Continuing with Chadwick’s article sent to us by one of our
readers, the “comments” are Chadwick’s writing regarding his belief in where
Lehi’s home and property were located, the “response” is our reply mostly based
on the scriptural record.
Comment: “Even though Lehi
did not live on the land of inheritance, he had "left gold and silver and
all manner of riches" on the property—these were probably buried in caches
known only to the family. A common practice during the Iron Age II period, when
Lehi lived, was to place loose silver in ceramic jugs and then bury those
containers for safekeeping."
Response: Even in the Iron Age II period, there is no
indication that a man would have buried his wealth in a land controlled by
another nation and farmed by another people while he lived 50 miles or more
away in another land. Common sense should suggest to even Chadwick, that such a distance between a man and his wealth would be foolhardy.
Comment: “Lehi
probably hid (buried) the bulk of his wealth at a secret location on his land
of inheritance in Manasseh because he knew those riches would not be safe in
Jerusalem—he knew the Babylonians would eventually destroy and loot the city
or, as Nephi put it:
“Let us go down to the land of our father's inheritance, for behold he left
gold and silver, and all manner of riches. And all this he hath done because of
the commandments of the Lord. For he knew that Jerusalem must be destroyed. (1
Nephi 3:16–17)”
Response:
First of all, Chadwick is misreading the scriptural intent--Nephi is telling us that Lehi knew the city of Jerusalem was to be destroyed after the Lord told him to flee the city. Secondly, if you read further, you will find that Nephi is telling us that Lehi
did not place his wealth within the city of Jerusalem, where part of his
business must have been located “For he knew that Jerusalem must be destroyed, because of
the wickedness of the people. For behold, they have rejected the words of the prophets.
Wherefore, if my father should dwell in the land after he hath been commanded
to flee out of the land, behold, he would also perish. Wherefore, it must needs
be that he flee out of the land“ (1 Nephi 3:17-18).
Nephi’s discourse here is about two things, 1) fleeing out of the land and, 2)
obtaining the records. The wealth was merely a means to that end.
As for “And all this he hath done because of the
commandments of the Lord” refers to the fact that Lehi left his gold
and silver, etc., behind because the Lord commanded him to do so, it does not
mean he hid or buried his wealth because of the commandment of the Lord as
Chadwick would have us believe--that would be ridiculous since Lehi knew he would not be returning to Jerusalem but had been given a Land of Promise for he and his posterity far away.
Comment:
“If, as proposed
above, Lehi's recent ancestors had come to Jerusalem as refugees from the
north, they would have found themselves landless in Judah. This was not an
ideal situation in a society where farming was the way much of the population
made its living. Upon establishing themselves in the refugee camp that
eventually became known as the Mishneh of Jerusalem, Lehi's great-grandparents
and grandparents would have to have figured out a way to support themselves
without any land to farm—something that they could do living inside the city
wall that Hezekiah had built between 705 and 701 BC. As first pointed out by
John Tvedtnes, indications in the writings of Nephi suggest that both he and
his father Lehi were professional metalsmiths.”
Response: People within Jerusalem
were not farmers—there was no property within the city to farm, even a small
plot of land for one’s property consisted of a house and an inner courtyard,
two story with the bottom level where the animals were also kept, and a small
garden on top of the roof. With space at such a
premium inside the walls of a town, even a small tree or bush would have been a
rarity, but most of the women who lived in a village would probably have had
some sort of garden as a source of food, flowers and pleasure, probably on the
roof, as the one of Nephi (Helaman 7:10). Since walls surrounded the city, the
houses were tightly cramped together,
and important meetings were held in the gateways of the town walls, and even
the markets were also held in gateways.
The occupations most often listed
to have existed within Jerusalem in Lehi’s day were millers,
bakers, weavers, barbers, potters, fullers, tilers, carpenters, textile dyers,
masons, tanners, market and food venders, wine makers, locksmiths, inn keepers. There were also porters, donkey drivers, cooks, jewelers, blacksmiths, bronze
smiths, coppersmiths, silversmiths, goldsmiths, and servants. Then there were
those who lived outside Jerusalem that were mostly farmers and herdsmen, who
hired day workers, probably from the city, to plant, harvest, herd, pick
grapes, etc. In addition, many people hired themselves and even their families
out as servants to the more wealthy. In fact, when Nephi and his brothers went
back to Lehi’s camp after visiting with Ishmael, “Ishmael and all his
household” went with them (1 Nephi 7:5). “All his household” is a Jewish phrase
of the time regarding not only the bloodline, which often included parents,
children, married children and grandchildren, etc., but also household servants
and workers, most of which lived on the property with their extended families.
This, in fact, is one of the reasons we cannot be certain of the size of the
Lehi Colony that set sail for the Land of Promise, for it was not the custom of
writers of that time to mention such matters.
As
for metallurgy, we know that Nephi was adept at that activity, for he knew how
to forge materials (1 Nephi 17:9, 16) and how to make a bellows (1 Nephi 17:11),
and instructed his people how to work with all sorts of material, including
wood, iron, copper, brass and steel, as well as gold, silver and precious ores,
but there is no record or inference that he was a metalsmith, let alone his
father. As an example, Nephi was also a swordfighter, but not a military man by
profession; he made a bow, but was not a bowmaker by occupation; he built a
ship, but was not a shipwright by trade; he built a temple, but was not in
construction as a business; he was an accomplished bowman, but was not a
soldier; he engraved numerous plates, but was not a writer by employment. Speculation about things not mentioned, suggested or eluded to in the scriptural record is simply a waste of time. There is not enough information given us to make such wild assumptions of any value. Lehi, and later Nephi, could have had one of numerous occupations--we simply do not know which one was their area of labor.
Comment: “Such a vocation would have been ideal for Lehi's ancestors to learn
since it would not require the ownership or rental of property outside the
city. Like most professionals of that age, Nephi would have apprenticed with
and learned the metalworking trade from his father. Lehi had likely learned it
from his father, who in turn learned it from his father, the man who came to
Judah as a refugee, who had learned it in order to survive as a landless
resident of Jerusalem's Mishneh.”
Response: This is all
supposition. Several occupations (mentioned above) would have filled the same
criteria. However, metallurgy in that time would not have made a man as wealthy
as Lehi, whose wealth Nephi said was “exceedingly great” (1 Nephi 3:25), and to which Laban "lusted after it." If one is to look for Lehi's occupation, one has to look to an area that would have made him a wealthy man, with gold, silver, and precious things (1 Nephi 2:4).
Comment: “Expertise in smithing
precious metals such as silver and gold, particularly in smithing iron and
hardening it into steel, is not something a person picked up as a hobby or
sideline skill. Smithing, and in particular iron and steel smithing, was the
high-tech profession of Lehi's day—the period that archaeologists call Iron Age
II.”
Response: There is no indication
that Lehi was a metalsmith, or even knew how to do such work. It is Nephi who
had the ability, and he might have picked it up from different sources—after
all, how did he built a ship that would take them ten thousand miles across
deep ocean, something that could not be done by shipwrights of the time? This
ability would certainly be a greater trade skill than metal smithing, for
everyone’s life depended on his ability in building his ship. Lehi, on the
other hand, is not mentioned in any way as having anything to do with any of
Nephi’s skills. Besides, forging metal ore to make tools is not the same as
that needed for smithing precious metals. The former he could do when building
his ship, and might have been the high tech occupation of his day—at least when
making a ship like that of Nephi’s vessel. His ship was not made of iron, nor
were the houses, buildings and temple he built in the Land of Promise. The "ore" mentioned by Nephi was to build tools (1 Npewhi 17:9). After
building his ship and sailing to the new world, Nephi teaches his people how
to work with precious metals, but does not describe to what extent is meant, or
the level of skill involved--a skill he obviously picked up when the Lord instructed him how to build his ship.
(See the next post, “Where did Lehi Live Before Departing
into the Wilderness? Part X,” for more of Chadwick’s comments regarding where
Lehi lived before he and his family went into the wilderness)
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