Sariah's Faith

In the account of the travel of Lehi’s group to the promised land, much of the focus is on Nephi and his brothers Laman and Lemuel.  There are certainly countless lessons that we can take away from Nephi’s faithfulness and the struggles of his rebellious brothers.  But I think we should also consider the women who were on the voyage, and though we don’t have as many details about the women on the journey, it is perhaps still instructive to consider what happened to them. 

               The most prominent woman, and only one named, was Lehi’s wife Sariah.  The sacrifices and faith of Sariah were incredible.  Though she briefly doubted her husband’s call when she feared the death of her four sons—which mother wouldn’t struggle with doubts at a moment like that?—once she gained her witness of the revelation her husband had received, she was, as far as we know, completely faithful.  She declared, “I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them” (1 Nephi 5:8).  In my mind it took even more faith for her than for her husband Lehi to make the journey because she was not the one receiving the revelations from the Lord.  She, with the rest of the group, suffered the intense hunger and other difficulties of trek as they spent eight years in the terrible desert.  We don’t know how old she was when the journey started, but she was not young.  She was old enough to have four married sons at the start of the journey, and about a decade later she would be described as “stricken in years.”  Yet during their travels she also bore two more sons (Jacob and Joseph) and at least two daughters given Nephi’s mention of “sisters” in 2 Nephi 5:6.  That she at her older age could survive this many childbirths in the midst of so many physical difficulties—most of us would probably barely be able to survive a day in the southern Arabian desert—is a testament to her strength.  Surely Sariah was foremost on his mind when Nephi wrote that the women on the journey “were strong” (1 Nephi 17:3). 

               We get a sense of the difficulties Sariah faced when they were on the ship.  As Laman and Lemuel rebelled and the ship was close to capsizing in the storm, she was at the point of death.  She was “brought down” with Lehi “even upon their sick-beds” and were “near even to be carried out of this time to meet their God.”  Nephi commented that she had “suffered much grief because of their children” and that Jacob and Joseph “were grieved because of the afflictions of their mother” (1 Nephi 18:17-19).  But, despite all of the terrible trials, both physical and spiritual with her rebellious sons—she found the strength to persevere, and, as far as we can know, made it successfully to the promised land.  We don’t know when she died—likely before Lehi given that she was not mentioned in conjunction with Lehi’s death or Nephi’s subsequent departure from his brothers—but she was an example of great faith and perseverance in the midst of the most severe trials.