The story of Lehi is very abridged in the Book of Mormon and basicly non
existant in the Bible. Yet in the Bible is where Lehi's story begins. Lehi
would be considered by the world as a Jew, as he lived in Jerusalem after the
tribes of Israel had been carried away and lost a an identifyable nation. Yet
Lehi was not of Jewish descent. He was of the house of Joseph. He was one of
a number of the other tribes who had been living in Jerusalem and had not
been taken captive in the destruction of Israel. As such. Lehi shared in the
identification as being a Jew and of the House of Israel.Despite the fact that the Bible does not mention Lehi by name, the fact that Lehi was of the house of Israel gives rise for Lehi to be analyzed as of the faith and background of an Israelite. Further, since we know of Lehi's living location, having lived all his days in Jerusalem, the history of Jerusalem becomes the history of Lehi, one of its sitizens. It is this background and history that we will consider in the first three articles about Lehi. What does it mean to be historically of the house of Isreal? What was it like to live in the days of Josiah and his sons as Kings? What was it like to live in the first year of King Zedekiah's reign? This history and background of Lehi has proved very revealing to me in a manner that helps me to understand Lehi and what it was like for him to have lived in the days of the Bible in which he lived.
What is the presetence for a Lehi and his family? In the same vein as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Lord God of the Old Testament selects a single family and transports them to a promised land. In a manner that supports the fact that Jehovah is the God of the entire earth, Lehi's story in the Book of Mormon brings to life the Lord's governing of his earth to the ends of fulfilling its purpose.
Lehi has written his own history and record. We just do not have it at the present time. Nephi has used a portion of Lehi's story in his Small Plates as it relates to his own autobiographical history. It is only Nephi's writings that we have of Lehi's story today. Surely Lehi's record would be much more informative in respect to Lehi's life in Jerusalem but we must deal with what we have. Mormon also would have made an abridgement from Lehi's record. Today we call the missing 116 pages by the name of the Book of Lehi as we are told that it had Mormon's abridgement of Lehi's book in it. Whether the 116 pages also contained portions of Nephi's large plates, we can speculate. And whether the Lord had Joseph Smith ignore a portion of the abridgement of Mormon which covers the history of the Kings of the Nephites down to King Benjamin is likely. This is the King last memtioned in Nephi's small plates. The first part of the Book of Mormon is lost to us due to the 116 pages. It is only the small plates of Nephi that we have down and until the Book of Mosiah which begins with the last days of King Benjamin.
Many asspect of Lehi's life may be placed into a historical perspective. This has been done to an extent as a number of the articles here in are in a chronological order. Others however approach Lehi by topics which seem to transend the chronology as they are what Lehi is beyond the chronological.
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