Is there a difference between the “land of Jerusalem” and the city of Jerusalem?

Thomas R. Valletta

“Lehi ‘dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days’ (1 Nephi 1:4), yet his sons had to ‘go down to the land of our father’s inheritance’ to pick up their property (1 Nephi 3:16, 22). The apparent anomaly is readily explained by the Amarna Letters, in which we read that ‘a city of the land of Jerusalem, Bet-Ninib, has been captured.’ It was the rule in Palestine and Syria from ancient times … for a large area around a city and all the inhabitants of that area to bear the name of the city. … But this was quite unknown at the time the Book of Mormon was written” (Nibley, Approach to the Book of Mormon, 101–2).

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