There are only thirty verses in
the entire Book of Omni, named after the first writer, who received the sacred
record from his father, Jarom. Omni portrays himself as a warrior and a wicked
man (Omni 1:2), who tells us that the Nephites in what we call the Land of
Nephi had many periods of peace as well as many seasons of war with the
Lamanites in his 160-word (three verses). We learn from his son, Amaron, that
he wrote in 280 B.C., stating that “three hundred and twenty years had passed
away” from the time Lehi left Jerusalem” (Omni 1:5).
Amaron, apparently more righteous
than his father, tells us that the more wicked part of the Nephites had been
destroyed (Omni 1:5) “For the Lord would not suffer, after he had led them out
of the land of Jerusalem and kept and preserved them from falling into the
hands of their enemies, yea, he would not suffer that the words should not be
verified, which he spake unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as ye will not
keep my commandments ye shall not prosper in the land. Wherefore, the Lord did
visit them in great judgment; nevertheless, he did spare the righteous that
they should not perish, but did deliver them out of the hands of their enemies”
(Omni 1:6-7).
Amaron gave the records to his
brother, Chemish, who must have been younger than Omni (around 265 B.C). Chemisah
then handed the records down to his son, Abinadom (around 240 BC), who was also
a warrior and who described many battles with the Lamanites. He also mentioned
that a [full] record “is engraven upon plates which is had by the kings” (Omni
1:11), identifying the (large) plates of Nephi. At the end of his life, he gave
the records to his son, Amaleki (around 210 B.C).
Now, this Amaleki “was born in
the days of Mosiah” and he “lived to see his (Mosiah’s) death; and Benjamin,
his son, reigneth in his stead” (Omni 1:23). Amaleki was with Mosiah, who was “warned
of the Lord that he should flee out of the land of Nephi, and as many as would
hearken unto the voice of the Lord should also depart out of the land with him,
into the wilderness” (Omni 1:12).
Mosiah (and Amaleki) leaves the
city of Nephi around 205 B.C., taking as many Nephites as would join him in
leaving the wickedness behind and “they departed out of the land into the
wilderness…and were led by many prophesyings. And they were admonished
continually by the word of God; and they were led by the power of his arm,
through the wilderness until they came down into the land which is called the
land of Zarahemla. And they discovered a people, who were called the people of
Zarahemla” (Omni 1:13-14).
Now these people of Zarahemla
“came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried
away captive into Babylon,” which would be about 597 B.C. “And they journeyed
in the wilderness and were brought by the hand of the Lord across the great
waters into the land where Mosiah discovered them; and they had dwelt there
from that time forth” (Omni 1:16).
The “great waters” mentioned was
the sea, or ocean, and since they left Jerusalem as Lehi did, and at the time
of the wars and occupation that led to Zedekiah’s death and removal of the
Jews, the only avenue of escape from Jerusalem open to anyone around Jerusalem would have been
to the southeast—Lehi’s earlier route.
Babylon controlled everything to the north, west and east, as well as
the routes into Israel’s ally, Egypt. The only escape route would be toward the
Red Sea
Likely, then, Zedekiah’s son,
Mulek, and his party that were led to the Land of Promise, came over the same
route that Lehi took, making the “great waters,” the same Irrenatum upon which
Lehi embarked.
For ease of discussion, most
Latter-day Saints refer to this people as Mulekites, though the term is not
used in the scriptural record. Three different appellations are used to refer
to these people: 1) The “people of Zarahemla,” named after their leader, Zarahemla
(Omni 1:14-15); 2) Nephi, the son of Helaman, referred to them as “the seed of
Zedekiah,” (Helaman 8:21); and 3) Mormon tells us of Mulek, the son of
Zedekiah,” who the lord brought into the Land of Promise (Helaman 6:10).
Thus, from Amaleki’s writing, we
learn that:
1. The people of Zarahemla, referred
to today as the Mulekites, left Jerusalem (as did Lehi)
2. The Mulekites came across the
ocean (as did Lehi)
3. They would have had a landing
sight along a coast of the Land of Promise
4. After landing, they dwelt in the
place of their landing site for about 395 years by the time Mosiah discovered
them (around 205 B.C.)
5. This area of their first
landing they called the Land of Zarahemla
6. This Land of Zarahemla was at
a lower elevation than the city of Nephi, for Mosiah “came down into the land
which is called…Zarahemla,” suggesting the interior of the land, from whence
Mosiah came, was at higher elevations
7. Mosiah and his people
wandered in the wilderness for some time—they were led by many preachings and
prophesyings and were admonished continually by the word of God, and were led
by the power of his arm through the wilderness” (Omni 1:13)
8. Lehi landed along the West
Sea, far to the south (Alma 22:28), and after Lehi died, Nephi led some to an
area later called the Land of Nephi and built a city they called Nephi (2 Nephi
5:8,15)
9. The city of Nephi, which Mosiah
left, was located near the East Sea (Alma 50:8), thus Mosiah would have been
traveling westward and northward to reach a coastal city settled by the people
of Zarahemla, which must have been along the West Sea (there is recorded
activity in the scriptural record to the north, east and south of Zarahemla,
but not to the west)
10. The Mulekites landed
somewhere along the coast of the West Sea, northward of where Lehi landed
11. The land of Zarahemla would
have been an agricultural area that could accommodate an “exceedingly numerous”
group over some four centuries
12. There were Nephites left in
the city of Nephi that did not go with Mosiah
13. These Nephites left behind
are not heard from more in the scriptural record. Whether they were killed by
the Lamanites who later invaded and occupied this land, or joined with them
when the Lamanites took over the land and city previously occupied by the
Nephites, is unknown
14 . Those left behind must have
made up the bulk of the Nephite people at the time, since those that went with
Mosiah, when combined with the much larger Mulekite population, were still only
half of the population of the Lamanites
The Lord brought Mulek into the Land North, and Lehi into the Land South (Helaman 6:10), and both these lands were in the overall Land Southward (Alma 46:13)
Thus, we see, from the brief
account of Amaleki that the people of Zarahemla (Mulekites) landed along the
west coast of the Land of Promise, somewhere to the north of Lehi’s earlier
landing site and settled in that landing area where they lived from the time of
their landing to the time when Mosiah discovered them (Omni 1:16). In fact, we are told
that “the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into
the land south” (Helaman 6:10). Note that it was not into the Land Northward
and into the Land Southward.
The story of the Mulekites, then, began in Jerusalem in the
days of Lehi and Jeremiah, prophets at the time of the fall of the kingdom of
Judah. And like Lehi, were led away from Jerusalem by the Lord and to the Land
of Promise. However, unlike Lehi, the Lord has not revealed his purpose in
leading this remnant, including a surviving heir to David’s throne (Mulek, son
of king Zedekiah), out of Jerusalem to be reunited with another chosen remnant,
the Nephites, but obviously followed a Divine plan. Clearly, this uniting of
Mosiah’s Nephites with the Mulekites explicitly shows that their meeting was no
accident—the Lord guided both parties to this one location—Zarahemla. It is
also interesting that initially, since Mulek and his people would have followed
the basic route Lehi took, that Lehi’s planting in Bountiful helped sustain the
Mulekites until a ship was built and they set sail, that in the Land of Promise,
it was the Mulekites that provided the sustenance and living conditions in for
the Nephites until they became established in the Land of Zarahemla.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment