Laman and Lemuel return to Jerusalem...without complaining (1 Nephi 7)

Almost immediately after their journey to Jerusalem to get the brass plates, Lehi received another revelation from the Lord.

1 And now I would that ye might know, that after my father, Lehi, had made an end of ^aprophesying concerning his seed, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto him again, saying that it was not meet for him, Lehi, that he should take his family into the wilderness alone; but that his sons should take ^bdaughters to ^cwife, that they might raise up ^dseed unto the Lord in the land of promise.

2 And it came to pass that the Lord ^acommanded him that I, Nephi, and my brethren, should again return unto the land of Jerusalem, and bring down Ishmael and his family into the wilderness.

3 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did ^aagain, with my brethren, go forth into the wilderness to go up to Jerusalem.

This is one of the more humorous parts of the Book of Mormon simply because Nephi makes no mention of any complaints. Laman and Lemuel appear to be perfectly happy to return to Jerusalem now that there is the possibility of bringing women back with them. :)

Ishmael is the father of the daughters for whom Nephi, Sam, Laman, and Lemuel return. We don't know too much about how the family of Lehi and the family of Ishmael knew one another. It could be that they were near kinsmen, which Lehi might have deduced after reading the genealogy contained in the brass plates. Nevertheless, it appears that Ishmael was willing to follow Lehi into the wilderness with his entire family. Therefore, it's more than likely that, at the very least, Ishmael originally sympathized with Lehi and was eager to leave Jerusalem before it fell to the Babylonians.

Laman and Lemuel's change of heart didn't last very long. On the way back to Lehi's camp, they, and some of Ishmael's own family, rebelled against "Nephi, and Sam, and their father, Ishmael, and his wife, and his three other daughters."

Nephi is quick to remind them of how the Lord has already supported them and their ancestors through many worse things and that if they would just be faithful, the Lord would give them a land of promise. If they want to go back, Nephi tells them, they can make that choice and perish with the rest.

Laman and Lemuel become furious and tie up Nephi to leave him to be eaten by wild beasts. Exercising his faith in the Lord, Nephi asks God for strength to break his bonds. Nephi is granted that power and is able to break free. This is a great example of faith as a principle of power. Nephi didn't ask for the Lord to come down and break his bonds for him. Rather, he asked that the Lord would amplify his own meager strength to free himself. We benefit from the Lord's help only when we put forth our own efforts and let Him do the rest. Otherwise, we begin to take His power for granted, or think that it is somehow by our own strength we are able to emerge from troubles. When He gives us more power than we know we have on our own, the lesson we learn is much more clear. To the contrary, taking His power for granted is the major mistake Laman and Lemuel have made and continue to make as they travel to the promised land.

But this time, something about this experience temporarily humbles those who rebelled. They repent, asking Nephi for forgiveness. He is quick to give it for his own part and then to remind them that their duty to ask forgiveness is not to him, but to God for having rebelled against His commandments.

Upon returning, they perform sacrifices and burnt offerings in accordance with the law of Moses to complete their repentance process and to show thanks to God.

Back at Lehi's Camp (1 Nephi 5)

While her boys were away at Jerusalem, endeavoring to get the plates of brass, Sariah becomes extremely anxious for their safety, as any good mother would.

Sariah begins to complain to Lehi because of her fears for them--that they had "perished in the wilderness". She even went so far as to complain about Lehi's visions being the reason for their suffering and that these visions would be the cause of all their deaths.

I love that about the Book of Mormon. The Bible and the Book of Mormon narratives tend to focus on the events from a man's point of view. That's just the way things were in that age. However, the authors of the Book of Mormon do give more insight into the thoughts and emotions of women of God (warts and all) than we find in the same comparative proportion in the Bible. I believe this is because the overarching theme of the book is that it is principally about families and how they and their descendants fared in a new land. It makes sense, then, that more focus is given to women in this book, for they bore the sons and daughters of this new civilization.

Lehi, instead of breaking out in indignant, patriarchal rage, comforts her by encouraging her to look back on those times when she did believe in the visions and the land of promise that they were going to eventually inherit. This is a good model for any father and husband to follow when times get tough.

Verses 7-8 give us a sense of the comfort Sariah must have felt upon the return of her four sons.

After offering sacrifices and burnt offerings (which indicates they must have traveled more than three days' journey from Jerusalem according to Mosaic law as it was interpreted at that time), Lehi examines the plates and discovers that they contained the five books of Moses, a record of the Jews from the beginning "even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah" (Lehi's day) and many prophecies.

But what seems to have most intrigued Lehi was learning that the genealogy of his own fathers, of the tribe of Joseph, was inscribed on the plates. He now had confirmation that he was of the lineage of Joseph of Egypt. This is an important thing to remember as you read the rest of the book, for it shows how the Lord remembers His covenant with Israel, even as He allows them, through their agency and bad choices, to scatter themselves to all ends of the earth. He commands there to be records kept of the migrations of those tribes. We have had that record in the Old Testament for the tribe of Judah and now we have it for the tribe of Joseph. How many other tribes kept records? The Book of Mormon tells us that there are many. And, they have kept records and were visited by Christ.

It's no wonder Nephi records:

21 And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great ^aworth unto us, insomuch that we could ^bpreserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children.

22 Wherefore, it was wisdom in the Lord that we should carry them with us, as we journeyed in the wilderness towards the land of promise.