Jehovah commanded that they depart, but did not leave them without guidance. Lehi finds “a round ball of curious workmanship.” We will not learn the name for this round ball until Alma 37:38, where we are told that it is “the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass.” It is only called by that name this one time in the text. Mostly it is described as “the director,” rather than use the foreign word. This may indicate that Liahona really wasn’t the name, but rather something that it was called in a different language. There is no accepted etymology for Liahona.
Another concept that is important to our understanding of the ball, or director, is that it was “of curious workmanship.” In Joseph’s day, “curious workmanship” referred to careful or intricate workmanship. Thus, it is intended to speak of the quality, not anything unusual about it.
The two spindles which show the way make for confusing directions. One might expect that if the two spindles pointed in different directions, that one would not know where to go. This, however, might be exactly what was intended. The director worked according to faith. Thus Jehovah was behind the spindles. If the two aligned, it would not have been random chance, but a divine direction. Therefore, they would know which way to go. Without divine direction, the spindles would separate and the ability to guide them would be lost.