Several different characters in The Book of Mormon have the name Lehi (including a notable missionary in the first century BCE), but the most prominent of all is the patriarch with whom the story begins, and who plays a large role in the Book of 1 Nephi. Lehi is a prophet who lives in the Kingdom of Judah in the reign of the biblical king Zedekiah (c. 600 BCE), shortly before the fall of Jerusalem to invading Babylonian armies. Like other prophets at the time, such as the biblical Jeremiah, Lehi tries to warn the inhabitants of Jerusalem to repent, but his prophecies are rejected. Lehi and his family withdraw from the city and, prompted by God’s guidance, prepare for a journey to a new promised land.

At Lehi’s command, his sons return to Jerusalem in an attempt to secure the plates on which the sacred records of the Jewish people were kept, after which they set out into the wilderness. Lehi fills a role in this familial exodus similar to that of the biblical Moses, with many of the themes of 1 Nephi echoing the experiences of the people of Israel in the biblical book of Exodus. Coming at the beginning of The Book of Mormon’s story, Lehi serves to establish the paradigm of a godly prophet, for whom obedience to God’s commands is the primary virtue, regardless of the persecution and suffering it might entail.