Excerpt from "Treasures from the Book of Mormon - Volume 1":

Verse 26. In this desperate situation the four young men attempted to haul their treasure away. Because of the weight of the "gold and silver and precious things" it is very likely that they were using donkeys or other means of portage to convey the treasure. If this were the case, it would have made it particularly cumbersome if not impossible to hurry along the public road in their attempt to escape. Nephi says they were eventually __________ to leave behind their family treasure in order to save their lives. Thus, it fell into the ______ of ________. Earlier (verse 13) Laban had accused Laman of being a "robber." Circumstances had now disclosed who the real robber was.

Verse 27. It would appear that the servants of Laban (probably a military platoon) continued to pursue the four young men even after they had abandoned their family wealth. Nephi and his brethren appear to have fled some distance from the city of Jerusalem "into the _____________." There they hid themselves in the _________ of a ______ which probably means a cave.

Did the Sons of Lehi Hide in the Cave of Beit Lehi?

Although it was unknown to Latter-day Saints until 1970, there is a site approximately 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem which has been known locally for centuries as Beit Lehi or the "House of Lehi." Adjacent to this site is a cave in which someone hid out around 600 B.C., and made a number of datable inscriptions on the wall of this cave.

During 1970-71, Dr. Joseph Ginat, an administrative assistant to the minister of Arab affairs of Israel, came to Utah to do some specialized studies and during this visit he saw a copy of the Book of Mormon for the first time. As a professionally trained archaeologist, he became fascinated with the possibility that the opening chapters of the Book of Mormon provided an explanation for the "Lehi story" which archaeologist in Israel have known about for many years.

Dr. Ginat pointed out that not only could the ruins of the ancient community of Lehi have been the residence of the prophet Lehi but the nearby cave very well could have been the hideout for Nephi, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Zoram. Dr. Ginat feels that after the death of Laban the sons of Lehi would have felt compelled to go into hiding until the state of alarm had subsided. They would therefore have chosen some extremely obscure place with which they were familiar and where they knew they could obtain food and water. Dr. Ginat states that the cave of Beit Lehi fits all of these requirements in every respect.

He further emphasizes that the Book of Mormon says these men were gone so long that their own mother gave up hope of their ever returning and went into mourning, thinking they were dead. This circumstance confirms the idea that they were in hiding for a long time and could have written the inscriptions on the wall of the Beit Lehi cave indicating that eventually Jerusalem would be redeemed.

In June, 1974, Dr. Ginat returned to Utah with a film of the Beit Lehi cave and the surrounding terrain. He also brought with him a full-scale cast of the inscriptions on the wall of the cave.

The narration on the Israeli film is very interesting since it gives a rather complete historical background on the Beit Lehi site, the nearby cave, and the Arab tradition concerning the ancient prophet Lehi who once lived there.