Artifacts

Writing of the Liahona, also called a ball or director, Finley notes that “elsewhere this device was called a ‘compass’ (1 Nephi 18:12). The principle behind the compass apparently was first discovered in the twelfth century” (p. 362). We were surprised Finley adopted this old canard long used by critics of the Book of Mormon. The objection raised here fails to note that Nephi at no time suggests that this was a magnetic compass! This instrument, used by European mariners only since the twelfth or thirteenth century, derives its name from an English word meaning “round,” because of its circular designation of 360 degrees of arc. (The compass we use for drawing circles is certainly not magnetic.) The Liahona was, indeed, a round object (see 1 Nephi 16:10); hence the name compass is perfectly acceptable. That a magnetic compass was not intended is easily demonstrable by Nephi’s statement that “the pointers which were in the ball . . . did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them” (1 Nephi 16:28; see also v. 29).

Commenting on 1 Nephi 16:18, 21, Finley asserts that “there is no evidence I am aware of for bows made of steel in ancient times. The ‘bow of steel’ mentioned several times in the KJV should actually be a ‘bow of bronze’” (p. 363). This is another long-standing but unwarranted criticism. The English word steel, together with the KJV passages regarding the “bow of steel,” did not originally denote carburized iron as it does today. It originally denoted anything hard, and we still use the verbal form “to steel” in the sense of “to harden.” Webster’s 1828 dictionary, which reflects usage in Joseph Smith’s day, defines steel not only as iron mixed with carbon but notes that its derivation is “probably from setting, fixing, hardness.” One of the four meanings of the noun is “extreme hardness; as heads or hearts of steel,” while it is used figuratively of “weapons; particularly, offensive weapons, swords, spears and the like.” One of the meanings of the verbal form is “to make hard or extremely hard.” So just like the “bow of steel” in the KJV (2 Samuel 22:35; Job 20:24; Psalm 18:34), Nephi’s bow may have consisted of a copper alloy like bronze. However, it is likely that the metal was only one component of the bow. Roland de Vaux argued that the “bronze bow” in the biblical passages “refers to the metal covering of certain bows,” sometimes used to reinforce composite bows.