Where it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah,

my father Lehigh having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days. And in that same year, there came many

prophets prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be

destroyed. Hey listeners, this is Nick from Scripture Central, and today's podcast addresses the question,

Why did Lehi live in Jerusalem?

In the opening verses of the Book of Mormon, Nephi introduces his father Lehi,

a prophet who dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days.

Later, readers learned that Lehi was a descendant of Joseph through Manasseh, as was Laban who kept

the record of the Jews on the brass plates. Some evidence also indicates that the lost manuscript

identified Ishmael as a descendant of Joseph through Ephraim. Since Jerusalem was the

capital of the southern kingdom of Judah, it might seem unusual that nearly all the residents of

Jerusalem named in these opening accounts are from one of the lost northern tribes of Israel.

In the 1830s, a critic of the Book of Mormon regarded this as a foolish blunder that exposed its authors as ignorant fellows.

In recent decades, however, archaeological evidence has convinced most scholars that many residents of Jerusalem,

perhaps even a majority of them in the 7th century BC, were descendants of refugees from northern Israel.

Archaeological excavations in and around Jerusalem indicate that the population of the city and surrounding region surged in the late 8th century BC and that the walls were expanded to accommodate

this rapid population growth. According to Margaret Steiner, Jerusalem had become what geographers call a primate city,

a city that not only surpasses all other settlements in size, but where all economic, political, and social power is concentrated as well.

While the reasons for this population growth were complex and multifaceted, northern

Israelite refugees coming into the area around Jerusalem were likely a major contributing factor.

Archaeologist Yigal Shiloh noted, it seemed that refugees flocked to Jerusalem from Samaria

and the surrounding countryside, which was conquered by the Assyrians in

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