Head of Sidon
You can’t show in the Book of Mormon which way the River Sidon flowed by the text. The consistency is that Zarahemla was on the west side and the Head of Sidon was south of Manti. Jonathan Neville said, “Basically, “head of Sidon” does not mean “headwaters or source of Sidon.” The Mesoamerican activists simply change the text to suit their preferred geography. They need the Sidon river to flow northward because the only two rivers in Mesoamerica that they can possibly identify as Sidon flow northward. The tail of their theory wags the dog of the text.
“Promoters of the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory like to replace the phrase “head of Sidon” that actually appears in the Book of Mormon with the phrase “headwaters of Sidon.”
Why?
First, because they think Joseph didn’t translate the Book of Mormon correctly. He was supposed to translate a “Mayan codex” but goofed, so they fix the translation with substitute terms such as this, along with volcanoes, massive stone Mayan temples, tapirs, etc.
Why this particular substitute term?
Because they think that if the “headwaters” of Sidon are south of Zarahemla, the Sidon river must flow north; i.e., it originates in the south and flows north past Zarahemla.
Of course, the text doesn’t say that, but promoters of the theory insist on it because their substitute term “headwaters,” they think, excludes North America as the setting for the Book of Mormon.
And by excluding North America, they can justify their rejection of what Joseph and Oliver taught about the Hill Cumorah in New York.” Jonathan Neville https://www.moronisamerica.com/headwaters-of-sidon/
Confluence
“The least likely meaning of the term “head of Sidon” is the source of the river. In my view, the term refers to a confluence of rivers, such as where the Upper Mississippi meets the Illinois and Missouri, or where it meets the Ohio River, which is also where the river Sidon flows into the sea west (discussed in the next chapter).Consequently, when you read the text, think of the geography from Alma 22; i.e., the Sidon is the upper Mississippi River, and it flows south. To go from the land of Zarahemla to the land of Nephi, you travel east up the Ohio River and then south up the Tennessee River.” Jonathan Neville Moroni’s America pg. 45
CONFLUENCE noun [Latin , to flow. See Flow.]
“A flowing together; the meeting or junction of two or more streams of water, or other fluid; also, the place of meeting; as the confluence of the Tigris and the Frat, or of the Ohio and Mississippi.” Websters 1828 Dictionary
North/South Orientation
“The text of the Book of Mormon describes the River Sidon as having a north/south orientation, but it does not specify the direction of flow. One must infer direction of flow from other information about proximate locations, but these show the river flowing south, not north—just like the Mississippi River. Passages in the text that refer to going “up” to the land of Nephi and “down” to the land of Zarahemla are explained by the Tennessee River, which did flow down—northward—through the Land of Nephi to the land of Zarahemla.
So the notion that there is a north-flowing river is correct, but it’s not the Sidon River. Translated into the modern world, the Sidon is the Mississippi, and the river flowing up and south to the land of Nephi is the Tennessee River.” Jonathan Neville
Who changed it and why?
I know personally that Rod Meldrum and Jonathan Neville brought this discrepancy before the Scripture Committee and they are the ones who influenced the Committee to correct the LDS index about Sidon. The scriptures now simply say: Sidon, “most prominent river in Nephite territory.” Rian Nelson
I asked Claude:
“LDS glossary used to say when defining the River Sidon, that it flowed north. About 15 years ago they changed that to simply say the Sidon River is simply a river in the Nephite land, but didn’t say it flowed north as the current LDS guide now says”.
Claude AI answered:
“This is a well-documented change. Here’s what happened:
What changed and when:
The post-1981, pre-2013 editions of the LDS scripture Index entry for “Sidon, River” read: “most prominent river in Nephite territory, runs north to sea.” However, the 2013 edition of the Index changed the entry to read simply: “most prominent river in Nephite territory. Mobom Jonathan Neville
Who changed it:
The LDS Church’s Scriptures Committee made the change as part of a broader revision to the Book of Mormon Index that was published in 2013, which included hundreds of changes to roughly 15 index references. Mobom Jonathan Neville
Why “runs north to sea” was added in the first place:
Around 1981, certain LDS scholars promoted the theory that the Sidon River corresponded to one of two rivers in Mesoamerica that ran from south to north. This geographic theory made its way into the Index.
Mobom Jonathan Neville
Why it was removed:
The change reflects a more careful reading of the text, which actually never explicitly says or implies that the Sidon River runs north. The “runs north” language was an interpretive addition that reflected a particular geographic theory (the Mesoamerican model), not something the Book of Mormon text itself states directly. Mobom Johnathan Neville
The Underlying Debate:
Many scholars infer a northward flow from the text — the head of the river Sidon adjoined the narrow strip of wilderness near the land of Manti, which was south of Zarahemla, and from the head of Sidon one went down in elevation to Zarahemla, suggesting a northward flow — but this is inference, not explicit statement. By removing the directional claim, the Scriptures Committee avoided having the official index endorse a specific geography theory that remains debated among scholars.
Blogger
In short: the Church quietly cleaned up an editorial overreach where one school of thought about Book of Mormon geography had slipped into what looked like an official definition.” Claud AI https://claude.ai/chat/fde0e207-a6d9-41f9-965b-72ac38cca428
You of course are welcome to decide what direction the Sidon flowed in your opinion. I believe the intellectuals are more likely wrong, and those who use common sense are correct. Moroni said we may know the truth of all things. That is not evidence, but just one mans opinion.