The Book of Mormon tells us that Lehi "tarried" for some time in the Valley of Lemuel. I have no idea how long the tarrying time was, but it was from this camp that Lehi shared with his sons what must have seemed to them a strange request. Lehi informed them one day that he had had another vision and that God wanted them to return to Jerusalem to obtain a set of brass plates which were at that time in the possession of Lehi's distant cousin, Laban. Laman and Lemuel were incredulous. This had to be at least a two-week trip! The older brothers argued and murmured that their father was a visionary old man who had dragged them out of Jerusalem, forced them to leave everything behind to live in tents in the desert. And now he wanted them to go back? Was he mad?! (1 Nephi 2:11)
Only Nephi, who accepted that his father was a prophet, did not complain. He said - and this is one of my favorite Book of Mormon verses - "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (1 Nephi 3: 7)
The boys took supplies for the long journey and returned to Jerusalem. They hid in the cavity of a rock, most likely a small cave, because they were unsure of their welcome in Judah. It wasn't an easy task. After Laban refused their entreaties the first time, they returned to their ancestral home and gathered all the riches of gold, silver, and the like, that they had left behind. They offered these to Laban in exchange for the plates, but Laban kept the riches and sent them away. Being an evil man, he accused them of stealing from him and sought to take their lives.
After another harrowing adventure, Nephi finally got the plates and returned to their father along with a man named Zoram, who had been Laban's servant. Zoram pledged himself to Nephi and Nephi pledged himself to Zoram. The pledge, "As the Lord liveth and as I live" (1 Nephi 4:32) is an ancient oath still observed by some Semitic peoples today. [1] A man would suffer himself to be killed before he would break such an oath. This is one of the many examples of Hebrew cultural observances, Hebraisms, Hebrew poetic forms, and the like, that appear all through the Book of Mormon and would have been totally unknown to anyone in America in the early 1800s. To me, they testify to the book's ancient Semitic origin as a translated, not original, work.
The importance of having these records cannot be overstated. Because they had a written language, Lehi's family could preserve their language, customs, and religion. Without them, they would have fallen into an illiterate state and lost the culture and would have lost sight of the promises of Israel within a few generations.
As Lehi read from the plates, he was overjoyed. They contained the writings of Moses and some of the prophets (Isaiah is one who is quoted and mentioned.) They also contained a genealogy of Lehi's family. Lehi was stunned to find out that he was not a Jew at all, but was of the tribe of Manasseh, a descendant of Joseph. He learned that another branch of his family, represented by his cousin, Ishmael, was made up of descendants of Joseph through Ephraim! He and his family were to be the fulfillment of Joseph's blessing of being "a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall . . . unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills." (Genesis 49:22, 26) That this wall was on the other side of a great ocean, Lehi was yet to learn.
[1] Ancient Semitic Covenant: "As the Lord liveth and as I live" - With ancient peoples, the swearing of this oath was a serious business that
couldn’t have been done light-heartedly for fear of reprisals from the god who
was watching over their words. The oath, then, bound the covenanters to
keep the agreement that had been settled but committed the judgment of whether
the agreement was being fulfilled into the hands of a being who was greater than
themselves." (http://www.arlev.co.uk/covenant.htm#3)
Text copyright June 2013 Gebara Education
The Book of Mormon tells us that Lehi "tarried" for some time in the Valley of Lemuel. I have no idea how long the tarrying time was, but it was from this camp that Lehi shared with his sons what must have seemed to them a strange request. Lehi informed them one day that he had had another vision and that God wanted them to return to Jerusalem to obtain a set of brass plates which were at that time in the possession of Lehi's distant cousin, Laban. Laman and Lemuel were incredulous. This had to be at least a two-week trip! The older brothers argued and murmured that their father was a visionary old man who had dragged them out of Jerusalem, forced them to leave everything behind to live in tents in the desert. And now he wanted them to go back? Was he mad?! (1 Nephi 2:11)
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