According to Ricks and Tvedtnes, Zarahemla was the Nephite capital for longer than any other city, yet it was actually named from Zarahemla, a descendant of Mulek (Omni 1:12-15; Mosiah 25:2). Mulek, the son of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, had come to the New World with other immigrants not long after Lehi's departure from Jerusalem (Helaman 6:10; 8:21).
The name Zarahemla probably derives from the Hebrew zer hemlah, which has been variously translated as "seed of compassion" or "child of grace, pity, or compassion." It may be that the Mulekite leader was given that name because his ancestor had been rescued when the other sons of King Zedekiah were slain during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. To subsequent Nephite generations, it may even have suggested the deliverance of their own ancestors from Jerusalem prior to its destruction or the anticipation of Christ's coming. [Stephen D. Ricks and John A. Tvedtnes, "The Hebrew Origin of Some Book of Mormon Place Names," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 6/2 1997, pp. 258-259]
“The Land of Zarahemla”
According to Joseph Allen [and the theories of David Palmer and John Sorenson], the ruins of Santa Rosa appear to be the most reliable site for the City of Zarahemla today; and the Chiapas Depression, a valley large enough to place Israel inside of, is ideal for the Land of Zarahemla. The site of Santa Rosa is now under a man-made reservoir along the Grijalva River. However, prior to the area's inundation, the New World Archaeological Foundation conducted archaeological studies of Santa Rosa during the 1958 and 1959 seasons. A reconnaissance of the Upper Grijalva River in the winter of 1956 showed the site of Santa Rosa to be the largest Preclassic center in the region (the Preclassic time period is the time of the Book of Mormon). Several statements comparing the City of Zarahemla with Santa Rosa seem appropriate:
1. It fits the directional and distance requirements for Mosiah1 to have led a group of people from the city of Nephi (Kaminaljuyu).
2. It fits the directional and distance requirements for the people of Mulek (people of Zarahemla) to come from the land of desolation/land northward up into the south wilderness (Alma 22:30).
3. It allows for an East Wilderness.
4. It allows the Isthmus of Tehuantepec area to play its proper role in Book of Mormon geography as the Narrow Neck of Land.
5. It provides a major river running by it on the east (the Grijalva), with its headwaters in the proper direction (towards Kaminaljuyu), and its mouth emptying into a sea (the Gulf of Mexico), all of which are Book of Mormon requirements.
6. It permits the Limhi Expedition to bypass Zarahemla and wander through the State of Tabasco in the area proposed as the "land of many waters" to get into the land northward.
7. It is in an adequate location for Alma1 and Limhi to return to Zarahemla through a "strip of wilderness," or mountain range.
8. Ample archaeological population centers are found in the Chiapas Valley during the 180 B.C.-- A.D. 350 period when the bulk of the Nephite history in the Land of Zarahemla occurred. Also, a manifest decline in the population in the area occurred around A.D. 350, the period when the Nephites were forced to leave the Land Southward. Zarahemla was in the Land Southward.
9. It is in the proper general area for language development. That is, from 600 B.C.--A.D. 200, we witness a written language in use that was adopted by the later A.D. 350 culture.
10. Archaeological sites are found whose dating and culture patterns coincide precisely with Mosiah1's people and the people of Zarahemla.
11. The elevation is 1,100 feet. Kaminaljuyu (the local land of Nephi) is 4800 feet. People always go from Zarahemla up to the land of Nephi. [Joseph Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 372]
Omni 1:13 They came down into the land . . . of Zarahemla ([Illustration]): A view descending down into the Chiapas Depression. Santa Rosa, Chiapas, Mexico has been proposed as the land of Zarahemla. [Merrill Oaks, "Some Perspectives on Book of Mormon Geography," slide # ]
Omni 1:13 They came down into the land which is called the land of Zarahemla ([Illustration]): (a) [According to John Sorenson] the site of Santa Rosa, in the upper Central Depression, qualifies in important ways as the city of Zarahemla. Part of the archaeological site is seen in the foreground of this aerial view, with the Grijalva river adjacent. . . . (b) An area a few miles from Santa Rosa shows the relatively open, unforested landscape, in contrast to the jungle-type vegetation of many lowland areas. These two photos at the top of the page are over forty years old. For the past quarter century the area has been covered by the waters of a lake impounded by a major dam built thirty miles downstream. [John L. Sorenson, Images of Ancient America, p. 197]