Lehi and Sariah in the Reign of Josiah

In a recent podcast Dr. Bruce Satterfield made this interesting observation: “Now, I want you to recall Lehi, Sariah, a young married couple is when Josiah finds the book and Josiah calls all Israel to the temple.” In other words, Lehi was around in Jerusalem during the reign of Josiah, something I hadn’t thought about before. Josiah, one of the most righteous kings of Israel, reigned from approximately 640-609 BC, starting at the age of 8 and passing away approximately a decade before Lehi left Jerusalem with his family. When Lehi and Sariah left Jerusalem they had four sons who were all old enough to be married. So the oldest, Laman, was probably at least 24 when they left and perhaps Lehi and Sariah had been married at that point 25 years. That would put their marriage around 625 BC and their own births probably about a couple decades before around 645 BC. So they were likely born near the same time as Josiah, and all four of their boys would have been born during the reign of Josiah.

It was “in the eighteenth reign of king Josiah” that a book was found in the house of the Lord and given to Josiah. When he “had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes” (2 Kings 22:3,11). He realized that they had not been following the words of the Lord as commanded, and it was after this that he sought a great reform. We read that “the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.” This would have been in 622 BC, likely right after the time that Lehi and Sariah were married as Dr. Satterfield suggested. They would have witnessed and been a part of this great event: “And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant” (2 Kings 23:2-3). Another account says that Josiah “caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers,” and indeed Lehi and Sariah would have been among them (2 Chronicles 34:32). They started out their marriage covenanting with the Lord that they would keep the law of the Lord.

With the focus that Josiah placed upon honoring the word of the Lord found in the law, it is an interesting connection that Lehi also would place so much emphasis on the law as found upon the brass plates that they were able to obtain and take with them on their journey. Finding the word of the law for Josiah had a powerful impact upon the king, causing him to instigate great reforms and encourage the people to covenant with the Lord. In the same manner, finding the brass plates was crucial for Lehi as he was able to guide his family through the wilderness having the commandments of God with him. King Mosiah later reflected on the importance of having the plates of brass for Lehi and their whole society: “My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God. For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time. I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief” (Mosiah 1:3-5). And so, as it was for Josiah and for Lehi, it should be for us. As the words of the holy scriptures are always before our eyes we too can be blessed at the hand of the Lord.