Many of the Jews were carried captive into Babylon at the time of the conquest of the Southern Kingdom of Judah in about 589 B.C. There were two waves of Jewish captives taken to Babylon before Jerusalem was destroyed, the first in the third year of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1). He reigned for eleven years as king of Judah, the third year would be 609 B.C., Book of Mormon dating, or 606 B.C. traditional dating. The second wave was at the end of Jehoiachin’s short three month reign, “and ten thousand captives” were taken. Zedekiah was then made the puppet king of Judah (2 Kings 24:5–17), about 600 B.C. A casual reading may conclude that the Jews were to be taken captive after “that great city Jerusalem” was destroyed, but a more careful reading shows that Lehi was speaking in general terms of the destruction and the captivity as a background for his prophecy that in “the own due time of the Lord [the Jews] would return again” (v. 3).
The great number of prophets who had testified of the Messiah being raised up was probably an enumeration drawn by Lehi from his reading the plates of brass. Jacob, his son, later records: “all the holy prophets which were before us” had a hope of his glory, and none “have written or prophesied save they have spoken concerning this Christ” (Jacob 4:4; 7:11). While still in the valley of Lemuel, where they are now, Nephi learned “that there are many plain and precious things taken away from [the record of the Jews]” by the “great and abominable church,” (1 Nephi 13:26–28), and the devil “was the founder of it” (1 Nephi 13:6). Thus the devil was primarily responsible for those losses. A knowledge of the coming of the Messiah would be on the top of his list for deletion. While there are many prophecies still remaining in the Bible, many of them were lost as will be shown later in this work. Lehi is the only prophet who gave an exact time of the savior’s birth, six hundred years from the time of his leaving Jerusalem (v. 4). At least there are no prophecies to that effect in our present Bible.
The doctrine of all mankind being “in a lost and fallen state,” and therefore in need of a redeemer, is taught throughout the Book of Mormon. The Pearl of Great Price is another testimony to the doctrine of fallen man being known and taught from the day of Adam (see Moses 6:48–62). Of course the doctrine is in the Bible, but has many variant interpretations in the Christian world. The Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price are two witnesses to the correct interpretation.