1 Nephi 17:17-22

Having made tools, Nephi is ready to build the ship.  The murmuring returns.  “Our brother is a fool, for he thinketh that he can build a ship” (1 Nephi 17:17).  When Nephi asked for help, the made it clear they wanted nothing to do with this project.  (Their laziness streak continues unabated.) 

Nephi was saddened because of the hardness of their hearts.  When his brethren saw Nephi’s sorrow, they rejoiced!  “We knew that ye could not construct a ship, for we knew that ye were lacking in judgment; wherefore, thou canst not accomplish so great a work” (1 Nephi 17:19).  Oh, the arrogance of those who “know.”

Why were Nephi’s brethren so opposed to making a ship?  I propose a number of possibilities. 

First, they weren’t shipbuilders.  Hugh Nibley asks why they should know anything about shipbuilding.  “Shipbuilding was the jealously guarded monopoly of the coast people.”[1]

Next, Laman, Lemuel, and their little group were lazy.  “The grumbling brothers who refused to help Nephi build a ship out of pure laziness (1 Nephi 17:18).”^[2]

Finally, why would they want to leave Bountiful?  We know that, after leaving Nahom, they “did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness” (1 Nephi 17:1).  Now they have plenty.  They are not suffering as they had in their earlier journey.

It’s not surprising they mocked and ridiculed Nephi.  And it continued.

They accused Lehi of having been “led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart” (1 Nephi 17:20).  “[I]t seems likely that when Laman and Lemuel described their father as a ‘visionary man,’ they were not simply suggesting that he was an old fool. They were accusing him of being a false prophet who was leading their family astray.”[3]

They whined about what their wives and children had suffered.  If would have been better for their wives to had died before they left Jerusalem that to experience the suffering they had.  (I’d like to hear the wives side of that claim!)

Had they stayed in Jerusalem, instead of suffering the wilderness, they would have enjoyed their wealth; their possessions.  They could have a great life and been happy instead of having suffered.

See, they grumbled, we know (oh, the arrogance!) they people in Jerusalem are a good and righteous people.  They obey the commandments and judgments of the Lord. They follow the Law of Moses.   Because Lehi had judged them unfairly, they had been led away from Jerusalem.  And, their idiot brother is just as bad as their father is.  Daniel Peterson wrote, “They're quite complacent, quite satisfied with the way they have been behaving. And they don't like it when a prophet comes along and tells them, ‘Actually you're sinners and the Lord has rejected you.’ So, it is a natural human response ‘Oh no we're not!’” (Daniel Peterson).[4]

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[1] Dealings with Egypt, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed April 1, 2013.

[2] The Nature of Book of Mormon Society, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed April 1, 2013.

[3] Scripture Update: Lehi as a Visionary Man, Matthew Roper, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed April 1, 2013.

[4] As quoted in Jerusalem at the Time of Lehi, S. Kent Brown, and Peter Johnson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed April 1, 2013.