8 And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.
Lehi makes the valid point here that if this land were not
hidden it would be overrun. This has been considered by the Lord to be a choice
land from the very early days of human history. At some point it appears to
have been physically separated from other landmasses. This can be seen by
looking at a world map. The east side of the Americas looks like a match for
the west side of the old world. It seems a reasonable conclusion to say that
this was for the purpose of preserving it as a Promised Land, and keeping
knowledge of it from those who were not led here. I don’t think we know when
that separation happened, but it may have been during the days of Peleg, a
descendant of Shem (see Genesis 10: 25). The Bible says the earth was divided
in his days, which would make it some time after
the great flood, if we understand this verse to mean the physical separation of
landmasses. However, it could also refer to the time of the Tower of Babel,
when the people were divided into nations, based on language. If that is the
case, then the land was divided prior to that, since the Jaredites were led here
at that time, and they had to cross the oceans (see Ether 1: 33; 2: 6).
This is not as important as the fact that this land was kept
from the world. One of the reasons for that is that if this land was long
established at the time of Joseph Smith the chances of there being religious
freedom to restore the Gospel would have been slim. That was critical for God’s
plan to move forward in this dispensation. I think that is why it was so
important that the land not be overrun by other nations too early.
- 3 Nephi 5: 20
