Question: What is known about the name "Mulek" in the Book of Mormon?

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Jeffrey R. Chadwick, "Has the Seal of Mulek Been Found?"

Jeffrey R. Chadwick,  Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, (2003)

Is Mulek, a man identified in the Book of Mormon as the only surviving son of Zedekiah, king of Judah, mentioned in the Bible? In 1984 Robert F. Smith pointed to the name "Malchiah the son of Hammelech" in Jeremiah 38:6 as a possible reference to this Mulek.1 Latter-day Saint scholars of Near Eastern studies have debated the legitimacy of this identification.2 Although no consensus has been reached, Smith's Malchiah-Mulek identification has become part of the scholarly conversation concerning the Near Eastern origins of the Book of Mormon.

Recently, an ancient Judean stamp seal has been identified as bearing the Hebrew form of the name "Malchiah son of Hammelech."3 Does this mean that an actual archaeological relic that belonged to an ancient Book of Mormon personality has been located? Has the seal of Mulek been found?

Robert F. Smith, "New Information about Mulek, Son of the King"

Robert F. Smith,  Reexploring the Book of Mormon, (1992)

The first clue of the existence and escape of Mulek, son of Zedekiah, can be found in 2 Kings 25:1-10, which reports that Nebuchadrezzar and "all his host" scattered "all the men" and "all [the king's] army" and burnt "all the houses of Jerusalem," and with "all the army" they destroyed the walls. In the midst of all this, however, 2 Kings 25:7 omits the word all when it reports only that "the sons" of Zedekiah were killed, leaving open the question whether all of his sons were slain.

Biblical scholars have recently had interesting things to say about a person named Malchiah. Jeremiah 38:6 speaks of a "dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech . . . in the court of the prison." But the Hebrew name here, MalkiYahu ben-hamMelek, should be translated "MalkiYahu, son of the king," the Hebrew word melek meaning "king."

BYU Studies, "The Mulekites"

John L. Sorenson,  BYU Studies 30/3 (Summer 1990)

The “people of Zarahemla” referred to in the Nephite record remain enigmatic to Latter-day Saint readers. Although they were more populous than the Nephites-by-descent, only a handful of statements in the scripture give explicit information about them. No one has attempted to combine these into a systematic picture of who these people were and what their role in Nephite history was. This article redresses that lack.

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