KEEPING SCORE

Let's look at the cultures or peoples we have thus far met in the Book of Mormon:

Lehi and his wife, Sariah and their children - Fled Jerusalem to escape the coming destruction from Babylon and to save Lehi's life. Their sons were Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi.  There were also daughters.

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Ishmael and his family - Lehi's cousin who joined them in the wilderness by God's invitation.

Their cultural identity was as descendants of Joseph, son of Israel.   They had lived near Jerusalem. They would have been living the Law of Moses. They spoke Hebrew, but were able to read and write Egyptian. Their clothing, food and customs would have been customary for Jews of that time.

Zoram - A Jew who served Lehi's cousin, Laban. He traveled with them after sharing an oath of mutual trust before God.  Zoram never violated his oath and stood beside Nephi throughout the years.  He married one of Ishmael's daughters.  He and his family were numbered among the followers of Nephi.

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At the death of Lehi, the family split into family tribes.  Later, that split solidified into two basic groups. 

Those who followed Nephi (the Nephites) included Sam, Zoram, and Lehi's two youngest sons, Jacob and Joseph, who were born in the wilderness.  Nephi's sisters also went with this group.   They took the brass plates, the Liahona, and the sword of Laban with them, so that their language and culture and religious beliefs remained pure. The Nephites are described as fair and delightsome and pure and delightsome (2 Nephi 30)  . . . they had Christ for their shepherd; yea, they were led even by God the Father. (Mormon 5: 17) Nephi taught them to be industrious and to labor with their hands (2 Nephi 5: 17), including building a temple.

Those who followed Laman, the eldest son, (the Lamanites) included Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael.  Laman felt that, as the eldest, he should have the birthright, including the right to rule.  He resented that his younger brother, Nephi, had taken the lead.  These people also resented the fact that Nephi kept the plates and other sacred things from their father.  They saw Nephi, not as a prophet and leader, but an usurper and thief.  The sons of Ishmael resented being taken away from their home and riches to be dragged through the wilderness, living in tents.  They also didn't regard Nephi as a prophet and they didn't acknowledge him as their leader.  They resented that their father, who was old, didn't survive the trek across Arabia, dying in a place called Nahum. None of them kept the Law of Moses and none believed in the coming of a Messiah.  They were described thus: And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations. (1 Nephi 12: 23)

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When King Mosiah (a Nephite) takes his people out of the mountainous Land of Nephi into the valley, he finds an entire city: Zarahemla.  The Nephites learn that they aren't the only people whose ancestors traveled to the New World at the time of the Babylonian conquest. The Old Testament tells us that the King of Babylon commanded the death of all of the King of Judah's sons. Then the king himself, Zedekiah, was blinded and dragged away in chains.

We learn from this account in the Book of Mormon that one of Zedekiah's sons survived.  Mulek may well have been and infant when he was spirited out of Jerusalem by an unknown group of people trying to preserve his life and the line of Kings since David. These people were led by the Lord and eventually came to the Land of Promise across the sea. Because they literally had to drop everything and run (probably in the night), they didn't have any records or scriptures with them.  Because of this, their language had become corrupted in 300 years.

The last keeper of the Nephite records prior to King Benjamin was Amaleki.  We find this account of the Mulekites in the final verses of the Book of Omni:

Mosiah discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out of Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah. . . was carried away captive into Babylon.  . . . they journeyed in the wilderness, and were brought by the hand of the Lord across great waters, into the land where Mosiah discovered them; . . . their language had become corrupted; and they brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.  Mosiah caused that they should be taught his language . . . and . . . the people of Zarahemla, and of Mosiah, did unite together; and Mosiah was appointed their king. (Omni 1: 15-19)

So now we have some of the major groups in the promised land, all of them led there by the Lord: The Nephites, the Lamanites, and the Mulekites, Through the Mulekites, the Nephites learn of an even more ancient group who were led to these shores at the time of the Tower of Babel.  We'll talk more about them later. 

(Just an "Oh, by the way," archaeologists have found what they believe to be the royal seal of Mulek.)

Seal of Mulek

© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, April 2020