Let’s look at the BoM verse before we proceed. Helaman 8:21 says;
Helaman 8:21; “And now will you dispute that Jerusalem was destroyed? Will ye say that the sons of Zedekiah were not slain, all except it were Mulek? Yea, and do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us, and they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem? But behold, this is not all—”
In that one scenario the Book of Mormon reveals how they’ve systematically disobeyed God’s commandments in several ways.
The Bible tells us that King Nebuchadnezzar tortured and killed all three sons in front of Zedekiah before putting his eyes out. Now mind you, it doesn’t tell us about Zedekiah’s troubles just once or twice, no! God has decided to describe this event many, many times making it virtually impossible to ignore.
Imagine being a Mormon and your leaders are teaching you that all these verses in the Bible are wrong. How does someone reconcile this while studying the word of God?
2 Kings 25:5-7; “And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. 6 So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon”.
Jeremiah 32:4-5; “And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes; 5 And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?”
Jeremiah 34:2-3; “Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.”
Jeremiah 38:6 – Jeremiah thrown into the cistern for telling Zedekiah he should remain in the city unless he wanted to die by sword, famine or pestilence – 38:1-6.
Another confirmation Zedekiah’s sons were killed –
Jeremiah 52:10; “And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah”.
Ezekiel 12:13; “My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.”
The other glaring problem in this verse is the name of the imaginary son of Zedekiah; Mulek.
Keep in mind that Zedekiah was Jewish. While he wasn’t living in obedience to God at this time, it’s impossible to believe he’d name one of his kids after the name of a god the Ammonites worshiped and that god was Molech (Moloch). There are a number of different variations to the spelling of this false god’s name.
If you Google or Bing the term “Mulek” into a browser the only pages that emerge are for the LDS Church. We’ve written about the false names in the BoM calling attention to how they’ve changed the meanings of words and names to confuse people. Mulek is one of the false gods that we investigated. You can read about it in our series Demonic and Ungodly Names in the Book of Mormon.
Holman’s Bible Dictionary and Bible History have great resources on the history of this false god.
And finally…
While it’s not part of our example verse in the BoM one other item of interest is who these people supposedly left Jerusalem with!
We know that Zedekiah’s daughters were spared in the takeover and were likely consigned to Gedaliah as captives or slaves and probably set free at his death.
It’s interesting to note that Ishmael took the king’s daughters into captivity. The BoM claims the Nephites took a fellow by the name of Ishmael and his daughters with them to America. This Israelite family went to the family of Ishmael for wives…think about that for a moment! See 1 Nephi 7:1-7.
Jeremiah 41:10, 16; “Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites. 16 Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon”.