“Will Ye Say That the Sons of Zedekiah Were Not Slain All Except It Were Mulek”

"Zedekiah was the king of Judah at the time Lehi and his colony fled from Jerusalem. (1 Nephi 1:4.) A few years later when the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, they ’slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.’ (2 Kings 25:7.) Most people have assumed all of the sons of Zedekiah were killed at that time; however, the Book of Mormon records that the sons of Zedekiah were slain ’all except it were Mulek.’ (Helaman 8:21.)

“…Mulek…was spared at the time of the Babylonian captivity and…later came to the Americas. The descendants of Mulek were included among the people of Zarahemla, and later they were numbered among the Nephites. Thus, among the combined Nephite-Lamanite-Mulekite peoples are represented at least three of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel: (1) the tribe of Manasseh, represented by the descendants of Lehi; (2) the tribe of Ephraim, represented by the descendants of Ishmael; (3) the tribe of Judah, represented by the descendants of Mulek.” (Daniel Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p.241-5)