Apparently, that question is not new in our day. When Lehi and his family left Jerusalem in a hurry, they did not have a record of their people with them. In this chapter, Lehi and Nephi emphasize that bringing such a record with them is supremely important to ensure that knowledge of the following three things does not fade from generation to generation:
1) Key teachings from the Lord (through prophets) about how to survive in a world full of temptations and distractions (verse 20)
2) Their language (verse 19)
3) Stories of their family history and heritage (verse 3)
Making sure records are kept, and kept properly, becomes another prevailing theme (along with the importance of families) that continues throughout the book.
In days well before paper and printing presses, records like the one alluded to in this chapter were few and far between because of the difficulty and cost involved in producing them. It appears that Lehi himself may not have possessed a copy, which would explain why his family did not have one in their possession when they left Jerusalem. But the Lord thought the record important enough to command Lehi to send his sons back to Jersualem to get it (engraved on a set of brass plates) from a man named Laban (lay-bin) who probably had some association with them.
Why didn't the Lord tell Lehi to get the record on his way out of Jerusalem? That's anyone's guess. My sense is that He had a specific purpose in reserving this particular experience for Lehi's sons, and testing their character, as we find out in this and following chapters.
Laman and Lemuel were clearly not pleased at having to go all the way back (as mentioned in the previous chapter, it's about a 15-day journey between Jerusalem and their campsite), facing the uncertain prospect of how exactly to get the record from Laban, and then traveling another several days to return to their family. When put that way, it seems like we should probably be able to at least understand where their frustration was coming from.
Nephi's response was starkly different from that of his brothers. In fact, it stands as one of the most memorable scriptures in the Book of Mormon:
"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
Why was Nephi so willing to accept his dad's word about this new commandment? It seems that the effort Nephi put (during the last chapter) into confirming his father's earlier claims (about leaving Jerusalem) by approaching the Lord directly has convinced Nephi that his father is tapped into the right source.
But let's not give Laman and Lemuel too hard a time, at least not yet, because we learn that they are ultimately willing to give the expedition a try. And so Nephi unfolds to us the account of the four brothers making their way back to Jerusalem.
The brothers have a task, but really have no idea about how they plan to get the record from Laban. Laban is a prominent person, and pretty intimidating in manner, kind of like a rich guy from more modern times who knows how to succeed in a tough world, complete with his own security detail (or paid thugs). So the brothers do what anyone in over their heads might do. They flipped a coin. Or the equivalent of this--called in those days "casting lots," or a game of chance.
Apparently, the lots indicate that Laman (the oldest son) is "it," and, Laman just walks straight to Laban's house and asks for the record. The story says that Laban became angry and got Laman to leave quickly by threatening his life. Whether Laban was angry at Laman's impertinence ("that punk kid") or knew that he could get rid of him by making this threat, the effect was the same. Now Laman and Lemuel (and perhaps even Sam) want nothing more to do with this assignment, which apparently is not going to be easy.
But Nephi's steely determination takes over. As his quote from above indicates, he had committed to both his father and to God that he would carry out the task, and he tells his brothers that they're not going back to their family without the record.
The brothers have learned their lesson that leaving things to chance is a bad idea. Now Nephi has a plan. All the gold, silver and wealth his family left in their hasty flight out of Jerusalem is still at their old house. Why not take all this stuff and offer it to Laban in exchange for the plates?
Nephi is right about the wealth attracting Laban's interest, but seems not to have accounted for Laban's dishonesty and superior strength of force. When Laban sends his servants after the brothers to kill them, they're forced to abandon their wealth to Laban, and barely escape the city with their lives, finding refuge in a nearby rock cavity.
This appears to be the absolute last straw for Laman and Lemuel. They've listened to their gullible brother long enough. Not only are their lives in peril because of his simple faith, but now, with their wealth gone, they probably realize that any hope they nurtured of convincing their dad to return them to the comforts of Jerusalem had vanished. And, according to them, it's all Nephi's fault.
So, true to their character, they lose their temper and start cursing and hitting Nephi and Sam.
And then, at the precise moment where everything seems to be falling apart for Nephi, God steps in. An angel, or messenger of the Lord, intervenes, and tells the brothers two things. First, the angel rebukes Laman and Lemuel for turning against Nephi, and tells them what the Lord already had told Nephi in the previous chapter--that their younger brother would become a ruler over them because of their "iniquities."
And second, the angel tells them to go back to Jerusalem, where they have every reason to believe that people are on the lookout to kill them. But the angel promises that the Lord will deliver Laban into their hands.
After the angel communicates his messages, he departs, and then the chapter ends on a telling note. Instead of trusting in the power of an angel who miraculously appears right in front of them and promises heavenly help, Laman and Lemuel keep focusing on their own inability to stand against Laban's thugs. Seconds after being given a reason to suspend disbelief and count on a power beyond their own, they fall back into the same pattern of doubt and distrust.
But Nephi is slowly mounting the learning curve. From casting lots, to making his own plan, Nephi has done the best he could with what he had until the Lord steps in and just tells him to trust that everything will be OK. And sometimes that's the hardest part...(TO BE CONTINUED in chapter 4)
Read the chapter here: https://www.lds.org/
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