Lehi's Flight into the Desert

It's been said, "context is everything." What this means is when the context of an event is understood, you better comprehend what has happened. Which in turn gives you additional insights that can completely alter your perception of the event.

As an example, if a headline says "16 year old shoots and kills an older man" Your first read of that will likely lead you to think the 16-year old has committed a felony. But when the context comes to light that the "older" man is 22, and had already fatally stabbed the 16-year old's friend with a knife and was now attacking her with the same knife, you see it as a justifiable act of self-defense. The headline was true as far as it went, but the context changes your understanding of what happened: it's no longer a felony but a justified act of self-defense. 

Along similar lines, a lot of archeological research and field work that has been done in recent decades give a lot more context to us about Lehi's flight into the desert. This gives corresponding new appreciation for the faith of this great prophet.

This is what the Book of Mormon, teaches us about Lehi:

1. He lived in Jerusalem.

2. He is a member of the tribe of Manasseh.

3. He had access to his lands of inheritance.

4. His son, Nephi, was a highly skilled metalsmith and scribe.

5. He faithfully warned the people of Jerusalem as God had commanded him to do. For that, his life was threatened to the point the Lord commanded him to flee from Jerusalem.

This blog entry will touch the highlights of the additional context which is now available to us.  They include:

1. Lehi’s (great?) grandparents were refugees who fled to Jerusalem when the capital city of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria, was conquered in ~723 BC.

2. Their lands of inheritance were to the west of the Jordan River and they had a written title to their land. That title to the land had been handed down from generation to generation before it came into his possession. It would have been of no value until the reign of King Josiah when the Assyrians withdrew from the land. Once they were gone, it restored his claim to the land. The Samaritans who actually lived on the land would’ve owed him rent to farm it and to stay there.

3. In Lehi’s time, trades were passed from father to son.

4. As the descendant of refugees, with no tribal lands to farm, Lehi, like his fathers before him, learned a trade to earn a living. That trade was likely metal-smithing, which we have now learned was a highly regarded skill.

5. Lehi may have been the one who taught Nephi to write. But Nephi’s use of a classic Egyptian colophon to introduce his writing implies formal scribal training. Lehi was wealthy enough to afford sending his sons to school.

6. Lehi lived in a house with his family in Jerusalem in an upscale area known as the Mishneh. He probably did not live on the land of his inheritance, but rather rented it to Samaritan farmers. 

7. Given his craft as a metalsmith, he probably traveled to Timna for ores which he needed for his business. (Timna is mining town south of Jerusalem on the road to modern day Aqaba, Lehi’s jumping off point into the wilderness.) Because of his trips there, he was acquainted with the route and experienced at living in tents.

8. Lehi was a contemporary of Jeremiah and Urijah the prophets. He was probably aware of Urijah’s fate of being extradited from Egypt back to Jerusalem and his eventual execution.

9. At the time he fled from Jerusalem, no route but south was safe: to the north was Assyria, to the East was Ammon and Moab who were hostile to Judah at the time, to the West was the ocean. As explained above, Egypt was no refuge. That left the Frankincense trail into Arabia as the only safe route out of town. It was a daunting and dangerous trail even for experienced caravaners, let alone women and children accustomed to life in a city.

10. He probably had time to plan his departure from Jerusalem. He had time to take his riches and hide them in his land of inheritance. He had time to buy supplies and arrange for camels with which to ride into the Arabian wilderness.

There are more things which could be brought up, but this is enough for now. I’ll elaborate on some of these in future entries. I need to give credit to people like Jeff Chadwick, Margaret Barker, John Tvedtnes, John Welch, Arnie Greene, Daniel Peterson and many others who are the real scholars behind what I've written here. What I have written is my opinion, but it draws on their research. I’ll cite their works when I go into greater detail on these points.