Nephites in the City of Nephi

According to Nephi’s record, his father left Jerusalem around the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah” (1 Nephi 1:4), a date we have always considered to be 600 BC. However, Jewish historians have placed the beginning of Zedekiah’s reign as king of Judah being 597 BC. Evidently, between the time of Zedekiah’s placement as king, and the time Lehi actually left Jerusalem may well have been a short interval, for during that time Nephi records that there were many prophets that came into the land prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city of Jerusalem must be destroyed (1 Nephi 1:4). Lehi also had a visitation from the Lord, a great vision, in which he was instructed on what was about to happen to Jerusalem, after which he went into the city and preached to the people (1 Nephi 1:18). Many of the Jews, who were offended by Lehi’s preaching sought his life (1 Nephi 1:20).

Lehi preaching in Jerusalem

The result of this assignment placed Lehi’s life in jeopardy from the mobs in Jerusalem and the Lord told him to flee into the wilderness with his family (1 Nephi 2:2-4), which Nephi dutifully abridges from Lehi’s own writing 30 years later, after they had reached the Land of Promise and Nephi had fled from his brothers after Lehi’s death.
    Nephi made this abridgement (1 Nephi 1:17) of his father’s record (Book of Lehi) in which the full story of their leaving Jerusalem and the story of Lehi’s life and later events took place, which were evidently recorded by Lehi (1 Nephi 6:1). According to Nephi’s writing, these events occurred, but we are not exactly told when Lehi left Jerusalem—did he leave in the first year of Zedekiah’s reign, or did he leave sometime afterward. While we normally use the date 600 BC, in this article we will use the revised date of 597 BC.
    It is also recorded that Lehi’s party spent eight years in the wilderness before reaching Bountiful (1 Nephi 17:4). Assuming they spent 2 years building Nephi’s ship and sailing to the Land of Promise, we find that 30 years after leaving Jerusalem (2 Nephi 5:28), Nephi is situated in an area far from his brothers and where they first landed—a place his people decided to call Nephi (2 Nephi 5:8).
    Now, sometime between 30 and 40 years after leaving Jerusalem, having been in the Land of Promise at least 20 years, Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael caught up with Nephi and a series of contentions and battles or “wars” broke out between them (2 Nephi 5:34).

The southern approach to the city of Nephi was well guarded by forts and outposts

Based on the fact that these wars took place, it would seem likely that Nephi had established outposts to the south of the City of Nephi along the route they had earlier traveled and assumed Laman and Lemuel would take to eventually follow them, for Nephi knew that he would be followed, and thus had made and equipped his people with swords and other weapons (2 Nephi 5:14) for their defense.
    It should be noted that Nephi died (Jacob 1:12) in the city that bore his name sometime around 545 BC, probably around the age of 80 (if he was 25 when leaving Jerusalem), and that the Nephites basically remained in this area, likely spreading out and settling smaller locations in the general area. Certainly the wars with the Lamanites had continued through Jacob’s lifetime (Jacob 7:24-26). And these wars continued, for Jacob’s grandson and Nephi’s great nephew, wrote some 200 years after leaving Jerusalem that the Lamanites “came many times against us, the Nephites, to battle. But our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord…wherefore, we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance” (Jarom 1:7).
    Jarom also speaks of multiplying exceedingly, and spreading upon the face of the land, constructing buildings and fortifying their cities and whatsoever place of their inheritance (Jarom 1:7-8). Obviously, the wars had gotten so intense, and possibly frequent, that reinforcing outposts and forts became necessary.
    It should also be noted that by 320 years after leaving Jerusalem, the Nephites had become wicked, and the more wicked part of the Nephites had been destroyed (Omni 1:5), though the righteous were spared (Omni 1:7).
    Abinadom, the next to the last of these recorders, stated that he had seen much war and contentions between the Nephites and Lamanites, and himself had been a warrior (Omni 1:10). And it was Abinadom’s son, Amaleki who tells us of Mosiah being told to flee the Land of Nephi (Omni 1:12), and he came down out of the hills and mountains “and come down into the land which is called the Land of Zarahemla” (Omni 1:13).
    Thus, we can see, from about ten years after Nephi fled from his brothers, around 577 BC, to the time of Mosiah, around 200 BC, or for nearly 400 years, the Lamanites and Nephites had wars and serious contentions until the majority of Nephites had become wicked and Mosiah was told to flee into the wilderness with all those who would go with him.

By the close of the Omni record, king Benjamin was leading the Nephites and was king over the Land of Zarahemla around 130 BC, and there were still wars with the Lamanites, as well as having contentions among his own people (WofM 1;12), but with the help of many prophets in the land, and the strength of his armies, he drove the Lamanites out of their land and established peace (WofM 1:17-18).
    Thus, we see that before Mosiah left the Land of Nephi to establish the Nephites in the Land of Zarahemla, that the Nephites in varying stages of righteous and wickedness, built a series of cities, towns and settlements throughout the Land of Nephi, kept up running wars with the Lamanites, and developed a civilization in the Land of Promise.
    In fact, about 180 years after Nephi taught his people how to build and work with all types of material and precious metals, Jarom records that the Nephites in the Land of Nephi, had become “exceedingly rich in gold, and in silver, and in precious things, and in fine workmanship of wood, in buildings, and in machinery, and also in iron and copper, and brass and steel, making all manner of tools of every kind to till the ground” (Jarom 1:8). 60 years later we find that the Nephites had plenty of food, raiment, gold, silver, and all the riches which they had of every kind” (Mosiah 4:19), and 50 years after that, Mormon tells us that “there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of [Capt] Moroni” (Alma 50:23).
    Clearly, the Nephites in the final years of their occupying the Land of Nephi were quite successful commercially as well as socially and perhaps religiously, being as happy as they had ever been. So what were they like, what were they doing, and how were they living during those nearly 400 years in the City of Nephi? Well, we know they were expanding, filling up the face of the land, obviously to the south of the narrow strip of wilderness. There were plenty of natural resources in the land, and large quantities of precious metals, they had fine-twilled linen, an abundance of flocks and herds, and were constructing buildings in the cities and towns being settled throughout the land. They were building still, no doubt like their ancestors had learned at the feet of Nephi, who had been taught by the Lord (1 Nephi 18:2-3) how to build things and work with ore and metals.

The Tower of David rises above the ancient stone city of Jerusalem

Since Jerusalem was built out of stone, and since cut and dressed stone was used to build the Temple of Solomon—which would have been Nephi’s most understood medium, living in an area where quarried stone was the principle building material, it only seems natural that the Lord would show Nephi how to build with stone, for the same reason the Lord showed Adam and Eve how to make garments of skin to clothe themselves (Genesis 3:21), so they could take care of themselves by using that ability later on.
    The point is, while we have very little information regarding the Nephites from Nephi’s death to Mosiah leaving the city of Nephi, in that nearly 400 years much would have taken place. By the time of Nephi’s own grandsons, the people had “multiplied exceedingly, and spread upon the face of the land” (Jarom 1:8). They had also become exceedingly rich in gold and silver and precious things, and become experts in working with wood and metal, and in building buildings, and constructing machinery and the necessary tools they needed, which were out of iron, copper, brass and steel (Jarom 1:8).
    Likely as not, first Nephi, then others built cities, outposts and forts between the city of Nephi and the approach to the valley from the south, meaning that the wars fought with the Lamanites were likely to the south of the city of Nephi, not in or closely around the city. Thus, leaving the center of the Nephite kingdom free from the wars that were fought, which allowed the people to follow their own personal and self-centered ways, leading to the wicked nature they developed by the time of Mosiah (Omni 1:5).
    One can only wonder what took place during those 400 years and look to the day when the large plates of Nephi held by the kings will be revealed (Omni 1:11).