Travelling in the wilderness

[GaleG 21]

Hello,
 
I had some questions on this section.
 
1 Nephi 17:2 says "And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while  
we did live upon (b)raw (c)meat in the wilderness ..."
 
'Raw' is linked to verse 12 - "For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should  
make much fire, as we journeyed in the wilderness; for he said: I will make thy food  
become sweet, that ye cook it not".
 
'Meat' is linked to a passage in the Old Testament. "And it came to pass, that at  
even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round  
about the host".
 
Does this linked reference imply God wanted the Israelites in the exodus from Egypt  
to eat raw quail?  In the Old or New Testaments, did God ever allow the Israelites  
to eat uncooked meat?
 
1 Nephi 17:4 says they journeyed many years in the wilderness and then specifically
mentions 8 years.  Then verse 7 says that the word of the Lord came to Nephi after he
was in the land of Bountiful for many days.  Verse 20 makes another reference to being
led in the wilderness for many years. 1 Nephi 18:9 makes another reference to being  
blown by the wind towards the promised land for many days.   
 
If 'many years' is 8 years, how many days is 'many days'?
 
Thank you,
 
Gale

[Vort 15155]

In the (KJV) Bible, the word "meat" means "food" in every case. What we call "meat" is identified in the KJV as "flesh". This is in accordance with English word usage in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, where "meat" meant simply something you eat, not necessarily animal flesh (from Old English mete ‘food’ or ‘article of food’ (as in sweetmeat ), of Germanic origin). In Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon, he used the word "meat" to mean animal flesh, which by that time was commonly understood in the English-speaking world.

I do not believe the "meat" link is meant to suggest that the children of Israel ate their quails uncooked. Rather, it just points up another incident where God supplied his wandering people with animal flesh for food.

"Many days" is an indeterminate number. In my estimation, it generally implies months or years, not just weeks. When the Book of Moses tells us that Adam sacrificed for "many days" before the angel came, I assume that means years, not merely weeks or months.

[zil 11318]

@GaleG, There's a book called "Lehi in the Desert", which you can read online for free at that link, which gives a lot of cultural / historic / geographic background information, making it easier to understand the story at the start of the Book of Mormon.  (The other 2/3 of that book cover similar things about the people in the book of Ether (later in the Book of Mormon).)  Just mentioning in case you want to read.  It's a very easy read, much like reading a novel.

[GaleG 21]

On 2/9/2019 at 3:45 PM, zil said:

@GaleG, There's a book called "Lehi in the Desert", which you can read online for free at that link, which gives a lot of cultural / historic / geographic background information, making it easier to understand the story at the start of the Book of Mormon.  (The other 2/3 of that book cover similar things about the people in the book of Ether (later in the Book of Mormon).)  Just mentioning in case you want to read.  It's a very easy read, much like reading a novel.

Thank you Zil.

[Guest Mores]

On 2/9/2019 at 1:47 PM, GaleG said:

If 'many years' is 8 years, how many days is 'many days'?

I don't know.  Would it be... 8?