I discovered several weeks ago that Lehi, Laban, king Josiah and Jeremiah were contemporaries, all having been born within just a handful of years of one another.  All grew up together in Jerusalem.  I don't know that either Josiah or Jeremiah ever knew Lehi; but certainly Lehi was an eye and ear witness to Josiah's reading to the people of the newly-discovered book of the law, to the covenant that he caused the people of the kingdom to make with the Lord, and to the grand Passover that he held in Jerusalem.  Lehi would most certainly have also been an eye and ear witness to the prophesying of Jeremiah.  In fact the 4th, 5th, and 6th verses of the Book of Mormon make it sound like it was the prophecies of Jeremiah (or one of the other contemporary prophets) that caused Lehi to contemplate, pray, and then receive his first, big revelation.

As I've thought about these men, the times, and what brought them together I've had a whole world of thoughts open up to me.  These thoughts won't necessarily be in order, but I need to get them recorded.

Other contemporaries of these men were the four boys carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon.  Those boys—Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—were taken to Babylon in about the year 602 B.C. (or 606 B.C.).  Daniel would have been 10-15 years old, the same age as Nephi.  Lehi would have been about 40 years old, and would have been a witness to Babylon's initial takeover of Judah.

Eight years previous to the Babylonian takeover, Lehi would have witnessed king Josiah's death which was occasioned by Egypt's attack and takeover of Judah in 610 B.C.  Josiah's death was also the death of the righteous direction that Josiah was trying to make Judah take.  Josiah's son and successor was a wicked man.  Under his leadership the Jews quickly lost all interest in anything pertaining to righteousness.

Judah spent 8 years under the control of Egypt before Babylon took it away.  Lehi must have had dealings with the Egyptians during this time, which is why he became conversant in "the language of the Egyptians."  (1 Ne. 1:2).  Not only did he learn to speak Egyptian, but also how to write it.  He taught this form of writing (Reformed Egyptian) to his sons, and that system of writing and the ability to read it carried all the way down through his descendants to Moroni 1000 years later.  Talk about an effective teacher!

I'm particularly interested in the Brass Plates—their origin, their journeys, and their ultimate revealing to the world.  Prophecies in the Book of Mormon say that they'll never be dimmed any more by time.  The last they were heard of they were in the care of Mormon and Moroni, and were deposited in a room in a hill.  I believe Joseph Smith saw them there in a vision along with many other records, the Liahona and the sword of Laban.  Prophecies in the Book of Mormon say that they will come forth in the latter days and go forth to all the world.  (1 Ne. 5:10-19; Alma 37: 3-10).  Whether their coming forth will be before the Lord's second coming or after, I'm not sure.  I suspect that it will be after.  I don't think they can come forth in a time of wickedness.

After Lehi left Jerusalem he received a commandment from the Lord that he should send his sons back to Jerusalem to obtain the plates from Laban.  I'm not sure that he previously knew about the plates and their existence, but Lehi and his sons probably knew of Laban.  Laban was a powerful and well-known man, with many men and servants under his command.  He was a person in authority who could do pretty much as he pleased—even to slay someone whom he accused of being a robber, and to have no fear of being held accountable.

Laban had possession of the brass plates because he "was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records."  (1 Ne. 5:16).  The plates contained "the five books of Moses;" "an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve;" "a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah," the last king of Judah; "the prophecies of the holy prophets, from the beginning…and also many prophecies…spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah;" a genealogy of Joseph's family (1 Ne. 5:11-14); the prophecies of Zenos and Zenock; and the prophecies of Joseph (2 Ne. 4:2).  The plates of brass were the record.  They were more complete and a good deal larger than our present-day Bible.  (1 Ne. 13:23).

Laban was quite proud of the fact that he possessed these records.  He wasn't about to let them out of his possession.  His pride in them probably extended to even letting at least some people know of their existence.  Laban was a wicked man, but some righteous person had access to the records because that person engraved some of the prophecies of Jeremiah upon them.  Perhaps that person was Jeremiah's scribe, Baruch.

Jeremiah called Baruch to be his scribe.  Baruch "took a roll of a book" and wrote therein all the words of Jeremiah.  (Jere. 36:2).  Jeremiah was "shut up" (Jere. 36:5), so he sent Baruch to read his book in the Lord's house.  It was then read to "all the princes" who had it sent to be read to the king, Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim didn't like it because the book said that the king of Babylon would come and destroy the land.  Jehoiakim, therefore, took the book, cut it with a penknife, "and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth."  (Jere. 36:23).  That didn't destroy the book nor nullify Jeremiah's prophecies, however, because the Lord told Jeremiah to give Baruch another roll, and Jeremiah dictated the whole thing to Baruch all over again, and "added besides unto them many like words."  (Jere. 36:32).

The people and the princes were impressed with the book.  "They were afraid both one and other."  (Jere. 36:16).  Laban may have been one of the princes who was so impressed.  One way or another he allowed either Baruch or some other scribe to add Jeremiah's prophecies to the brass plates.

Laban probably hadn't been in possession of the plates very long.  They had been given to him by "his fathers."  Laban was Lehi's age—just 30-40 years old.  His father would have been 50-60 years old—of an age when it was time to bestow the sacred records upon the younger generation.  Perhaps Laban's father was even a righteous man.  Most of the fathers before him would have been righteous men or the Lord would not have permitted the records to stay in their hands, neither would the writings of the prophets have been recorded on them.

The practice among the Nephites was to hand sacred records from prophet-father to prophet-son, or from prophet to prophet.  Most likely that was the case with the brass plates until they ended up in the hands of unrighteous Laban.  The fact that the prophecies of Zenos and Zenock were upon the plates is very suggestive about the origins and travels of the plates.  Zenos and Zenock were descendants of Joseph (Manasseh).  The tribe of Manasseh was part of the northern kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel.  Zenos and Zenock, who I bet will turn out to be father and son, did their prophesying in the northern kingdom.  That's why they received no mention in the Bible, which was largely a record of the southern kingdom, Judah.

Zenos and Zenock probably had possession of the brass plates in their lifetimes.  The plates most likely were brought to Jerusalem by their successors during the wicked reigns of Jereboam and Baasha in Israel when the Lord's priests were all put down and the righteous people gathered out of Israel and went to Asa, king of Judah, when they saw that the Lord was with him, around 955 B.C.

Abraham had possession of some records which had been handed down from the fathers.  He said, "…the records have come into my hands, which I hold unto this present time."  (Abra. 1:28).  We hear no more about that set of records.  Were they the brass plates?  Did Abraham entrust his sacred records to Isaac and to Jacob?  Or did Abraham "hide the records up to the Lord?"

It's of interest to me that the World Book Encyclopedia says that the earliest brass was probably made on the Island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea in about 500 B.C.  The writer of that article and the archeologists that research such things failed to read the Bible.  The Bible mentions brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc, as early as the fourth chapter of Genesis.  Brass, therefore, has been around from the beginning.  The brass plates could, therefore, have been around from the beginning, too.  Were the brass plates the records that Abraham had in his possession?  Were the brass plates also the "book of remembrance" that Adam was commanded to keep?  (Moses 6:5 and footnote).

If the records went from Abraham to Isaac and Jacob, Jacob would surely have given them to Joseph.  Joseph would have written on them, and would probably have given them to his son Manasseh, rather than to Ephraim.  Manasseh was Joseph's eldest son.  The brass plates were handed down through Manasseh's line.  When Joseph was preparing to die, he instructed the children of Israel to carry his bones up to Canaan when they left Egypt 400 years hence.  His body was embalmed, and 400 years later, when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, Joseph's embalmed body went with them.  It was carried about through the wilderness for 40 years, and was finally buried in Canaan.

It would have been Joseph's family that kept care of his body for those 400 years.  If those fathers and sons who were entrusted with that sacred responsibility were so diligent about caring for his body, would they not have been able and worthy to also safeguard the records?

Perhaps, just perhaps, the brass plates were made by the earliest patriarchs, carried through the Flood by Noah, given to Abraham by either Noah or Shem (both of whom were still alive during Abraham's lifetime), passed to Joseph, went through the hands of Zenos and Zenock, came with Lehi to America, and were passed safely from prophet to prophet until Mormon and Moroni laid them away.

I long to be able to read that record.

 

(See also, “The Records,” in “My Heart is Brim with Joy.”