Until now, however, none of the commentaries or media proposing connections between the Book of Mormon and Beit Lei have been evaluated by an archaeologist with expertise in the land of Israel. The questions surrounding the Khirbet Beit Lei site and discoveries are essentially issues of archaeology. This tomb has been called the Lehi Cave by some Latter-day Saints. The artificial cave was cut out by ancient Judeans, probably in the eighth century BC, as a tomb site for burial of deceased persons. The root of the cave is missing, and the view here, looking west, shows the two interior burial chambers, each with a triple bench design.
Interior of the Jerusalem Cave, located near Khirbet Beit in Israel. Eager to find archaeological support for Nephi’s account, many members accepted these claims as facts. Hundreds of Latter-day Saint tourists to Israel have been taken to the ruins at Khirbet Beit Lei and told that a “city of Lehi” may have existed there, that the prophet Lehi himself had resided in the area, and that the family of Lehi had hidden themselves in the nearby burial cave. Since the early 1970s many thousands of members have been told about a Lehi Cave and a place called Beit Lehi in classes and firesides, in commentaries and video presentations, and on the Internet. Theories developed about how the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi and his family might have been connected to the site. The Arabic word khirbet means “ruin.” The name Beit Lei ( بيت ليّ ) is pronounced “bait lay” in Arabic the term lei means “twisting.” But some members interested in the cave became convinced that the place must anciently have been known as Lehi. The term “Lehi Cave” was inspired by the abandoned ruins of a medieval Arab village called Khirbet Beit Lei located a few hundred meters from the tomb. But a decade later some Latter-day Saints nicknamed it the “Lehi Cave.” Because of this, the burial cave soon became known to archaeologists as the Jerusalem Cave. Several drawings and inscriptions, in ancient Hebrew, were crudely cut into the tomb’s entry chamber walls, including the divine name Jehovah ( Yahuweh) and the ancient city name Jerusalem ( Yerushalem). Tombs of this type are called burial caves by Israeli archaeologists. But the tomb’s two burial chambers were spared, and on the benches of those chambers were eight ancient human skeletons. The machine broke away the roof of the tomb’s entry chamber before the crew realized what had happened.
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As their bulldozer cut a path through the hilly countryside, it suddenly cracked into an ancient Judean tomb carved into the bedrock. In 1961, Israeli military engineers were constructing a security road on the Israeli side of the former West Bank border with Jordan, a few kilometers east of Moshav Lachish.