It is interesting to note that Laman and Lemuel insisted that the Jews at Jerusalem were a “righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord” (1 Nephi 17:22), while prophets administering to the same people were appalled at the depth of their wickedness. A hundred years earlier, such prophets as Hosea, Isaiah, and Amos had rebuked Israel and called them to repentance. Amos, particularly, chastised them for transgression: “They have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments.” (Amos 2:4) He was particularly incensed at their immorality, idolatry, and abuse of the poor. (Amos 2:6-8)
The chastisements of the Lord by the hand of Assyria did not bring the people to true repentance, and so one hundred years later the prophets Jeremiah and Lehi were again warning the people against the same grievous sins. As before, the people would not repent; rather, they sought to stop the mouths of the prophets by banishment or murder. Again came the chastening of the Lord. This time the agent was Babylonia, whose armies left Judah a burning ruin.
So spiritually hardened had Judah become that many were still unrepentant, even after the tremendous calamity of Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest and their own exile. Rather than sorrowing for their own sins, some of the survivors responded to their punishment with the hope that Babylon would be destroyed and her little ones dashed upon the rocks. (See Psalm 137, especially vs. 9, which seems to have been written after this great tragedy.) Noting this attitude, one author had commented thus:
There is in this response to the Exile no sense of guilt for the sins of Israel and Judah; no awareness of the message of divine justice and judgment which had been on the lips of Amos and Hosea, of Isaiah and Micah. The righteousness which undergirded such a response is a self-righteousness; with bitterness compounded of a false sense of innocence, this response ignored the question of “Why the Exile?” It merely poured venom upon the Babylonians. But there were others among the exiles who were asking “Why?” Why had this awesome and far-reaching disaster fallen upon God’s own people? Struggling with this profound question, the prophets, at least, came to the conclusion that the Exile was just punishment demanded by God’s justice. No one, not even the Chosen People themselves, must presume upon God and upon the covenant relationship.
[Church Educational System, Book of Mormon Student Manual, Religion 121-122, 1981, pp. 44-45]
“We Know That the People Who Were in the Land of Jerusalem Were a Righteous People”
According to Potter & Wellington, by the time Nephi’s narrative commences, Lehi would appear to be a well-established businessman. Lehi was of the tribe of Manasseh (Alma 10:3), whose tribal lands were originally north of Jerusalem in what became the Northern Kingdom of Israel. These lands fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Lehi’s ancestors must have left either before that time or when the Assyrian threat became obvious. This extensive migration of many northern Israelites led to dramatic growth in the size of the city of Jerusalem. This increase in population may have been the cause of an economic prosperity during the reign of the great reformer King Hezekiah, which was manifested in a building boom not only in the city of Jerusalem but also in the land round about. New defenses were constructed throughout the land, and in Jerusalem a new broad city wall was completed, an underwater conduit was tunneled 1,770 feet from Gihon spring to Siloam pool, and two new residential and business quarters, the Mishneh (2 Kings 22:14) and Maktesh (Zephaniah 1:10), were built.
Hezekiah was succeeded by his son, Manasseh (692-638 B.C.) during whose long reign foreign influences swept into the kingdom. Witchcraft, divination and wizardry became common; the Assyrian god Ishtar was worshiped in the Temple itself and even child sacrifice was practiced in the valley of Hinnom. The prophets were persecuted and even the prophet Isaiah was killed.
After Hezekiah’s death there was some political intrigue when his son, Amon, was murdered after only two years on the throne (638-637 B.C.) However, the revolutionary elements were soon suppressed and the eight year old Josiah (637-609 B.C.) was placed on the throne by the landed nobility. In 629 B.C., king Josiah began a purge, removing the pagan idols and repairing the Temple. In 619 B.C. a hitherto unknown book was found in the Temple (2 Kings 22:8-10). It is generally considered that this “book of the law” was the Book of Deuteronomy. It was read to the king and he in turn had it read to the entire population, both young and old, and all entered into a covenant with the Lord (2 Kings 22 & 23). Laman and Lemuel were probably born around this time. Regarding this time Abram Sachar wrote:
To later chroniclers this brief period of Josiah was looked back upon as a golden age. The people had peace; the laws of the Mosaic faith were carefully practiced. The king was a model of piety and set a worthy example for his people.
There followed a period of territorial expansion and economic prosperity under which Lehi’s business presumably thrived. This was the environment that Laman and Lemuel were raised in. The king and people were presumed righteous. They had entered into a covenant with the Lord. The Mosaic law was apparently practiced scrupulously and the Lord was apparently blessing them with peace and prosperity. Therefore it is no surprise to find Laman and Lemuel stating:
And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses; wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people … (1 Nephi 17:22)
Laman and Lemuel were a product of their environment, they believed, as did the vast majority of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they were righteous. Not all, however, held this same view. The prophet Jeremiah joined with Zephaniah and other prophets and together they sent forth their voice of warning: “Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” (Jeremiah 4:13-14). [George Potter & Richard Wellington, Discovering The Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript (July 2000), pp. 1-3]
Note* This brings up a good question: Would the Lord destroy a righteous people? I doubt it. Thus the covenant compliances of the people might have been outward and not inward. Perhaps they did not fully repent from their acts of divination and wizardry, child sacrifice and the killing of the prophets in the time of Manasseh. In other words, had prosperity, riches and peace allowed the people to display outward religious piety (in order to satisfy king Josiah) while secretly (through secret societies) they continued to foster the decadence that was a part of king Manasseh’s era? Furthermore, had corrupt priests secretly suppressed and yet openly preached against the true concept of the Messiah and the doctrine of Christ? What exactly was it that merited the destruction of the Jews?
Potter and Wellington note:
According to the Chroniclers, Zedekiah did evil in the site of the Lord and humbled himself not before Jeremiah. During his reign men and women gave themselves to the worship of the Babylonian goddess of love (Ishtar), as well as the sun-god; and on the other hand the worship of the sacred animals of Egypt was carried on in an underground chamber… . Judah’s vacillations between suzerains, with its attendant covenant breaking, had brought devastation to the kingdom in the past, and yet the people seemed oblivious to the fate that would await them should their king break the solemn oath he had made to King Nebuchadnezzar. (pp. 5-6)
Are we dealing not just with the breaking of an oath to an earthly king, but the breaking of a solemn covenant oath to a heavenly king, the Lord Jehovah-Jesus Christ? [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 1:19-20; 2:1; 2:13] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 17:35 on the definition of “righteous”]