Lehi and Abraham

I believe there are a lot of similarities between the lives of Lehi and Abraham. For example, both were commanded to flee their homes when they were threatened with death by their people. When Abraham was put on the altar and about to be slain, he recorded, “The Lord hearkened and heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands.” The Lord then told him, “Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and to take thee away from thy father’s house, and from all thy kinsfolk, into a strange land which thou knowest not of” (Abraham 1:15-16). He was commanded to leave the land of Ur for good: “Now the Lord had said unto me: Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee” (Abraham 2:3). Similarly, the people at Jerusalem threatened Lehi’s life: “When the Jews heard these things they were angry with him… and they also sought his life, that they might take it away” (1 Nephi 1:20). With this danger to his life, the Lord similarly commanded him to leave to go to a “strange land” like Abraham: “And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness.” He left the comfort of his home and “dwelt in a tent” for many years as he crossed the desert (1 Nephi 2:2,15). Abraham similarly “dwelt in tents as we came on our way; Therefore, eternity was our covering and our rock and our salvation, as we journeyed from Haran by the way of Jershon, to come to the land of Canaan” (Abraham 2:15-16). They even both built altars and prayed to the Lord on their respective journeys (Abraham 2:17, 1 Nephi 2:7). Abraham and Lehi were both saved by the Lord against the wickedness of the people in their cities and sent them into the wilderness towards a promised land.

                Lehi and Abraham were also both powerful patriarchs who in a covenant from God were promised a land and a large posterity to inherit it. Abraham was told by the Lord, “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (Genesis 17:4-7). Abraham was promised the land of Canaan and for his posterity to inherit it as the people of God. Lehi similarly told his sons, “We have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever” (2 Nephi 1:5). Lehi was promised that his seed would inherit the promised land as long as they were righteous. Both Lehi and Abraham were fathers of a nation and their posterity were the people of God (when they were righteous). They both even had children when they were old—Sariah gave birth to Jacob and Joseph and Sarah gave birth to Isaac. And it is also interesting as well that there is only one letter difference in the names of their wives.

                There are other similarities between these two prophets. Both suffered great sorrow because of contention between their sons (Nephi vs. Laman and Lemuel for Lehi and Isaac vs. Ishmael for Abraham). Both kept scriptural records which were passed on. Both received incredible visions; Lehi recorded how he saw “God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God” (1 Nephi 1:8). Abraham was given a glorious vision of the heavens and the creations of the Lord: “And he put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things which his hands had made, which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the end thereof” (Abraham 3:12). Both Lehi and Abraham’s lives were threatened by a family member: Lehi by his sons Laman and Lemuel and Abraham by his father Terah. Undoubtedly both suffered great sorrow because of the wickedness of these family members they loved. Most importantly, both Lehi and Abraham were faithful to the commands of the Lord and stand as examples to us of obedience and sacrifice. They were prophets from different dispensations but both were powerful servants of the Lord who showed that they were willing to do “do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25).