Book of Mormon Stories - Lehi and His Family Leave Jerusalem

Time: 600 BC
Place: Jerusalem 
Reference: 1 Nephi 1-2
Characters:
Lehi: Father of the family and a prophet.  He enjoys fearlessly preaching repentance to the Jews, receiving death threats, reading books obtained in strange ways, dreaming crazy dreams, trekking through the wilderness, and dwelling in tents.
Sariah: Wife of Lehi and a worried mother.  She enjoys spending time with family, bearing children in the wilderness, matchmaking, and gardening.
Nephi: Legendary younger brother and heroic prophet.  He enjoys archery, playing with swords, building ships, hiking to high mountains, writing poetry, and confounding his brothers.
Sam: Faithful but sometimes forgotten middle child.  He enjoys long walks through the wilderness, campfire stories, sailing, and playing with God's compass.
Laman and Lemuel: The two peas in a pod rebellious older brothers.  They enjoy antagonizing their brothers, eating raw meat, making new friends, dancing with hot women, and uttering tribal cries.
Writer: Nephi
Background information: This is perhaps one of the most well-known stories in The Book of Mormon.  Not because it's super inspiring (although it is) but because it's at the very beginning of the book.  Many people, including myself, have tried many times to read The Book of Mormon and then gave up about 20 chapters in.  Then we'd try again a few months later and the same thing would happen.  And that's why this story is so well-known among the Mormons. I've now read it completely a few times, but when I was younger it was hard to read such a long book so I've read these first few chapters more than any other chapter. Good thing it's a great story!


The record starts out with Nephi introducing himself.  "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.  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."

Alright thanks for that great intro, Nephi. What did he just say? That he has great parents who taught him well, he's been through a lot but the Lord has helped him, and he has gained for himself a witness and knowledge of God. He lets us know he's writing this in the language of the Egyptians. Then he bears testimony that he knows that his record is true. So this record is true, by the way, because Nephi said so.

Nephi then tells us that it is currently during the time of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah, and that lots of prophets have been telling the people to repent or else Jerusalem will be destroyed. The people aren't listening so Nephi's dad, Lehi, gets concerned and decides to go pray to God in behalf of the people.

As Lehi prayed to God, "there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much..." The vision caused him to quake and tremble and he was overcome.  Then he was carried away in a vision and saw Christ and His twelve disciples, he read a book that an angel gave to him, and he cried, "Wo, wo unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations!" Lehi then proceeded to praise the Lord and rejoice because of the things which the Lord had shown him. 

And just like that, Lehi became a prophet.  Apparently seeing Christ, reading the book of life, and praising God is one way to become a prophet. Lehi went out and started prophesying to the people about the things which he had seen and heard. "And it came to pass that the Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of their wickedness..."  Surprisingly people don't like to be told that they're living their lives wrong. The Jews got mad and tried to kill him but he escaped.

The Lord came to Lehi in a dream telling him that he's blessed for obeying God but unfortunately now the people want to kill him so he needs to "take his family and depart into the wilderness." Lehi was obedient so he did so and took his grumbling family into the wilderness and "left his house...and his gold, and his silver...and took nothing with him save it were his family, and provisions..."  

Lehi and his wife, Sariah, and their sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi traveled many days in the wilderness. Laman and Lemuel are referred to as being "stiffnecked." They weren't very happy about having to leave their friends and riches in Jerusalem because of the "foolish imaginations of [Lehi's] heart." I can't say I blame them. I would be ticked if my dad told me we all had to leave our stuff and go travel through the wilderness because God told him so. Laman and Lemuel didn't believe that Jerusalem would be destroyed and complained ("but Daaad!") but Lehi scolded them until "they durst not utter against him;" 

This part of the story ends with: "And my father dwelt in a tent." Fun stuff. Lehi likes tents.


So we covered who Lehi is, why he left Jerusalem, and the beginning of Laman and Lemuel's "murmuring." Next time, we'll learn how Nephi felt about leaving Jerusalem and what he did differently from Laman and Lemuel so that he knew that Lehi was actually commanded of the Lord and he wasn't just nuts.