More on Enos, Jarom and Omni

 Let me first say this about the Book of Mormon:  I know that the Book of Mormon was inspired of God and that He guided the hands of the prophets that recorded it.  I know of a certainty that the Book of Mormon provides us with a witness of Christ's divine mission.  I have learned from the Book of Mormon about how others lives were affected by their devotion to Jesus Christ and how I should live my life.  There is no physical evidence, historical evidence, geographical evidence, logical evidence, or any other non-spiritual evidence that would convince me that the Book of Mormon is true more that the spiritual witness I have received through the power of the Holy Ghost (see Moroni 10:4-5).

That being said, I want to comment about the time line represented in the books of Enos, Jarom and Omni  along with the books of 1st and 2nd Nephi and of the book of Jacob.   As I read it, this is the time line presented in Jacob and the three short books:
~600 B.C. -  Lehi and his family after the Jews persecute them.
~592 B.C. -  Lehi, and family reach the land Bountiful.  My guess is that Nephi is about 25 at this point.  Nephi is commanded to build a ship.
~590 B.C. -  Ship building is finished, they get on board and sail for the promised land.  Births of Jacob and Joseph are mentioned.  I think that Jacob is the older of the two and is probably 4 or 5 at this point.
~589 B.C. -  The family reaches the promised land and begin building a new life.  Nephi makes small plates and records in them.
569 B.C.   -  Lehi's death is recorded.
559 B.C.   -  Nephites and Lamanites have split apart, Nephites prosper.
544 B.C.   -  Jacob now has and writes in the small plates of Nephi.  Nephi's death is recorded.  If my guess is correct, this would make Nephi about 75 when he dies.
544 - 420 B.C.   -  Jacob lives his life and then passes the records to Enos.  Neither Jacob nor Enos mentions the year this took place, so we can't be sure how old Jacob was when he died.  Enos lives a life of teaching, preaching and service and hands the plates over to Jarom in 420 B.C.
361 B.C.  -  Jarom, after having the plates of Nephi for 61 years, passes them to Omni.
317 B.C.  -  Omni has possession of the plates of Nephi for about 44 years, and writes a few things on them according to his father's directive then passes them on to Amaron.
279 B.C.  -  Amaron writes on the plates of Nephi, passes them to his brother Chemish, who also writes in them.

279 - 130 B.C. - During this time, the plates are passed to Abinadom, Chemish's son.  Abinadom gives the plates of Nephi to Amaleki.  Amaleki lives his life; he talks somewhat about King Mosiah and his son Benjamin.  Amaleki doesn't have any heir to bestow the plates to, so he gives them to King Benjamin.
130 B.C.  -  King Benjamin bestows the kingdom upon his son Mosiah.

Notice the gap in time between when Jacob takes the plates of Nephi and when Enos gives the plates to Jarom (from 544 B.C. to 420 B.C, or 124 years).  Notice also the gap from 279 B.C. when Abinadom receives the plates to 130 B.C. which is when Benjamin makes his son Mosiah the king.

I'll discuss the second gap first.  With some thought I have been able to understand how the seemed gap in time could be accounted for....  Mind you, this is pure speculation on my part.  Amaron and Chemish write in the plates in the year 279 B.C.  I am guessing that Chemish is probably Amaron's younger brother; more importantly, Chemish has heirs to pass the plates along to.  At some point in time, Chemish gets old and charges his son, Abinadom, with the small plates of Nephi.  Abinadom writes a small amount in them and in due time passes them to his son Amaleki.  Eventually Amaleki hands them over to King Benjamin because Amaleki has no children of his own.

I believe that it is not 130 B.C. when Amaleki gives the plates to the King.  Since Amaleki lived in the days of Mosiah, King Benjamin's father, the plates probably got passed to Benjamin while the king was young.  This being true, then there would be no time gap to explain.  My guess is that Amaleki may have given Benjamin the plates as early as 160 B.C.  If this is a good guess, then the time may have looked like this:  279 B.C. Amaron and Chemish write on the plates.  ~255 B.C. Chemish gives the plates to Abinadom, his son.  ~200 B.C. Abinadom writes in the plates and passes them on to Amaleki.  Around 160 B.C. Amaleki, who has no heirs, gives the plates to King Benjamin.  30 years later, King Benjamin, now an old man, bestows the kingdom on his son Mosiah.

Again,  this is all guessing, but it feels plausible to me.

The other gap - the one between 544 and 420 B.C.  is a little harder to explain.  In 544 B.C. Jacob writes in the plates and tells us about Nephi's death.  If my guesses are correct, Jacob would be around 45 years old at this time.  The next time check we have is when Enos, Jacob's son, passes the plates on to his son Jarom.  Here's the way it appears:  in the 124 years of this time period, Jacob has his ministry, Enos gets his testimony, has his ministry, gets old and passes the plates along.  Lets say that Jacob's and Enos's ministry last about the same length of time.  That means they each served for 62 years before their lives ended.  If Jacob was indeed 45 when he got the plates, that would make him about 107 years old when Enos received the plates.  Enos would have to be old enough to see Jacob's ministry in action and hear his words, and it appears to me that he was a young man when he hunted in the jungle, and had his conversion experience...  If he was 20 years old then, and if he served for 64 years, that would mean he was born in the year 504 B.C.  Jacob would have been 93 at the time.....   This doesn't logically work for me, the time lines don't seem to jive.

There may be a couple of explanations to this mystery.  Detractors of the Book of Mormon might say that this is another example of implausibility and that the Book of Mormon is a fraud.  I testify that this book is the word of God and is true.  This is not an acceptable explanation.

Another possibility may be that yes, indeed, Jacob was that old when Enos was born.  Jacob would have to have continued actively in his ministerial work for several years after that, since Enos heard Jacobs words when he (Enos) was old enough for them to sink in...  They would have to have been long-livers in those days for this to be the explanation (and they may have been).

Another possible explanation, one that I think is more plausible, is perhaps there is a generation between Jacob and Enos.  In the Bible we have heard people refer to their ancestors as their fathers and to their descendants their sons.  I think that Enos's biological father may have been Jacob's son.  I think that something may have happened to Enos's father, and so the plates were passed from Jacob to Enos instead of to Jacob's son and then to Enos.  Enos heard his father teach and preach, but it was Jacob's son who he heard, not Jacob himself.  This seems like a good possibility, although we don't have any record if this is the case.  The time line may look more like this:  544 B.C - Jacob writes of Nephi's death.  Jacob's son has already been born at this point and is maybe 5 years old by now...   504 B.C. - Enos is born.  In 484 B.C. Enos hunts and has his conversion.  Sometime during this time frame, but before Jacob dies, something happens to Jacob's son and Jacob passes the plates to Enos.

Pure speculation, I know.  My testimony doesn't hinge on whether I'm right.  It really doesn't matter and it is only something I have thought about, so I ask you to humor me in my curiosity.

As I said, I know the Book of Mormon is a true, factual, document, written by God's holy prophets.  I know that it testifies of Jesus Christ and it has helped me to know Jesus better.  I know this because I have felt the Holy Ghost's confirming spirit.   I testify of this to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Don