Lehi

“ Hence it was that among his descendants the expression was used, "Our father, Lehi, was driven out of Jerusalem." ( Helaman viii., 22) Nephi himself, in speaking of the people of that city said: "They have driven him out of the land." Lehi did not load himself down with his gold and silver and other valuables these he left with his house and land. He took his family, his provisions and tents, and started. After traveling in the wilderness he came to the Red Sea, and he continued his journey near its borders. ”

“ When, on account of the persecution of the Jews, Lehi was commanded by the Lord to leave Jerusalem, Nephi gladly seconded all his efforts, and became a help and a stay to his father during the many troubles and perplexities of the toilsome journey through the Arabian wilderness. Early in that journey they rested for a time in a little valley bordering on the Red Sea to which Lehi gave the name of Laman. Twice while they tarried there the sons of Lehi were commanded to return to Jerusalem. ”

“ LEHI, THE SON OF HELAMAN. Were we to attempt to sketch the life of Lehi, we should simply have to repeat the most striking features of that of his elder brother, Nephi. In their labors, journeyings, ministrations, etc., they seem to have always been together. Like Samuel of old, in their childhood they "began to grow up unto the Lord," and in riper years they lived to His glory. In speaking of the exalted character of Nephi, the historian adds, "And behold, Lehi, his brother, was not a whit behind him as to things pertaining to righteousness. ”

“ Lehi gives the true explanation of the reason why this continent should be concealed from the knowledge of other nations. We see how it is to-day. This continent is so desirable that there is a steady stream of people flowing to it from all countries. They are filling up the land, and the Lamanites, who have occupied it under the promise of the Lord to their father Lehi, have been crowded back from both oceans until they have but small spots to live upon in the center of the land, and even these are coveted by the people of other nations who have come here. ”

“ Lehi told his children, that if those whom the Lord should bring out of the land of Jerusalem should keep His commandments, they should not only prosper here, but they should be kept from all other nations and have the land to themselves; there should be none to molest them, nor to take the land away from them; but they should dwell safely for ever. It was the failure of the ancestors of the Indians, or Lamanites, to do this, that brought upon them and their children evils under which they at present suffer. ”

“ These plates also contained many of the prophecies of the holy prophets, and a genealogy of Lehi's fathers. We may be well assured how grateful Lehi felt to the Lord for placing these sacred records in his hands, so that his people could have the Law of the Lord and the history of their ancestors always in their possession. It is a great stay and a help to any people, who, like Lehi's family, are separated from the rest of mankind and who are building up a new civilization to possess the annals of their forefathers. ”

“ We are told by Alma the prophet that "there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship." It was prepared by the Lord to show unto Lehi and his company the course which they should travel in the wilderness. ”

“ The attire of the women is hardly more complicated. It is worthy of remark in this connection that the wicked portion of Lehi's descendants never forgot or threw off the habits of life which they had adopted in the wilderness. When they reached the promised land, the continent of South America, if they pursued agriculture at all it was only for a short time. ”

“ We knew, said they, that you could not construct a ship; for we knew that you did not have sufficient judgment; you cannot accomplish so great a work. They reproached him with being like their father, in being led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart. They recited their imaginary grievances against Lehi for leading them out of Jerusalem and bringing upon them the suffering they and their wives had endured since leaving there. ”

“ Lehi told in a dream to leave Jerusalem and go into the wilderness, that he and his family might be saved—They go south from Jerusalem and camp by a river near the Red Sea—Lehi's wife named Sariah, his sons named Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi—Laman and Lemuel are not satisfied with their father's doings, and complain—They do not believe what he tells them—Nephi a faithful and obedient son—He prays to the Lord and receives an answer to his prayers—The Lord blesses him and tells him many things—The Lord always willing to answer prayers—The Lord protects those who trust in Him. ”

“ After the colony reached the land Bountiful it is noticeable that the practical leadership devolved upon Nephi, and it continued to be so from that time onward. He had grown strong in body—a stalwart, vigorous, energetic, untiring and undaunted man—but he had also grown in the knowledge and gifts of the Lord. There seemed to be no bounds to his faith. He honored his father, Lehi, and still, doubtless, looked to him for counsel. But Lehi was growing in years and was probably not fitted to take upon him the burden of active labor. ”

“ Nephi had this advantage: he was young and vigorous, and could the more readily adapt himself to the new methods of life which they had to adopt in the wilderness; while Lehi, more advanced in years, would find traveling in this wild and desert country, and enduring the hardships they had to encounter, a very great change from the mode of life to which he had been accustomed in Jerusalem. ”

“ If Lehi's company and their descendants should go to the new land, which would afterwards be their home, without any account of the dealings of God with their forefathers, the mighty works He had done for their preservation, and the laws which He had given that they might please Him, they would gradually grow in darkness in all these respects, and by and by lose sight of their Creator, and become a wicked, degraded and unbelieving people. ”

“ After reading these things, Lehi was filled with the Spirit and began to prophesy about his descendants:
"These brass plates will go forth to all nations and people who are of my descent (of the house of Israel) . The brass plates will never be destroyed nor lose their greatness over time." ”

“ CHAPTER VII. Lehi's Dream, or Vision—Rejoices Because of Nephi and Sam—Fears Concerning Laman and Lemuel—His Entreaties to Them—Gathered Seeds and Grain—Five Marriages—Lehi had Faithfully kept Commandments of the Lord—Nephi's Development—Experience in Wilderness Necessary to Prepare Colony for the Future—Lehi Commanded to Travel—Miraculous Brass Ball, called Liahona—How it Operated—Travel in S. S. E. Direction—Hunt for Game—Led Through most Fertile parts of the Desert. ”

“ Lehi sees many things in visions—He tells about them to his family—Nephi so pleased with hearing what his father tells he desires to see the things himself—An angel shows him a beautiful vision in which he sees the Savior and His mother—He also sees the Savior teaching the people and healing the sick—Sees Him nailed to a cross—Sees what happens afterwards—His church destroyed—The Lord knows all things—He tells His prophets many things that are going to take place. ”

“ During the thousand year history of Lehi and his descendants, there are six accounts of a Lehi type exodus. These accounts illustrate how the Lord tells His servants to take their people and "depart into the wilderness." In each exodus account, the righteous people leave their prideful, power-seeking brethren who have sinned against light and knowledge and have brought themselves under condemnation. ”

“ Among other plain and definite predictions which Lehi made unto his children was one respecting the birth and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He quoted from a prophecy of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, to the effect that "a seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins." His name was foretold. He was to be called after the Patriarch Joseph and after his own father. The predictions of Lehi which he gave to his children before his death are very precious, because of their covering so many points and being so plain. ”

“ That was displeasing to our Heavenly Father, and He did not love Laman and Lemuel as He loved Sam and Nephi.
The people who lived in the same place as Lehi were wicked. They would not do as the Lord wished, so He said He would have to punish them, to teach them to do better. He told Lehi to go out among them, and to tell them that if they did not stop doing wicked things, He would not bless them as He had done, but would let people from another country come and take them away to be their servants. ”

“ It is frequently the case that, by apparently small and insignificant means, the Lord brings to pass great and important results. The obtaining of these plates was of incalculable benefit in maintaining and spreading the true civilization of the Nephite nation.
Shortly after the return of Nephi and his brothers to their parents, the Lord again spoke to Lehi, and gave him a commandment that they should proceed once more to Jerusalem and bring down Ishmael and his family into the wilderness. The reason for this was that it was not proper that Lehi should take his family into the wilderness alone ”

“ It is further stated that Lehi's company, who, as we shall see, were led across the waters to the western continent, whereon they established themselves and afterward grew to be a numerous and powerful people, were accustomed to study the scriptures engraved on the plates of brass; and, moreover, their scribes embodied long quotations therefrom in their own growing record. [761] So much for Book of Mormon recognition of the Old Testament, or at least of such parts of the Jewish canon as had been completed when Lehi's migrating colony left Jerusalem, during the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah. ”

“ They had been a wandering tribe of people for eight years in the Arabian peninsula, hunting for game and living upon the spoils of the chase, removed from all the arts of civilization, and it would seem they had become attached to that kind of life. The diet, too, appears to have suited them; for Enos, one of Lehi's grandsons, describes them as early as his day, as a wild, ferocious, blood-thirsty people; full of idolatry and filthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey, and many of them living upon raw meat. They lived in tents and wandered about in the wilderness. ”

“ The future of Lehi's descendants was pictured as a dwindling in unbelief through iniquity; in consequence of which the Gentiles would grow to be a mighty people on the western continent, even though that land had been given as an ultimate inheritance to the house of Israel. ”

“ Their voyage carried them eastward across the Indian Ocean, then over the south Pacific Ocean to the western coast of South America, whereon they landed (590 B. C.) * * * The people established themselves on what to them was the land of promise; many children were born, and in the course of a few generations a numerous posterity held possession of the land. After the death of Lehi, a division occurred, some of the people accepting as their leader Nephi, who had been duly appointed to the prophetic office; while the rest proclaimed Laman, the eldest of Lehi's sons, as their chief. ”

“ As the Lord commanded, Lehi's company gathered up their property, their tents, provisions and seeds of all kinds, and started in the direction that was pointed out by the liahona, or brass ball. The reason they took seeds with them was that they might plant them in the country to which they were going. As they traveled along they camped from time to time in order to get food. While stopping at camp the men would take their bows and arrows and hunt animals, which they killed for food. In those days they did not have guns, as people have now. ”

“ III. That Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram, the progenitors of both Nephites and Lamanites, were undoubtedly Israelites, Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh while Ishmael was an Ephraimite, and that the colony came direct from Jerusalem, in Asia.
IV. That the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants [293] of Lehi and his company, and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were of the house of Israel. ”

“ When Lehi and his little colony had traveled for three days in the wilderness which bordered on the Red Sea, they reached a pleasant valley through which this stream flowed, and Lehi gave to it the name of Laman, in honor of his eldest son. ”

“ Having had these visions Lehi could not rest without warning his neighbors and the people of the city. He described to them their wickedness and abominations, and testified that the things which he had seen and heard, and also that which he had read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah and also the redemption of the world. To tell wicked people of their sins and of the destruction of their government or city makes them angry. It wounds their self-love; it insults their personal and national pride, and it scarcely ever fails to arouse their hatred. ”

“ No sooner was Lehi dead than the hatred that rankled in the hearts of Laman and those who sympathized with him seems to have become intensified. It became evident that the two peoples could not live together in peace. They had nothing in common except that they belonged to the same family. Laman's vindictiveness grew so cruel that Nephi's life was in danger; and, as the readiest way out of the difficulty, Nephi was instructed of the Lord to take those who would listen to his teachings and obey the commandments of God into some other part of the land. ”