How Did Mulek Escape Jerusalem and Where Did He Go? – Part I

There are only three ways that Mulek could have escaped the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem and the fate of his brothers who were put to death by Nebuchadnezzar before their father’s eyes:

1. He was not in Jerusalem when it was attacked and ultimately conquered
2. He was not yet born and his expectant mother was left behind with Zedekiah’s other wives and concubines by the Babylonians.
3. He was secreted away by his nurses, protectors and guardians.

In the first case he would have been older to be away from his family, and to have avoided Babylonian capture, he would have had to be quite some distance from Jerusalem toward the South, away from Babylonian control. While this is possible, the Babylonians would have known he existed and would have searched for him because they were so adamant about destroying Zedekiah’s line. And, too, if he was older, the Jewish community of Jerusalem would have known he existed and Jeremiah would not have written that “all of Zedekiah’s sons were slaughtered before Zedekiah’s eyes, and all the officials of Judah” (Jeremiah 52:10). Thus, the first scenario is unlikely.

The second case seems doubtful because Nebuchadnezzar was so intent on killing all Zedekiah’s sons to put a final end to Judah rule that it seems likely he would not have left any expectant wife alive. Jeremiah wrote: “all your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans” (Jeremiah 38:23). Thus, it would appear that this possibility would not have occurred.

The third case seems the most likely. Surely, a prince of Judah as a baby or very young child would have had nurses and protectors to watch over him. At the first sign of the collapse of the city, and especially as Zedekiah and his officials and family fled the city with the Babylonians in hot pursuit, the nurses and protectors might have secreted him out of the city. And being so young, it is likely that Jeremiah and the rest of Judah would not even have known of his existence because of the Babylonian siege.

There was no travel east from Jerusalem. The Arabian desert was not transversable. The route east was on an arc up into Mesopotamia—the Fertile Crescent.

Thus is seems likely that Mulek would have been secreted out of Jerusalem by those assigned in the royal household to care for him and protect him. Likely these would have been special servants with some military guardians since royal families have always taken care to see to the safety of their young. One thing seems likely, he would not have been taken east, north or west.

The Various Empires in 600 B.C. Babylon controlled the entire Mediterranean coast all the way to Egypt, where they were still fighting a war. Babylon was also fighting Sidon and Tyre in the north. There was only one way out of Jerusalem before the city was completely overrun and that was to the south, along the same path Lehi took.

The direction of escape would have been quite simple since the Babylonians controlled all the seashore to the west and northwest of Judah, and the road to Egypt was still in the hands to some degree of the Babylonians who had recently fought a war far into Egypt. To the north was Mesopotamia, the land of the Babylonians in the 6th century. To the east was the desert, an impassable area of sand not even the Babylonians would cross, which was on a straight line with Babylon, but instead took a circuitous route up through the Euphrates valley, curving back down to Babylon. That left only to the south, a direction far away from any land or area controlled, patrolled, or frequented by Babylon.

A decade earlier, this is the route Lehi took in fleeing Jerusalem to escape being put to death by the Jews for preaching (1 Nephi 17:44). Lehi’s journey was in secret for the Lord “brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, (and no one knew it save it were himself and those whom he brought out of that land)” (3 Nephi 5:20). When Nephi encountered Zoram, the servant went with Nephi into the desert “that the Jews might not know concerning our flight into the wilderness, lest they should pursue us and destroy us” (1 Nephi 4:36). Obviously, the route taken by Lehi was one he felt would be the safest in avoiding anyone that knew him and might report his whereabouts back to the leaders in Jerusalem.

Thus, Lehi took his flight into the wilderness to the south, ending up near the mouth of the Aqaba Sea, and following that down along the eastern border of the Red Sea (1 Nephi 2:5). Eventually, he continued down along the Red Sea believing himself safe from pursuit by the Jews. Such a route would have taken him far from Jerusalem’s control, and far from the normal southern route into Egypt.

(See next post “How Did Mulek Escape Jerusalem and Where Did He Go? – Part II” for the route Mulek took as “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” (Omni 1:16)