The Difference Between Nephi and His Brothers

A natural question to ask in reading the story of Nephi and his brothers is this: What made Nephi respond so differently than Laman and Lemuel to the same experiences? These were sons who were brought up in the same household, taught the same principles of righteousness, and surrounded by the same environment. And yet they chose so differently when faced with challenging situations. Nephi chose to faithfully obey his father and make whatever sacrifice necessary to keep the commandments of the Lord while Laman and Lemuel murmured, sometimes rebelled, and even on occasion turned to violence. How do we explain such different attitudes between them?

                I think that Nephi gave us two important keys to their different attitudes when he described his own response to his father’s words as they left for the wilderness. He wrote, “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers” (1 Nephi 2:16). The first major reason that Nephi responded so differently than his brothers was that he desired to know the mysteries of God. Laman and Lemuel did not have that same earnest desire that Nephi had to know the Lord. Nephi remarked that “they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them,” and much later Zeniff in his record highlighted the same fact as he wrote about the history of the Lamanites: “And his brethren were wroth with him because they understood not the dealings of the Lord” (1 Nephi 2:12, Mosiah 10:14). They did not understand how the Lord worked—His mysteries—and they simply didn’t have a strong enough desire to find out. They did ask a few spiritual questions—such as when they asked “What meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream? What meaneth the tree which he saw?”—but they didn’t seem to ever search further than that (1 Nephi 15:21). Nephi showed that he earnestly desired to know the mysteries of God, telling us as he sought to understand the things of his father: “I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him” (1 Nephi 10:17). Nephi’s testimony was that Laman and Lemuel could have understood the things of God if they had had a strong enough desire to be willing to diligently seek Him.

                The main action that Nephi took with his desire that his brothers did not do was to earnestly pray. He wrote that he did “cry unto the Lord” in order to know the mysteries of God. When his brothers came to him in a confused state about spiritual things, his first question to them was this: “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” Their response showed that they simply were not willing to seek to know the Lord through prayer: “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.” In other words, in their pride they considered it the Lord’s job to speak to them if He wanted to communicate something. But Nephi reminded them that it doesn’t work that way; we must be willing to humble ourselves before Him and ask in faith: “Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you” (1 Nephi 15:9,11). If we want to understand the mysteries of God, we must ask in faith through prayer. Nephi’s example shows us that to come to know the things of God we must earnestly desire it and then seek Him diligently through prayer. Laman and Lemuel never did this and ultimately they were cut off from His presence, but Nephi demonstrated over and over again that as he earnestly sought the Lord through prayer he was indeed given to know the mysteries of God.