The Liahona—a Compass or Mystical Instrument?

An interesting inquiry has been sent in, quoting a comment from a FARMS (Neal A. Maxwell Institute) 1991 article by James H. Fleugel, about the Liahona. I thought it important enough to write an entire post about it.

Inquiry:  “I read in an article from the Neal A. Maxwell Institute that the Liahona was not a magnetic compass, but rather it is clearly described as a revelatory device dependent not upon magnetism but upon obedience to the Lord (1 Nephi 18:12). The Book of Mormon makes this explicit, but because the translation also uses "compass" and because some interpret this only to be a magnetic compass, they think themselves into an anachronism. Doesn’t this throw your interpretation out the window?”

Response: This article was written as a FARMS review (a polite word FARMS often uses in its reviews, but which more often is little more than a direct criticism) of a book written by Arthur J. Kocherhans entitled “Lehi’s Isle of Promise.” I happen to know Art quite well and agree with most of what he has written. But to limit this response to your direct comment, let me suggest the following:

1) Noah Webster’s “1828 American Dictionary of the English Language” is a seminal work for at least three reasons: a) Webster felt inspired of the Lord to undertake and publish such work, and writes extensively about this experience, b) He captured the language known in the New England world during the time Joseph Smith was growing up and translating the Book of Mormon, and c) He provides us with the English language as known in the early 1800s which provides us a greater insight into the meaning of words written at that time, i.e., the translated Book of Mormon.

This does not mean that Joseph Smith knew about this dictionary, of course, but he was familiar with the English language as it was spoken at the time in his locality and how it appeared in the King James Bible of which he was a student—which gives us a better understanding of what words in the Book of Mormon meant to Joseph Smith as he used them in the translation of Mormon’s abridgement found upon the plates. It should be noted that Noah Webster was very familiar with the English language as it was spoken in New England during this time, and was quite familiar with the Bible, which quotes he often used in his definitions to give the reader a better understanding of the explanation.

2) The Liahona, as it is described, had these qualities: a) It had two spindles, which word is described by Noah Webster and known in Joseph Smith’s day as “a slender pointed rod or pin…that turns,” and also described as a “pivot,” which, in turn, is described as “a pin on which anything turns,” which sounds very much like the needle in any compass. One of these spindles “pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:10), which also sounds like a compass. In fact, three verses later (second paragraph afterward in the original publication), Nephi describes that direction as “nearly a south-southeast direction” (1 Nephi 16:13), and overall sounds strangely like a compass heading; and, by the way, these spindles are also called pointers (1 Nephi 16:27); b) The Liahona had other properties than the two spindles, since it held writing on the ball itself, as Lehi was instructed, “Look upon the ball, and behold the things which are written (1 Nephi 16:26). Nephi says “my father beheld the things which were written upon the ball” (1 Nephi 16:27).

3) The Liahona worked by faith, that is, “they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them” (1 Nephi 16:28), and also ceased to work in the presence of evil, or disobedience (1 Nephi 18:12), and obviously worked in the hands of the obedient (1 Nephi 18:21).

4) The Liahona is actually called a compass by Joseph Smith, and the word compass in his day meant “an instrument for directing or ascertaining the course…a circular box, containing a paper card marked with the thirty two points of direction, fixed on a magnetic needle, that always points to the north.” Thus Joseph Smith, in using the word “compass,” which is taken from Nephi’s direct quote (2 Nephi 5:12), must have understood through the Spirit that the Liahona was, indeed, a compass. In fact, Alma makes that quite clear when he said to his son, “I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director -- or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass; and the Lord prepared it” (Alma 37:38). “Which is, being interpreted, a compass”! Now why is that description used by Alma? Obvious, because it was a compass—that is it pointed the way to the 32-points of direction! Whether it was magnetic or not is never mentioned, but just because “magnetic” is not used, does not mean it didn’t work under the principle of magnetism like any compass today; however, having said that, it doesn’t preclude the Lord from interfering with this magnetic attraction when the Liahona didn’t work.

5) According to Fleugel, there is no implication in the text of the Book of Mormon itself that the Liahona was a magnetic compass. Actually, it can also be said that there is no implication in the text of the Book of Mormon itself that the Liahona was not a magnetic compass. In fact, there seems to be more indication (spindle, pointer, pointed the way, etc.) that it was a compass, or worked under a very similar system as the compass we use today.

7) Fleugel states of the Liahona: “Rather, it is clearly described as a revelatory device dependent not upon magnetism but upon obedience to the Lord.” However, the fact of the matter is, the scriptural record does not say that at all. It does not say the Liahona was not dependent upon magnetism when it “pointed the way.” Fleugel here injects his own opinion, not supported by the scriptural record, that the Liahona did not operate upon magnetism. That does not mean it was not also reliant upon faith and obedience to the Lord. Or, stated differently, when the holder of the ball was obedient and faithful, it operated, when he was not, it did not operate. We are not told that when it operated, under what physical condition it operated. That condition could well be magnetism. On the other hand, when disobedient, the Lord shut down the operation. It appears that Fleugel is trying to make his own case here for a non-magnetic compass—could that be because Fleugel, like almost everyone at FARMS (now Maxwell Institute) is sold on Mesoamerica, which is some 90º off the compass reading of north/south, and a true compass in the hands of the Nephites would clearly eliminate Mesoamerica from any possibility of being the Land of Promise? Hmmm.

6) Anochrism – because Joseph Smith used a word does not mean Nephi used that particular word. Translation, after all, is not a word for word matter, but a meaning for meaning transfer. This is both an absurd and misleading comment made by Fleugel. The word in reformed Egyptian that Mormon used is unknown, however, its meaning was translated into 1829 English language as “compass.”

Thus, the Liahona is called a Ball (because of its shape), a compass (because it pointed the way) and a Director (because it gave written information). Honestly, is there any difference between saying “we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:16), than in saying, “we did follow the directions of the compass needle, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness”? Or is there any difference in saying, “And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:10), than in saying, “And within the compass was a needle, which pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.”

It is hard to get around the fact that this was a compass—a special compass to be sure—but a compass is, basically, a method of determining direction. How it works is less important than that it did work. And according to Nephi’s own words after obtaining the compass, he knew in which compass direction they were heading and used those terms in his writing, such as south-southeast and nearly eastward. Both directions can be tracked by the physical appearance of the ground he traveled. So, it would appear, Nephi knew the cardinal directions as a result of having this compass. Which would mean, and a point FARMS simply cannot accept, that Nephi knew which direction was north, south, east and west after landing in the Land of Promise. And Mormon, also having the Liahona, would also have known, and used in his abridgement of the Nephite record. All of this, of course, shows that Mesoamerica could not possibly be the Land of Promise since it is oriented mostly east and west rather than north and south, which, it seems obvious, is the reason Fleugel in his review makes a point of this to discredit the Nephites from knowing directions as we know them today.