It’ll likely never be as good for them temporally as they had it in Jerusalem.
I’ve obtained a promised land, and I rejoice in that, said Lehi to his wife as she complained - you are a dreamer and have led us from our own land and my sons are dead and we’re going to die in the wilderness. But Sariah, says Lehi, I’ve read that Jerusalem will be destroyed and many will be killed by the sword and many others will be captured and taken to Babylon. (CoC 1 Nephi 1:III)
It was in or just after 600 BC that Sariah and Lehi had this exchange after having left their home in Jerusalem. It’s a bit of a difficult period for the family. Not just Sariah thinking they’re going to die, but maybe all of them. You know; “If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"? It highlights the important role a mother plays within a family and this mama’s mood and wellbeing is putting Lehi in a bit of a spot. Her impact on the overall atmosphere and dynamic of the household must surely be setting the tone. Lehi’s been removed not just from Jerusalem but from the California king bed he’s used to sleeping on. I suppose for a time he’s been relegated to sleeping on the proverbial couch and likely won’t again “know” Sariah in the biblical sense until he rolls up with something that makes more sense to her – in other words, he’s in the dog house with her.
The trouble for Lehi is that the things of God are often not intended to make “sense.” And, from a cartographer and historians’ standpoint, they’re still over a decade and oceans away from the promised land Lehi said he has “obtained.” Think of it this way, If I tell my wife I’ve obtained an estate complete with a mansion but we can’t move in or see it for another 11 years and it’s a fixer-upper when we get there and we have to move out of our current house now and we’ll just be camping around in different spots until God has us move in and will be living primitively til we get there and we won’t be cooking our food most of the time we travel….and, and, and…. Well, would your wife be happy with that? – she ain’t going to be happy. So, they wander around in the desert for 8 years, having mostly what seem to be unpleasant experiences sprinkled with a few faith promoting divine interactions but mostly surviving in what seems to be a hostile setting before arriving at the land bountiful. In the land they named Bountiful, keep in mind, they’re still nowhere near the promised land, circumstances appear to be comparatively better than the desert setting they just arrived from, but still no corner grocery store or modern conveniences. Additionally, here, the Lord would require them to put forth the effort, starting with forging their own tools, to build and board a ship for another continent. “*@&%% Lord, what do you expect?” might be an apt sentiment.
Meanwhile back in Jerusalem the cancerous cultural tumors that Lehi had diagnosed, and which are generally easily treated by repentance if caught early, have metastasized and become terminal. Their troubling season now fast approaching, about which Lehi had prophesied and warned that wickedness and abominations left unchecked would lead to destruction, is no longer approaching but has arrived (1 Nephi 1: IV-V CoC). With Lehi and his family safely away on their extended camping trip and journey to the promised-land, the inescapable consequence of untreated wickedness has begun in Jerusalem and the prophesied transformation toward destruction is manifested in the 597 BC besiege of Jerusalem in which they surrendered. Long story short, the shit is hitting the proverbial fan. Jerusalem’s leadership, other prominent citizens and craftsmen were deported to Babylon, marking the start of the Babylonian captivity and of the Jewish diaspora, the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of the globe. I suppose one could argue that because the work of the Lord of the vineyard and his fellow laborers is ongoing and designed to cause the chosen family line to produce fruit worthy of preservation, this very story continues unfolding even in our day. But back then, the prophesied demise and not so decent descent of Jerusalem has begun. It continued in waves of deportations until at least 587 BC or so when Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple. Interestingly, this decade of demise, descent and destruction parallels roughly the time frame Lehi and his family are journeying to the promised land.
From the shores of their dry camp spot in Bountiful the journey of Lehi and his family in their home-built ship across the waters to the promised land is not a typical Carnival Cruise. Marked by difficulty attendant to sailing a small ship across the sea, family conflict and likely a bit of sea-sickness, they spend 9-12 months bobbing their way away from the old country to the new. Eventually they spot land and arrive on the coast of the promised land, debatable as to precisely which port they sailed into but I doubt it was the port at Long Beach, and once again set up their camping gear – wall tents, Dutch-ovens, lanterns and cots and begin to establish. By now it’s roughly 589 BC, approximately 11 years since they departed Jerusalem for the promised land, which Lehi had said a decade ago he had obtained from the Lord. Though they’ve arrived at their new digs and despite taking up residence there, they’re still living primitively. The first McDonalds franchise won’t show up there for another 2,567 years, but the land is full of potential – that which can be, but is not yet.
Rewind about 4 years, already about 8 years into their journey but back to when they were in the land they named Bountiful and were beginning to build a ship. The Lord told them, “after you’ve arrived in the promised land, you will know that I the Lord am God and I saved you from destruction and brought you out of the land of Jerusalem” (CoC I Nephi 17:XVI). If I’m Lehi, in my mind I’m like sheesh, ‘you mean we’ve been out here in this miserable desert for 8 years and they still haven’t been destroyed? The answer, Lehi, is yes and no. Jerusalem has been invaded by the Babylonians and surrendered as mentioned earlier but it would appear from the biblical record that despite the absence of their local leadership and craftsmen who have been carried away captive into Babylon, much of their lower-level society remains somewhat functional albeit tattered and with a new Sheriff in town. However, apparently Lehi will only be informed the destruction is complete when he is safely away in the promised land.
Wind forward 4 years to the present, Lehi has arrived in promised land and it would appear from a timing standpoint, it’s around, give or take a season, the time Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple and perhaps just a bit prior to Lehi’s death. Nephi records some of his father’s comments among which is this - “I’ve seen a vision showing me Jerusalem has been destroyed. If we had remained there, we also would have died.” (2 Nephi 1:I) So now they know, now they know. But in some ways, they are so separated by time and distance from the Jerusalem they left and have struggled so mightily to get here that to know that Jerusalem has been destroyed does fulfill a prophecy but may be moot to many of them, a point that with regard to their present lives doesn’t bear much matter. Likely also that some in the village are going “sure….”
Their journey and Lehi ultimately dying, or laying down his temple (physical death), follow about the same timeline as the demise of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon’s temple. Lehi’s death being the milepost and a turn-of-the page into a new chapter, and the destruction of Solomon’s temple, continents and oceans apart at roughly the same time, serving as a marker or a page-turn in time in Jerusalem.
To Lehi et al. the Lord said, the degree you keep my commandments you will be led to the promised land (2 Nephi 1:III). Contrast that with what Lehi had preached in Jerusalem which is/was the antithesis to that – to the degree that you don’t keep the commandments you will be shut out and destroyed. In both cases, it doesn’t happen all at once and those living in the present the time period can really only appreciate circumstance by looking from the present back. The look forward is so limited that faith, or lack of it, is the singular source of fuel that transforms potential into reality and then the new look-back unveils what the future held. Though there is a long history before and after the destruction of Solomon’s temple, its destruction, at that point in time, lays bare the outcome of wickedness and Jerusalem’s descent from covenant blessings to covenant curse status earned by a wicked people. Lehi’s life and death, on the other hand, designates the ascent and covenant blessing of a man/family willing to conform to divine law and the action required by obedience.
All of that to get to my point. And that is to point out, as if you didn’t already know (I know you do), we live in a time when you are literally and figuratively on one of these two journeys at this very moment. The Jerusalem journey or the journey of Lehi.
Even though Lehi, Sariah and those that traveled with them always had a prophet on staff, it appears to have been a mostly unpleasant journey, with struggle seeming to be a constant escort for them but the actual destination ultimately being not just the promised land – American terra-firma - but a destination well beyond this cycle of creation. Nephi declared in the first page of the record, I’ve experienced many hardships during my life, while at the same time I’ve been greatly blessed by the Lord.” (1 Nephi 1:I)
In Jerusalem, after Lehi left, they enjoyed a season of “all is well in Zion” prior to their destruction. We are present in that moment, in that Jerusalem, and it’s tempting to rationalize our continued presence in Babylon by waiting for a prompt, beyond that of Lehi’s, to encourage our departure. If that’s you, your wait will be in vain. Lehi extended that invitation to us long ago. Lehi left long before he departed. The time for that, leaving before you depart, is now upon us. The destination is beyond this round.
Signed,
John The-Not-So-Beloved
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