1 Nephi 1:3-4

 

As I mentioned yesterday in my post, I think that most Latter-Day-Saints use the words “I know” in their testimonies more by tradition rather than actually “knowing.” Nephi on the other hand has experiences to back up his “knowing”. In 1 Nephi 1:3 he writes: “And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge. (emphasis mine).

Reading the footnotes of verse 4 we can learn many things about the downfall of Jerusalem.  The footnotes lead us to three sources of the same information: 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Jeremiah. Let’s take a quick look at the history that led up to Zedekiah being king; obviously a wicked king that would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was a puppet king who was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar after Babylon invaded Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles claims Zedekiah is Nebuchadnezzar’s uncle (2 Chron. 36:17), but  2 Chronicles 36:10 claims they are brothers. In 589 BC Zedekiah revolted against the Babylonian overlords and for the second time, Nebuchadnezzar advanced on Jerusalem with a large army. In 587, the northern wall of the then starving city was breached and Zedekiah, while fleeing, was taken captive on the Jericho Plain. He was brought before Nebuchadnezzar where he was force to watch the slaying of his children.

A few curious things are brought to light during this reading. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he was appointed king; rather young to have children by today’s standards but perhaps he did. He was captured after reigning nine years, thus making him about 30 years old. Of course it is possible he had several children by the age of 30. Most curious of all is found in the book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon.

“Now the land south was called Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek, which was after the son of Zedekiah; for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south.” Helaman 6:10

Here we learn that Mulek was the son of Zedekiah. The heading of the new 2013 version of the Book of Omni reads “The descendants of Mulek at Zarahemla had discovered Coriantumr, the last of the Jaredites…”  Reading this text has always made me think Mulek was their leader. Of course we don’t know the time frame of any of this but on the surface it appears Mulek was a child when in some fashion was swept out of Jerusalem and preserved from the murder of Zedekiahs’s other children.

Nephi states that “many prophets” came that year, prophesying unto the people to repent or be destroyed. Let’s discover some of those other prophets. Of course we know that Jeremiah was THE prophet of the day, but who were some of the others? Once again the footnotes help us. Jeremiah 26 tells us of two others.

18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

And

20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

Urijah was hunted down and killed.

We also learn from The Book of Daniel that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (the latter three betterknow as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) were all taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar at this time.

I realize this is a bit of a tangent, and probably fits better a little later in 1 Nephi,  but I want to take a minute to discuss this story and compare it to us in the Latter-Day church.

We learn from the Book of Daniel that there are few stories of faith that would compare to the stories of Daniel and Meshach, Shadrach, and Abed-Nego. All were taken captive by the wicked Nebuchadnezzar and were taken into slavery. All were ultimately thrown into prison and/or condemned to die because of their unwillingness to break certain commandments. All were miraculously spared by the power of God.  At the same time, Lehi and his family were warned to “get out” prior to the captivity. I ask myself why would the Lord lead some away (while still undergoing great tribulation), and allow others to be taken captive and obviously suffer great trials?

It’s obvious in hind sight, that Lehi and his family was no more righteous than Daniel and his group. The Lord allowed both to suffer, and both to be blessed. From the outside, however, if Daniel knew Lehi and his family, and knew they were led away prior to the captivity, would Daniel have wondered why he was captured while Lehi was free to do as he pleases? Are we guilty of similar thinking in the church today? Do we look around and wonder why our trials seem greater than others in our ward? If we put on our eternal perspective glasses will we see that the Lord is leading is on a path that is for our benefit? I hope so.

Next post we will discover what Lehi does to prepare himself for meeting the Lord.

I welcome your comments.