A Tender Twig Transplanted

I had a friend ask about distinctions in the Book of Mormon concerning the origins of the people of Nephi and the people of Zarahemla.

Zarahemla was a descendant of Mulek (Mosiah 25: 2) and Mulek was one of the sons of Zedekiah, king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, placed Zedekiah on the throne as a kind of puppet king, and Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar by sending ambassadors to Egypt to make treaties with them and to solicit their help in getting horses and probably weapons to fight Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 36: 10; Ezekiel 17: 15). 

Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and carried some of the holy vessels of the temple to Babylon. Zedekiah and his sons tried to escape into the plains east of Jerusalem but Nebuchadnezzar overtook them in the plains of Jericho. In Jeremiah it says Nebuchadnezzar "slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes," put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and carried him captive in chains to Babylon (Jeremiah 52: 7-11). But the Book of Mormon informs us that Mulek was not killed. It says, "Will ye say that the sons of Zedekiah were not slain, all except it were Mulek? Yea, and do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us, and they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem? But behold, this is not all—" (Helaman 8: 21).

So the Mulekites came out of Jerusalem also, and probably about the same time or shortly after Lehi came out. It also says, "Now the land south was called Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek, which was after the son of Zedekiah; for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south" (Helaman 6: 10).

Lehi's party landed in the Americas to the south, and the Mulekites and Jaredites both landed north of Lehi. Mosiah (the father of King Benjamin) originally lived south of Zarahemla in the land of Nephi, where Nephi settles in 2 Nephi 5. Mosiah was warned to flee out of the land, and his party traveled north to the land of Zarahemla, named after Zarahemla, a descendant of Mulek. Mosiah discovers them in Omni 1: 12-22. 

Mosiah learns that the people of Zarahemla left Jerusalem at the time Zedekiah was carried captive to Babylon, that they had always lived in the same general area where Mosiah discovered them, they had had wars, their language had become corrupted, and they brought no records with them. Zarahemla gives his genealogy according to his memory.

The people of Zarahemla had discovered Coriantumr, the last surviving Jaredite, so the Book of Ether covers almost twice the amount of time (almost 2,000 years) compared to the rest of the Book of Mormon, which covers about 1,000 years.

The Mulekites, or people of Zarahemla, had to have been primarily from the tribe of Judah, since it was the royal lineage of Judah. Lehi descended from Joseph through Manasseh (Alma 10: 3). 

In Mosiah 25: 13 the people of Zarahemla are numbered with the Nephites. The "people of Nephi" seems to be a term that is context sensitive. It consists of Nephi's descendants, but mostly it seems to be a group of people based on who they side with. Jacob says, "Now the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites; nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.  But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish them by these names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings" (Jacob 1: 13-14).

The Mulekites are spoken of in the Old Testament and also in Zenos' allegory in the Book of Mormon. In Jacob 5: 24 it says, "And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said again unto his servant: Look hither, and behold another branch also, which I have planted; behold that I have nourished it also, and it hath brought forth fruit." This is most likely talking about the Mulekites.

In Ezekiel it states, "And I will spread my net upon him (Zedekiah), and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me." Then it says, "Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar (the royal seed of Judah, namely Zedekiah), and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs (his sons) a tender one (Mulek), and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent" (the Americas) (see Ezekiel 17: 20, 22).