600 B.C.: The Departure of Lehi

The date was 600 BC. War was raging in the Middle East. As Assyria and Chaldea battled for control, the people and countries around them had to make choices of their own. Who did Pharaoh support? What did it take to fell the Assyrian empire? Were the Babylonian victors any less cruel than their predecessors? For the floundering nation of Judah, each turn of the tide brought uncertainty. As an increasing number of people were carried off captive, those remaining had to daily make the choice: do we stay or do we flee? Lehi, led by the hand of God, took his family and escaped his war-torn homeland. Yet little is known about his epic journey or the forces that may have been at play during his time. A merchant by trade, Lehi certainly was familiar with Egyptian culture and may even have been influenced by the Greeks and the Romans. But did he ever meet Nebuchadnezzar? What about other important leaders of the time? Certainly, he and his family were in danger simply because they were Jewish, but did his prophecies single him out in the eyes of the powerful world rulers?