There are many facts and scriptures which place the tribes of Joseph within the boundries of what might otherwise, according to the Jewish scriptures, be deemed the lands of Judah. Not the least of which is the fact that the mother of Joseph and Benjamin was buried nigh unto Ephrath of the land area known as Bethlehem. It would be quite understandable that the land regions about the site of Ephrath would attract many faithful of the tribes of Joseph in Ephraim and in Manasseh. Even Lehi's lands of inheritence may well have reached near Bethlehem as they most certainly where without the city walls and Bethlehem is but a few miles from Jerusalem. And then there are the Ephraimite families of the Book of Mormon family of Ishmael and the book of Ruth's family of Elimelech. Even Benjamin's lands of inheritance included Zelzah, which was 'by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah (1 Samuel 10:2).

As just noted, we have already placed the family of Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon, and Chilion within that region and they were of the tribe of Ephraim and living near the sight of their great ancester Rachel's place of burial. And there are a number of Old Testament scriptures which place the tribes of Joseph in the lands of the Jews. We will quote a fews of these. We will start in a reverse order during the time Lehi would have been coming into young adulthood under the rule of the most righteous King of Jerusalem of the house of David (1 Kings 22:2; 23:25).

"And like unto him [King Josiah] was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him." ~ 1 Kings 23:25

What Josiah would do in destroying the pagan gods and their priests and turning 'Judah' to the Law of Moses was prophecied by name hundreds of years before he was born back in the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam (1 Kings 13). Beginning in his youth Josiah sought after God and began to restore the temple. During that restoration, the record of the covenant Laws of Moses was found and Josiah read and then had the people of Jerusalem covenant in the temple to so live according to the Law of Moses and they kept the passover. Lehi would have been raised under the influence of this most righteous king. And it is in the days of Josiah that it is mentioned that the remnant of various tribes of Israel were living in the rigions as they contributed to the financing of the restoration of the temple.

"And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem." ~ 2 Chronicles 34:9

This was during the days of Josiah. The ten tribes had been carried away about 720 B.C. and before. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was no more, it had ended. Yet in the days of Josiah, about 630 B.C. and later, there was recorded that a 'remnant' of Israel, by the names of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, had donated to the reconstruction of the temple under King Josiah. And we know Lehi to be of the tribe of Manasseh. And we understand Ishmael of the Book of Mormon to be of the tribe of Ephraim. And we know that throughout the Book of Mormon they refer to themselves as a 'remnant' of the house of Israel.

Here the Bible and the Book of Mormon stand as joint witnesses that there were both of the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim living in the Kingdom of Judea round about the city of Jerusalem. Just how long they had been living in the close vicentity of Jerusalem is a matter of speculation. But certainly for Lehi to had obtained 'lands of inheritence' from his ancestors in the subburban towns and lands within the land of Jerusalem, and for him to be 'exceedingly' weathy, he and his ancestors would have had to have lived there for a number of generations, for according to the laws of Israel, family lands were well controlled to remain in family hands from generation to generation.

There are additional Old Testament references which specify that those of other tribes did live in the lands of Judea, round about Jerusalem. In the days of King Hezekiah, though the majority of Israel's tribes were scattered of the northern kingdom of Israel and the ten tribes, the king of Judah still ruled over a number of the cities round about Judea, which were cities of Ephraim and Manasseh (2 Chronicles 31:1). And while it is possible that Hezekiah as King of Judea had some access to the northern historical cities of Ephraim and Manasseh, it seems quite likely that there where other such 'cities' and 'town' within Judea/Judah which were inhabited by and thus also referred to as 'cities of Ephraim and Manasseh'.

After the reconstruction of the temple in the days of good King Hezekiah, he wrote letters to the remaining remnant of Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the house of the LORD (2 Chronicles 30:1 & 5 & 10-11). It is interesting that, while Ephraim and Manasseh are mentioned in the list to whom the letters where sent, Dan is only mentioned as a land region and not a people. Verse 5 seems to limit the current reaches of Hezekiah's Judea when it states that his proclamation extended from Beer-sheba to Dan unless this was that 'Dan' region to whence Dan removed according to the book of Judges, north of Galilee. And so, yet verse 10 mentions that it did reach as far north as Zebulun and that 'divers' of Asher did come and attend. If this is the case, it might just be that this occurred after the first wave of scattering in 736 B.C. and before the final wave of scattering in 721 B.C. of the northern kingdom.

Perhaps Lehi's ancestors came into Judea in conjunction with that invitation or perhaps they had always been there as a part of the ancestral princes of their tribes who serve Israel from the days of King David or even perhaps as having lands about the cities and town of the site of Rachel's burial in Ephrath. But as stated in verse 18 as cited next, many of Ephraim and Manasseh did attend Hezekiah's invitation. And perhaps by so doing, some may have come to remain in Judea and avoid the final complete colapse of the northern kingdom and the further scattering in 721 B.C.

"For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh . . . did . . . eat the passover . . ." ~ 2 Chronicles 30:18

Even as far back as about 955 B.C. there is record that many out of the lands of Ephraim and Manasseh did join with Judea under the kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 15:9). But one must realize, a goodly number of the various other tribes of Israel had most likely always dwelt in and about Jerusalem, For even when Jereboam and Rehaboam did split the kingdoms in two, it is stated that a number of Israel did live and remain in the the kingdom of Judah and remained subject to Rehoboam. And this is in verses where Israel clearly means of the northern kingdom of Israel or Ephraim and the southern kingdom was called by the name of Judah (2 Chronicles 10:16-17).

"But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them." ~ 2 Chronicles 10:17

And thus a distinct pattern is formed, that various members of the various tribes of Israel did live in the lands of Judea or the Kingdom of Judah. We could further show that both Solomon and David did have various members and representative of the various tribes as members of their courts living in the land of Jerusalem. And it is very much understandable that despite the 'lines drawn in sand' which Joshua did to divide the land of Israel between the various tribes of Israel, the people did mingle and live out side of any such artificlely formed boundries. And this was particularly true about Jerusalem, the capital city of the throne of Israel's kings, David and Solomon.

And further still, we know from the book of Ruth that at least one family of Ephrathites did live in the lands of Bethlehem a few miles from Jerusalem in the day of the Judges. That was the family of Elimelech. Just what was the extent of the lands of inheritence which Boaz assumed of Mahlon, Chilion, and Elimelech by his marriage to Ruth is not specifically known. But we know that 'such a one' did not want to invest his interest in them by purchase if he then would just have to turn around and give it to the 'seed of the dead', the firstborn son of his marriage of Ruth. And he so commented upon it, that such an investment to just loose it from his family back to such a child of the house of Elimelch, would mar his own family's inheritence (Ruth 4:1-8). And we do know that Obed would have been the rightful heir to those lands, and thence to Jesse's house who was the holder of flocks which David did tend to.

It comes to mind, that if Lehi's, Captain Laban's and particularly Ishmael's families of the Book of Mormon did hold lands of inheritence of the same land regions about Jerusalem as did 'such a one', the nearer kinsman of Elimelech, and the family of Elimelech, might they not have been related kinsmen to each other in some respect or other? And why were the 'genealogies' of Joseph found upon the brass plates of Laban? The Book of Mormon calls it the 'record of the Jews', yet it was being kept by Laban, who was of the same lineage as Lehi, of Joseph. Were the brass plates actually the 'stick of Joseph' kept since the days when the promises of Joseph first mentions such a record (JST Genesis 50:31)? Or were some of those the genealogies of Joseph found on the plates of brass those of the 'Joseph' connected genealogies of the house of David? When those plates of brass are revealed by the Lord, it will be interesting to see just which genealogies of Joseph they do contain.