The Triumph of Cumorah

One of the questions about the Book of Mormon that is argued about still today is where the Cumorah mentioned in the Book of Mormon actually was.  In particular, there are some who believe as was traditionally thought in the days of the early Saints that it was literally the same as the Hill Cumorah where Joseph received the plates.  Others, though, who believe the Book of Mormon took place in current day Guatemala and southern Mexico contend that there are two Cumorahs: the one mentioned in the Book of Mormon somewhere in southern Mexico and then the other where Joseph received the plates. 

From the text itself we know that the Nephites were in the “land northward” when they gathered at Cumorah.  We see that when they were in the midst of their fighting in those final Nephite years, “the Lamantes did give unto [the Nephites] the land northward, yea, even to the narrow passage which led to the land southward” (Mormon 2:29).  This was in the place that the Nephites called Desolation, and eventually the Lamanites overtook that, and, as far as I can tell, pushed the Nephites further north until they grouped together at Cumorah.  We read that the Nephites “did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and [they] did pitch our tents around about the hill Cumorah; and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains” (Mormon 6:4).  This matches the description of the land northward that we read of when an earlier great migration in that direction had taken place: the Nephites had traveled north to a land with “large bodies of water and many rivers” (Helaman 3:4).  At any rate, from the description of the geography that we have leading up to this final battle, I think the text is pretty clear that the Nephites were in the general vicinity of everything else that happened in the Book of Mormon.  They were north of the narrow neck of land (which was just north of Bountiful), and while they were perhaps even hundreds of miles north, it is very improbable that they were thousands of miles north.  So for those who believe that Guatemala/southern Mexico is where the Book of Mormon took place, a Hill Cumorah in the Book of Mormon being in modern day New York is an impossibility.  And for those who believe in only one Cumorah, that means that the Book of Mormon must have taken place close enough to where Joseph found the plates that the final battle could be there.     
                I certainly don’t have the answer as to whether there were two Cumorahs or not—I can appreciate both sides of the argument and I’m not sure we’ll know anything definitively until the Lord will come and “reveal all things” including “things which have passed” (D&C 101:32-33).  But whether there was only one or two, I still love the symbolism of having the Book of Mormon come forth out of Cumorah.  Cumorah in the Book of Mormon was the place where the Nephites were exterminated, where death and iniquity reigned and where their thousand year history essentially ended.  It was a place where Satan had his victory and the blessings of heaven departed the Nephites.  So how fitting that a sort of “resurrection” could come forth from a place of the same name: the coming forth of the Book of Mormon out of the Hill Cumorah represented the rebirth of knowledge of “the covenants of the Lord” and showed the remnant of the house of Israel that “they are not cast off forever” (see the Title Page).  As Joseph said in great jubilation, “And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed” (D&C 128:20).  The modern day Cumorah to me represents the redemption of that place, the triumph of good over evil, the symbol that death and evil will not last forever and that Christ and His gospel will in the end have the victory over Satan.  “And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!” (D&C 128:23)