According to Jeffrey Chadwick, while the text specifies that Lehi "dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days" (1 Nephi 1:4) and had "his own house at Jerusalem" (1 Nephi 1:7), apparently the bulk of his fortune reposed at his "land of inheritance" because Lehi "knew that Jerusalem must be destroyed because of the wickedness of the people" (1 Nephi 3:16-17). This land of inheritance was apparently some distance from the "land of Jerusalem (1 Nephi 3:1,9,11,16,22-23).
Based on archaeological, geographical, and historical evidence accumulated from the study of the old tribal areas of Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah and Jerusalem, Chadwick postulates the following:
1. About the time of Lehi's young adulthood (630 B.C.), the Assyrian withdrawal from the Land of Israel left Judean king Josiah with control not only of Judean territory, but of northern Israelite territories such as Ephraim and Manasseh as well. Thus, after 630 B.C., the Manassite "land of inheritance" would once again have been available for claim by Lehi and the sons who would be born to him.
2. Upon being informed by the Lord that "Jerusalem must be destroyed," Lehi secured his supplies of precious metals (gold, silver, etc.) by hiding them at a location outside the city--the "land of inheritance' which he possessed in Manasseh.
[Jeffrey R. Chadwick, "Lehi's House at Jerusalem and the Land of His Inheritance," 1999, pp. 1-12, unpublished paper]
1 Nephi 3:16 Let us go down to the land of our father's inheritance ([Illustration]): "The Land of Israel 600 B.C." [Jeffrey R. Chadwick, "Lehi's House at Jerusalem and the Land of His Inheritance," 1999, illustrative map in an unpublished 1993 paper]
“Let Us Go Down to the Land of Our Fathers Inheritance”
Keith Christensen postulates that history and geography might tell us where Lehi's "land of inheritance" (1 Nephi 3:16) was located. The story of Lehi begins in the first year of the reign of the Jewish king, Zedekiah. Shortly before this, Egypt tried to assert itself in the region. At that time Babylon was expanding its empire from the east. So by the start of Zedekiah's reign, Judah was encircled by Egyptian and Babylonian forces except to the south. Babylon's vassal ally, Edom, was to the southeast. There is no indication of Lehi's journey (or Lehi's sons return to their father's land of inheritance) being contested. It was only to the south that the land was generally secure. This favors Lehi's land of inheritance being in that direction.
Geographically, Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, stood at an elevation of 2593 feet. It was guarded on two sides by deep valleys. To go either east or west of Jerusalem, Lehi's sons would have had to have gone up over the mountains that formed these valleys. The land north of Jerusalem was generally higher than the rest of Judah. To the east beyond the heights on that side, the terrain of course goes down, but to the Dead Sea and the Wilderness of Judah, unlikely places for a land of inheritance. To the west of Jerusalem, beyond the heights that formed the valley on that side, the land slopes toward the Mediterranean, but Egyptian and Babylonian armies in that direction would have precluded the land of inheritance being there. It seems that the only possible direction from Jerusalem to Lehi's land of inheritance would have been south.
Beersheba was the southernmost district in King David's kingdom and referred to as "the Negeb of Judah." King Solomon paid particular attention to the Negeb, constructing a network of small forts to protect the caravan routes and establishing agricultural settlements. . . . About 20 to 30 miles south of Beersheba, there began a region that the Bible calls the Wilderness of Zin (Numbers 13:21; 20:1; 27:14; Deuteronomy 32:51; Joshua 15:1,3) and beyond that was the Wilderness of Paran (Genesis 21:21; Numbers 10:12; Deuteronomy 1:1; I Samuel 25:1; I Kings 11:18). . . . Thus, there would have been a frontier melding into the wilderness to identify where it could be said that Lehi "departed into the wilderness" (1 Nephi 2:5) and from where to measure the three days of travel specified in the Book of Mormon (see 1 Nephi 2:6). This frontier was about 100 miles from the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba and is consistent with that reference to a three day's journey. [B. Keith Christensen, The Unknown Witness, pp. 46,53-55,227, unpublished]