It had been revealed to Nephi in a vision that the Savior or Messiah was to be born among the Jewish people, and 1 Nephi 10:4 indicates that even the exact year in which the Savior was to be born was revealed to him. If Nephi is talking in specific rather than general terms, then Lehi left Jerusalem in 600 B.C. on the Christian calendar. That Nephi intends his time reference to be taken literally is indicated by the information contained in the following references: (1) 1 Nephi 19:8: "according to the words of the angel" the Messiah cometh "in six hundred years from the time my father left Jerusalem"; (2) 2 Nephi 25:19: "according to the words of the prophets, the Messiah cometh in six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem"; and (3) 3 Nephi 1:1, 13: "it was six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem" and the Savior said "on the morrow come I into the world."