Lifespan

Approximately 600 B.C.

Ministry

Lehi was a Hebrew prophet (and likely a merchant as well) and contemporary of Jeremiah. Following a dream from God, Lehi took his family to the wilderness and eventually made his way with them to the Promised Land somewhere in the Western Hemisphere.

Preparation and Calling

We do not know of Lehi’s preparation or calling as a prophet.

Interaction with God

The prophet Lehi is referred to several times as having visions and prophecies, usually centered on the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming Messiah, and his own descendants. He was obviously close to his Father in Heaven and earned His trust, at least sufficient to be saved from Jerusalem’s destruction in order to begin a new branch of God’s chosen people in a faraway country where they could preserve God’s truth and covenants.

Social Situation

Lehi was a prophet in the Jerusalem area. He was likely also a successful merchant familiar with life and trade in the desert. But then God warned him to take his family and the family of Ishmael—perhaps in part because Ishmael’s daughters were prime candidates to marry Lehi’s sons—and flee into the wilderness. They traveled for several years, then constructed a boat and made the long voyage to the New World. Despite the rebellious attitudes and actions of two of Lehi’s sons, as long as Lehi was yet alive, he was able to keep the family together.

Key Teachings

In addition to the visions that Lehi had that usually centered on the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming Messiah, and his own descendants, he taught powerfully of the plan of salvation and of the promised blessings reserved for his righteous posterity in this new promised land.

Living with the Prophet

Imagine that your father came home one evening and told you that God wanted the family to pack up some of its stuff (leaving the majority of everything that you collectively and personally own) and move to the desert. Some of Lehi’s children went willingly, some went along but complained bitterly almost the entire time. Which would you do? Which do you do when you are asked to do something that will result in the good of someone else? Commit to serve and obey God without complaint, for He will ask only that which is good of you.

Additional Links:

Lehi’s Vision of the Savior

Sources

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, vol. 1, s.v. “Lehi.”

Book of Mormon, Reader’s Edition, ed. Grant Hardy.

Lifespan

Jeremiah lived at the time of the turn of the sixth century B.C.

Ministry

Jeremiah’s ministry lasted in Judah for 40 years, from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah  in 627 B.C. until 586 B.C.

Preparation and Calling

Jeremiah was ordained in his premortal existence to become a prophet (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

Interaction with God

Jeremiah’s principle recorded interactions with Deity seem to come in the form of his prophecies. The book does contain several instances in which Jeremiah bares his soul as he questions the effectiveness of his work, however, that may have a parallel to the laments of Nephi, the son of one of Jeremiah’s contemporaries (Jeremiah 11-12; 15; 17; 18; 20; 2 Nephi 4).

Social Situation

The people were in a severe downward moral slide, and Jeremiah rose up to combat the trend from his role as prophet-relentless in his warnings against the idolatry and immorality that was rampant in Judah (Jeremiah 3:1-5; 7:8-10).

Key Teachings

From Jeremiah we have a witness of man’s premortal existence, the gathering of Israel one and two at a time, and a prophecy of the Lord’s missionaries going out into the world as fishers and hunters of men.

Jeremiah’s ministry paralleled that of other local prophets, such as Lehi. Some of Jeremiah’s prophecies were contained in the brass plates, and he is quoted in the nearly contemporary but nonbiblical records of 1 Nephi and again later in the book of Helaman.

Prophecies of Christ

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jer. 23:5).

Living with the Prophet

Have you ever done something right and found that others made fun of you-or worse-because of your good actions? The Prophet Jeremiah understood what it felt like to be rejected for standing up for God and His message. He was beaten, thrown in jail, and even left in a well to die-all for delivering what he felt was God’s message to His people. Resolve today that you will be willing to stand as a witness for God in all places, despite the consequences.

Sources

Learning Bible

Holy Bible, book of Jeremiah

Oxford Companion to the Bible, s.v. “Jeremiah, the Book of”

Encyclopedia of Religion, s.v. “Jeremiah”