History/Chronology: This verse provides critical temporal and cultural background for our understanding of the Book of Mormon because it provides a beginning date for Book of Mormon events. Scholars date Zedekiah’s placement on the throne at 597 B.C.
As most Book of Mormon chronology centers around the date of the fall of Jerusalem (the only other possible externally fixable date being the birth/death of Christ), it is important to understand that all other dates in the Book of Mormon are educated reconstructions and approximations based on those two fixed points.
The second part of the verse informs us of “many prophets.” Those known to be contemporary with Lehi included Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Uriah ben Shemaiah (Jer. 26:20–23), Ben-Yohanan ben Igdaliah (Jer. 35:4 LXX [Septuagint version]), the prophetess Huldah (2 Kgs. 22:14–19), and probably others (2 Chr. 36:15–6; cf. Dan. 1:1, Zech. 1:7, Matt. 21:36). LDS scholar S. Kent Brown believes: “There is reason to believe that Lehi may have known Jeremiah personally. Jeremiah had grown up in a town just about three miles northeast of Jerusalem, but all of his ministry was spent in the city, and that’s where Lehi’s early ministry was spent as well. They would have stood as a second witness for each other to the city’s citizens.”
Members of the LDS Church who are accustomed to conflating “prophet” with “president of the Church” accept that there will be only one prophet for the church at any given time. In ancient Israel, the prophets were frequently outside of the establishment, and considered targets of persecution. It would be highly unlikely if any of these Jerusalem prophets were part of the officially recognized religious factions. Lehi’s call was to reform from the outside, not the inside. Other prophets were similarly called. No doubt each was able to reach a certain segment of the people, but probably none would have social access to the entire population.
Certainly the coming destruction of Jerusalem was an important event that might have been prevented by repenting and following the prophets. However, some of the unrest and prophetic activity may also have been a reaction to Josiah’s reforms. Barker notes:
In 598 B.C., twenty-five years after the work of Josiah, Jerusalem was attacked by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs. 24:10–16, 25:1–9); eleven years after the first attack, they returned to destroy the city and the temple (586 B.C.). Refugees fled south to Egypt, and we read in the book of Jeremiah how they would not accept the prophet’s interpretation of the disaster (Jer. 44:16–19). Jeremiah insisted that Jerusalem had fallen because of the sins of her people, but the refugees said it had fallen because of Josiah. The king is not mentioned by name, but there can be no doubt what the refugees had in mind. Until very recently, they said, they and their ancestors in Judah and Jerusalem had worshipped differently and had prospered, but when they changed their manner of worship, disaster had followed.
Culture: As with the name Nephi, “Lehi” has a possible history and etymology. Lehi means “cheekbone, jaw.” Paul Y. Hoskisson (professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University) points out that it would be unusual for this place name to be used as a personal name among the Jews and that body parts are rarely used in names. Hoskisson instead suggests that Lehi may be a shortened version of a Neo-Babylonian name that translates approximately as “(O God,) incline thine head,” with the meaning, “(Incline thy) cheek (O Jehovah).” Nevertheless, John A. Tvedtnes disagrees that body parts were not used as names and prefers the “cheekbone, jaw” translation.