Having gathered
everything together, they returned to Laban and offered to purchase the brass
plates. Laban, being a greedy soul, realized he could simply steal their wealth
and not give them the records. He chased them out and, to cover up his crime,
he ordered his servants to kill them.
The prophet Micah
warned against this lust for wealth.
“Woe to them that
devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they
practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
“And they covet
fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they
oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage” (Micah 2:1-2).
Paul would write
Timothy, warning him, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which
while some coveted after, they have erred [GR wandered, apostatized] from the
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).
Having left everything
behind, they fled from the servants and finally found a place of safety in a
cave outside of Jerusalem. Hugh Nibley tells us the fact that numerous caves
could be found outside of Jerusalem was not known in the early 19th
century.
“Thoroughly typical also
is the hiding out of the young men in caves near the city while they waited for
Laban’s henchmen to cool off and debated with Oriental heat and passion their
next move (1 Nephi 3:27-28). Since the
Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly started to appear many years
ago, its readers have been treated to a constant flow of official reports on
newly-discovered caves in and near Jerusalem. The country is peppered with them
… But who in America knew of these hiding places a hundred years ago?”[1]
After failing twice to get records, Nephi butts heads with
Laman and Lemuel. They are ready to give up and go home.
Nephi responds, “As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go
down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath
commanded us” (1 Nephi 3:15).[2]
This made Laman and
Lemuel angrier with Nephi and Lehi. They berated Nephi and Sam and, to top
things, off, began beating with a rod.
“Nothing is said
directly about Laman’s physical characteristics, but the fact that the two
eldest brothers could ‘smite [Nephi and Sam] ... with a rod’ and that later
they ‘did lay their hands upon [Nephi]’ and ‘bind [him] with cords’ (1 Nephi
3:28, 7:16) could suggest that the older pair were of about the same stature as
Nephi. As the eldest son, and a proud and self-centered one at that, Laman
comes through in the record as being somewhat haughty and probably pushy among
his lessers but, as in dealing with Laban, lacking confidence, being frustrated
and unstable in the face of determined opposition (cf. 1 Nephi 2:9; 17:55) …
“Lemuel seems to
have been thoroughly dominated by Laman while possessing many of the same
personality characteristics (see their pairing in Lehi’s lament, 1 Nephi 2:9-14).
Little is said about him as an individual, and never is there an indication
that he stood up to or disagreed with Laman (cf. 1 Nephi 3:28, ‘for he
hearkened unto the words of Laman’). His age must have been about twenty-one.”[3]
While beating them,
an angel appeared and chastised Laman and Lemuel. Why do you beat Nephi with a
rod (it is possible that the elder brothers deliberately selected the rod to
punish their brother to symbolize their claim to ruling authority in the
family.[4]),
he asks. (“Yet, oddly enough, the angel who stops Laman and Lemuel mentions
only the abuse of Nephi [see 1 Nephi 3:29]. We do not know if this is an
intentional omission in the record or not.[5])
One constant
complaint we will hear from Laman and Lemuel is that Nephi wants to rule over
them, his older brothers. They haven’t even left Jerusalem, and the angel gives
them their explanation. “Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a
ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities?” (1 Nephi 3:29). They are
warned (and will be warned again) it is their fault this will occur. It is
because of their sins.
Laman and Lemuel were
commanded to return to Jerusalem and Laban will be delivered into their hands. Having
delivered his message, the angel departs. They refuse to go, ignoring the words
of the angel.[6]
Seeing an angel from
God had no effect on Laman and Lemuel. No sooner had he left then they began murmuring.
They did not believe the Lord could deliver Laban into their hands. “[H]e is a
mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not
us” (1 Nephi 3:31).
They were told Nephi would rule over them because of their
wickedness. The angle told them what they are doing is wrong need to stop even
if you don’t really want to repent themselves. As long as the angel is there,
Laman and Lemuel are influenced by the angel. The influenced is short-lived. As
soon as the angel leaves, his influence is gone. They do stop, but they never
make a change of heart.[7]
[2] Discussions on the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 3-7, KBYU,
Dr. Terry Ball.
[4] Notes and
Communications: Rod and Sword as the Word of
God, John A. Tvedtnes, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute.
[6] Discussions on the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 3-7, KBYU,
Dr. Gaye Stratheran.
[7] Discussions on the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 3-7, KBYU,
Dr. Paul Hoskisson.
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