1 Nephi 3:2 - 3:6

1 Nephi 3:2 And it came to pass that he spake unto me, saying: Behold I have dreamed a dream, in the which the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall return to Jerusalem.

Lehi tells Nephi of a dream that he had and since Lehi has told the rest of the family and Nephi is now just being informed of it, Nephi must have been away from camp, maybe hunting, for a period of time and had at the same time been praying about what his father had been telling the family about. Lehi is commanded to send his sons back to Jerusalem to get something.

1 Nephi 3:3 For behold, Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass.

A man named Laban has a record of the Jews which also contains Lehi’s genealogy. These records are engraved on brass plates. Why does Laban have them? He must have been a custodian of the public records. A sort of archivist of the history of Jerusalem. One would wonder if this was so, they would be of value to the people of Jerusalem and Laban would not be very likely to hand them over to fugitives.

1 Nephi 3:4 Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and bring them down hither into the wilderness.

Anyway Lehi tells Nephi that the Lord has commanded that he and his older brothers are to return to Jerusalem acquire the brass plates and bring them to him to their camp in the desert.

1 Nephi 3:5 And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord.

The brothers seem not to be very excited about this assignment from their father. They complain on how difficult it will be to get them from Laban. They think that is another stupid thing that their hallucinating father has come up with. But Lehi tells Nephi that is the Lord that commands it not Lehi. It’s not his idea. The older brothers were not convinced however.

1 Nephi 3:6 Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.

Because of Nephi’s confirmation by the Lord of his father’s commission, Nephi is ready to carry out the assignment. This readiness to obey will bring to him many blessings. I wonder if he did have fears, but did not allow them to defer him from the assignment.

Nephi rather reminds me of Joseph of Egypt. He quite literally becomes the savior of his family. He is faithful and obedient. It is not slavery of Nephi by obeying the Lord, but the development of a future leader. Nephi is getting lessons that will be of great value to him in the future. We all can take a lesson from this.

We are not becoming pawns for the Lord in order for him to be a dictator. We become servants in order to learn how to lead and grow in confidence and power.