Israel please listen.
Jeremiah: He was a prophet who was born to a priestly family and prophesied in Jerusalem from 626–586 B.C.
He lived near the time of other great prophets: Lehi, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Daniel.
Lehi: You may be familiar with these other prophets except for one, Lehi.
Lehi lived in Jerusalem and was a contemporary prophet with Jeremiah.
The people of Jerusalem at that time would not listen to Jeremiah and Lehi preach to them about changing their ways.
Jeremiah preached from 626 B.C. to 586 B.C. until the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
The Lord had called Lehi and Jeremiah to preach to the Jews about repenting from their idolatry and immorality.
See Jeremiah 3: 1-5 and Jeremiah 7: 8-10
In reading Jeremiah, he told us that the Lord told him that he was ordained to be a prophet in the Spirit World before he was born on earth.
See Jeremiah 1: 4-5
About 600 B.C., the Prophet Lehi had threats on his life and being warned in a dream, he was told by the Lord to take his family and only the necessary things he needed and leave into the wilderness. He was told he was going to be led into a promised land.
After three days of traveling in the desert, the Lord commanded Lehi to send his sons back to the house of Laban, who was a keeper of the records of the Jews, and obtain the brass plates and bring them with them.
This was a record of the Jews from the beginning down to the Reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah.
The Lord knew that generations would perish if they did not have or know their dealings with Him.
They obtained the brass plates.
They found that some of the prophecies of Jeremiah were on them and were very important. Jeremiah is mentioned two other times in the Book of Mormon because of these records.
See 1 Nephi 7: 14 and Helaman 8: 20
Jeremiah stayed longer, actually until the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and he went with some of the Jews who escaped into Egypt, but according to tradition they stoned him to death.
The reason they had stoned him may have been because they continued doing the wicked things that they had been doing in Jerusalem that he and Lehi had been warning them about and he was warning them again.
Eventually, the Lord led Lehi and his family to the sea and instructed Lehi's son Nephi, who also became a prophet of the Lord, to construct a ship.
When this was done they collected all the things they needed and entered the ship.
The ship was guided by the Lord to a promised land.
The Prophet Nephi, Lehi's son, began the record of their travels and experiences, spiritual and temporal on plates of gold.
This metal was more plentiful, and he knew the record would last longer.
Nephi records that Lehi searched the brass plates they had obtained and found that he was a descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt and that Laban, who had kept the record was also a descendant of Joseph and his family was the keeper of the records.
Since the Prophet Nephi started this record in 600 B.C. when they left Jerusalem, the records were passed on from prophet to prophet for about 1000 years.
These records were made, not for the people of Nephi's day, but by the knowledge of the Lord, they would be preserved and come forth in the Last Days when He would Restore His church and Gospel to the earth.
This record was made to come forth to the Jews and Gentiles in these Last Days.
Here is the Title Page of the Book of Mormon.
This was written by the Prophet Mormon himself and was part of the plates.
The purpose of the Book of Mormon Record is to be Another Testament that Jesus is the Christ and to prove that the Bible is true.
At this time, 600 B.C., the Lord who was speaking to the prophets in the Old Testament and to Lehi and Nephi, was Jehovah.
He would not become Jesus Christ until He was born in Bethlehem.
For further information see www.lds.org
Questions are welcomed.
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