What is the Kingdom of Judah?

What is the Kingdom of Judah?

Recently, as part of my blog, I've been posting little ideas I call Book of Mormon proofs. Here is another short blurb.

Let's consider one of the earliest verses in The Book of Mormon. 1 Nephi 1:4. And "it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, (my father, Lehi, 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."

For argument's sake, let's suppose Joseph Smith did not actually translate the ancient record known as The Book of Mormon; but instead had made up The Book of Mormon completely from his imagination/exhaustive research. What details would this unlearned farm-boy of 20 years old have had to keep straight/completely guess/exhaustively research in order to write this book?

Let's consider just this verse. What details would Joseph Smith have to keep straight/completely guess/exhaustively research in order to write just this single verse?

He would have to know what the kingdom of Judah is. He would have to know/remember that the twelve tribes of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel (the ten lost tribes of the northern kingdom) and the kingdom of Judah (the two tribes of the southern kingdom). He would have to know/remember that Jerusalem was inhabited by the kingdom of Judah, not the kingdom of Israel. He would have to know/remember that the two kingdoms had been divided prior to 600 BC. He would have to know/remember that Zedekiah was the king of the kingdom of Judah, not the king of the kingdom of Israel. He would have to know/remember that Zedekiah was the king, not the prophet. He would have to know/guess that 600 BC was the first year of Zedekiah’s reign (a historical fact that was not well-established in his day). He would have to know/guess that the kingdom of Judah had not yet been scattered by 600 BC, but that it very soon would be (in 587 BC). Etc. Etc. Etc.

And all of these historical facts have now been clearly verified. But were they so clearly verified in Joseph Smith’s day? If you are going to try to discredit The Book of Mormon, then you must accurately show how many of these facts were well-established in Joseph Smith's day. Only when you know which facts he had to wildly guess at and which facts he had to extensively research can you safely claim whether or not he invented The Book of Mormon. (And that doesn't even address the fact that you'd still have to show that Joseph Smith even had access to any of the requisite books needed for such research.)

An honest seeker of the truth must sincerely ask themselves if they truly believe Joseph Smith invented/researched/remembered all these details of both ancient Jerusalem and ancient America, and then verbally dictated them to his scribe while in the process of writing The Book of Mormon in 60 working days.

A concluding thought about the two kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel (the ten lost tribes of the northern kingdom) and the kingdom of Judah (the two tribes of the southern kingdom). The kingdom of Judah was made up of two tribes, the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. And so, when Lehi obtained the brass plates and searched them, he was surprised to learn that he was in fact from the tribe of Joseph. And why shouldn't this surprise him? After all, Lehi was a lifelong resident of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was inhabited by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, not the tribe of Joseph.

Again, these are all details Joseph Smith would have had to guess/know/invent in order to have made up The Book of Mormon. He would even have had to manufacture the surprise of Lehi in discovering he was from a different tribe other than the ones inhabiting Jerusalem. To me, such assertions fall well beyond the bounds of reason.

As a final challenge, open up to any random scripture in The Book of Mormon and ask yourself, "What details would Joseph Smith have had to guess/research in order to accurately create this verse?"

Thanks for reading. For my previous post about Book of Mormon proofs, click here.