The
Mulekites
Although
the Bible states that the sons of Zedekiah, king of Judah, were put to death (II
Kings 25:7), the Book of Mormon indicates that at least one of his sons survived.
It may have been that Mulek, the surviving son, was only a babe in arms when
his older brothers were killed—or possibly even unborn at that time. Whatever
the case, the Mulekites were still another migrating colony leaving Jerusalem
about 588 B.C., twelve years after Lehi and his colony had left.
To
find the course the Mulekites followed we must go to Riblah in Hamath about 120
miles north of Damascus. It was here that Zedekiah was taken after his capture,
and the place where the sons of Zedekiah were after his capture, and the place where
the sons of Zedekiah were put to death before Zedekiah was blinded. Since the
ruthless Babylonians now controlled Jerusalem and the entire land round about,
it was dangerous for any of Zedekiah’s loved ones to remain. To flee from Hamath
they would have to go by sea.
Mulek,
Son of Zedekiah
The
Book of Mormon gives some details of this story that are not found in the
Bible: “And now will ye dispute that Jerusalem was destroyed? Will ye say that
the sons of Zedekiah were not slain, all except it were Mulek?” (Helaman 3:56
[LDS: Helaman 7:20]) Verse 57 gives an additional bit of information: “Yea, and
do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us, and they were driven
out of the land of Jerusalem?” Here the time of the Mulekite migration is
suggested, for it is quite likely the family would have been driven out when
Zedekiah was blinded and his sons murdered, which was about 588 B.C.
There
is a hint in the Bible that at least one of Zedekiah’s sons did survive. This
is suggested in the following scriptures:
.
. . I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I
will cut down the tall cedars thereof . . . and the remnant that is escaped of
the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: For
out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount
Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.—Isaiah 37:24, 31, 32.
This
speaks of an escaping element of the ruling class of Judah. The escape seems to
involve the mountains of Lebanon which fringe the Orontes River past the very
city (Hamath) where Zedekiah’s sons were put to death. The reference to the
tall cedars is explained in more detail in Ezekiel’s riddle:
Thus
saith the Lord God; a great eagle with great wings . . . came unto Lebanon, and
took the highest branch of the cedar; he cropped off the top of his young
twigs, and carried it into al and of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.
Ezekiel
explains the meaning of this a few verses later:
Know
ye not what these things mean? . . . Behold, the king of Babylon
[Nebuchadnezzar] is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof
[Zedekiah], and the princes thereof [sons of Zedekiah], and led them with him
to Babylon; . . . and his bands shall fall by the sword. . . . I will take of
the highest branch of the high cedar. . . . [Zedekiah], and will set it
[Zedekiah’s posterity transplanted in a new land]; I will crop off from the top
of his young twigs [sons of Zedekiah] a tender one [Mulek], and will plant it
upon a high mountain and eminent [Promised Land].—Ezekiel 17:12, 13, 21, 22.
The
Mulekites probably crossed the Mediterranean Sea, pausing for a time in
Portugal, and traveled over the Atlantic Ocean to the Promised Land. (F. Edward
Butterworth, Pilgrims of the Pacific [Independence, Miss.: Herald House,
1974], 129-30, 132, comment in square brackets added for clarification)