True and False Prophets--Lehi's Vision--He Warns the People--They
Persecute and Try to Kill Him--Commanded in a Dream to Take His Family
into the Wilderness--Came to Red Sea--Camped near it--Built an Altar
and Made Offering to the Lord--Laman and Lemuel--Their
Unbelief--Shaken and Confounded Before their Father.
In the beginning of the first year of Zedekiah's reign there were many
prophets in Jerusalem. The events connected with the recent siege of
that city were of such a character as to arouse thought and prompt men
who feared God to feel after Him. We learn from another source than
Nephi's record that there were many false prophets at those times who
misled the people and were the means of causing them to harden their
hearts against the truth. The prophets of God told the people of
Jerusalem they must repent, or that great city must be destroyed.
These predictions had their proper effect upon Lehi. He undoubtedly
believed them, and he went out and called upon the Lord with all his
heart in behalf of his people. While praying there came a pillar of
fire and rested upon a rock before him. We are told by Nephi that he
saw and heard much, which caused him to quake and tremble exceedingly.
After this he returned to his house, and being overcome by the Spirit
and the things which he had seen he was carried away in a vision. He
saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon a throne,
surrounded by numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of
singing and praising Him. He saw one descending out of heaven, whose
lustre was above that of the sun at noon day. He was followed by
twelve others, whose brightness exceeded that of the stars. They all
came down and went forth upon the face of the earth. The first,
however, came and stood before Lehi and gave him a book, and told him
to read. As he read he was filled with the Spirit of God. And he read,
"Wo, wo unto Jerusalem; for I have seen thy abominations." He read
many things concerning Jerusalem, that it should be destroyed, and
that many of its inhabitants should perish by the sword, and that many
should be carried away captive into Babylon. He read and saw many
marvelous things, which caused him to praise the Lord in the following
language: "Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy
throne is high in the heavens and thy power and goodness, and mercy
are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and because thou are
merciful, thou will not suffer those who come unto thee that they
shall perish!" The soul of Lehi rejoiced and his whole heart was
filled, because of the things which the Lord had shown him.
This is the feeling which every one has to whom the Lord reveals
Himself as He did to Lehi. There is a pure and heavenly joy rests upon
him that language cannot describe or express, and in the presence of
which the afflictions which he has to endure, because of the
persecutions of men, appear trifling and are easily borne. 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. There was an exception to this which occurs to
us. Upon one occasion the wickedness of the people of Nineveh, the
Lord said, had come up to Him. He sent the Prophet Jonah to warn them,
and they believed God; and from the king on his throne to the lowest
in the city, including all their animals, they were sackcloth, and
fasted. They turned every one from his evil way, and from the violence
that was in his hands, and cried mightily unto the Lord. Their
repentance was pleasing unto the Lord, and He turned from them the
judgment he had threatened. Unfortunately for the people of Jerusalem,
they did not have that spirit. Their hearts were hard. They would not
believe Lehi; but they mocked him, grew angry with him, just as they
had with other prophets before him whom they had cast out, stoned and
slain, and they tried to kill him. Had he remained among them, and
continued his prophesying, they doubtless would have killed him. But
the Lord had chosen him for another work, and he escaped from their
plots. The Lord spoke unto him in a dream, and after blessing him for
what he had done, in faithfully declaring unto the Jews that which He
had commanded him--for doing which they had sought to take his
life--He commanded him that he should take his family and depart into
the wilderness.
Lehi's family consisted at that time of his wife Sariah and four
sons--Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi--that we know of. Nephi, some years
after this (_II. Nephi v., 6_) speaks of his sisters. He does not
mention them as members of the family at the time of leaving
Jerusalem, and we are left to conjecture whether they were born before
leaving Jerusalem or afterwards.
Lehi did not hesitate about obeying the commandment. It was probably a
matter of life or death with him. He had either to leave, or be killed
if he continued to prophesy. 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.
He soon reached a valley by the side and near the mouth of a river,
which emptied into the Red Sea. Here he pitched his tent, and the
family remained encamped some time. He built at this place an altar of
stones and made an offering unto the Lord and gave Him thanks. The
river he called Laman, the name of his oldest son; the valley he
called Lemuel, the name of his second son. Up to this point we are
told nothing of the character of Lehi's family. But Nephi tells us
that after stopping at this river and in this valley and giving to
them these names, his father took occasion to say to Laman:
"O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running
into the fountain of all righteousness."
And to say to Lemuel:
"O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast,
and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord."
Nephi gives the reasons why his father talked in this way to his two
oldest sons. They were young men who had no faith in the things which
their father had taught. They had the same spirit of unbelief which
the Jews had who sought to kill their father. They called him a
visionary man, and they murmured against him because he had taken them
away from Jerusalem, from the land of their inheritance, and their
gold and silver and other precious things and led them into the
wilderness. They did not believe that Jerusalem could be destroyed as
the prophets had predicted. Before we get through with this life of
Nephi we shall have occasion to dwell more at length upon their spirit
and conduct. But upon this occasion Lehi became aroused. He was filled
with the Spirit of the Lord to such an extent, and spoke unto them
with such power, that their frames shook before him, and they were so
confounded they dare not say anything against him; but they did as he
commanded them.