the lands of Cumorah, but in the north countries. (see Ether 1:1).
NOTE:
It will be noted that Helaman 3:13 indicates that the People of Ammon, who went into the land northward 400 years before Moroni was there, were keeping their own records. One would assume that the People of Ammon were also keeping their records on gold plates. This may explain where Moroni got the additional gold plates he needed in order to finish his record, as there was almost no space left on the plates his father gave him.
(see Mormon 8:5)