Ups and Downs

 

Lehi’s group landed from the “west sea,” thus they landed on the west side of the Delmarva Peninsula. After Lehi's death, Nephi, and those willing to go with him, fled to a higher elevation a sufficient distance away from his brothers and there built a city called “Nephi.” A distance of 50-60 miles would be sufficient given the population size of his brothers search party and that this was an unknown area. It most likely wouldn’t be much greater distance than this since there were wars among the Nephites and Lamanites in the first generation from landing in the new world.   

 

Near the city of Nephi are the lands of Shemlon and Shilom. These lands could be seen from a tower that Noah had built near the Temple in the city of Nephi. There are multiple references to a hill north of Shilom. Often, hills are given names and the fact that this one is only referred to as “the hill” suggests there are not many hills nearby. This is a mostly flat peninsula, which makes it possible for King Noah to build another tower on this “hill north of Shilom” and be able to see many lands from there. The city of Nephi is almost everywhere referred to as going “up,” thus higher in elevation. The one exception is when they go down to the city of Nephi from the hill north of Shilom. This suggests that even though there is an increase in elevation to get to Nephi, it’s still lower than the “hill” north of Shilom. Ups and downs do not need to be extreme changes in elevations, but do need to be noticeable as one travels.



The City of Nephi would be in the red, higher elevation area. The land of Shilom would be south of the hill and within viewing distance of the City of Nephi.

 

Glass Hill is a good candidate for the "hill north of Shilom." 

The oval area is the Patuxent Valley where Zarahemla in the north and Manti in the south would be located since one goes "down" to those places. 








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