Looking for Zarahemla

When King Limhi and his people were struggling under the oppressive hand of the Lamanites, they sought to go down from the land of Nephi to the land of Zarahemla for help.  Limhi explained, “Being grieved for the afflictions of my people, I caused that forty and three of my people should take a journey into the wilderness, that thereby they might find the land of Zarahemla, that we might appeal unto our brethren to deliver us out of bondage” (Mosiah 8:7).  They were attempting to make essentially the same journey that Mosiah had made with the Nephites many years earlier when they originally settled at Zarahemla, and of course they were trying to make the reverse journey that Zeniff had originally made.  We also know that the journey from the land of Nephites to Zarahemla had also been made by the Lamanites, for “in the days of king Benjamin, a serious war and much bloodshed between the Nephites and the Lamanites” (Omni 1:24).  Since it is fairly certain the Nephites did not go up to the land of Nephi to attack the Lamanites, the Lamanites must have come down to Zarahemla to fight.  The path that Limhi’s group was trying to find was, it seems, fairly well traveled.       

             It therefore seems odd that Limhi’s people would not know the way, that the knowledge of the route from the Lamanites to the Nephites wouldn’t be better known to them.  It may have been really divine intervention that kept them off the right path, for clearly He had other things for them in mind.  Limhi recounted what happened to them, “And they were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel” (Mosiah 8:8).  So they went in search of the land of Zarahemla and instead found the remains of the Jaredites.  It is interesting to note that to get to where the Jaredites were—in the land northward—they had to go past Zarahemla.  They would have also gone past the land of Bountiful (which is north of Zarahemla), through the narrow pass, and then into the land northward.  We don’t know the exact distances here of course, but clearly they were way off the mark.  But the Lord knew where He wanted them, and He led them to the twenty-four plates.  It’s not hard to see why they came across the remains of the people since those were scattered everywhere.  But the fact that they found the records of the people amidst a land “covered with ruins of buildings of every kind”—while at the same time missing the whole Nephite civilization—is truly miraculous.  There is no question that they must have been led to the Lord.  And perhaps it is a lesson for us that the Lord may be leading us even if we don’t feel like we are headed towards the place we are trying to get to.