Why didn’t Jews in Old Testament times believe Jerusalem could be destroyed?
Fred E. Woods, “I Have a Question,” Ensign, Dec. 1995, 52–53 Fred E. Woods, a religion instructor at Ricks College, and first counselor in the bishopric of the Rexburg Tenth Ward, Rexburg Idaho East Stake. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi says Laman and Lemuel did not “believe that Jerusalem, that great city, could be destroyed according to the words of the prophets. And they were like unto the Jews who were at Jerusalem” (1 Ne. 2:13). Three factors contributed to the Jews’ belief that Jerusalem would not be destroyed: first, historical tradition pertaining to “Jerusalem, that great city” (1 Ne. 2:13); second, the Jews’ misunderstanding of promises the Lord made to David; and third, the miraculous preservation of the Jews when the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem in the days of King Hezekiah. Historical Tradition Jerusalem is initially identified in the Old Testament as “Salem” (Gen. 14:18), from which the name Jerusalem (“City of Peace”) derives. Jerusalem was the holy city of the righteous h
