In the two Star Trek movies The Wrath of Khan (1982) and The Search for Spock (1984), the main characters end up pursuing objectives in the different films that seem to be in complete opposition to one another. In the first movie, Mr. Spock sacrifices his life for the rest of his crew after saying, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. It's logical." In the second, Captain Kirk says, "The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many," to explain to his crew why they are risking their lives to rescue a reborn Spock.
These moments are reflections of events found in the Bible. With regard to sacrificing one person for the greater good, God the Father sacrificed His own Son (Jesus) for all of humanity, and we see other examples of this, most notably with Abraham when he was willing to sacrifice the very son (Isaac) who had come miraculously in his wife Sarah's old age. (In Isaac's case, the Lord intervened by providing a ram to sacrifice so that his life was ultimately spared). With regard to the need sometimes to turn from a larger group to help save an individual soul, Jesus taught of the shepherd leaving his other 99 sheep in search for the one who was lost.
The lesson from these examples is that the Lord's plan for how we are to act can be different depending on the specific circumstances we face. It can deeply test our faith, because in certain situations, we may learn and feel very clearly what we are supposed to do, while knowing that following that course of action will be very hard to explain to those around us, in particular those we know and love.
This is Nephi's dilemma in a nutshell. When we left him and his brothers, the angel of the Lord had just promised them that the Lord would deliver Laban into their hands. Not knowing what exactly that meant, Nephi nevertheless relies on his faith in God. He scales the city wall and starts walking, claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit. He is walking in the general direction of Laban's house when he comes upon Laban lying on the street in drunkenness.
The Spirit then tells Nephi to kill Laban. At first, we recoil along with Nephi at this idea. The Spirit has to speak to Nephi twice more before he is willing to consider shedding Laban's blood. Essentially, the Spirit teaches Nephi's that this is the way for his family to have the records they need to establish their new civilization. To be honest, I'm still not sure I understand why this needed to happen the way it did, other than it teaches us the principle that faith and obedience are difficult in practice because they require us to act in reliance on something beyond our own preconceived notions of what makes sense.
It is important to note that our Church's leaders have been very clear that in our day, the Lord will not have us do something--like with Nephi--contrary to what He has already commanded. A previous Church president, Harold B. Lee, said, "When there is to be anything different from that which the Lord has told us already, He will reveal it to His prophet [the president of the Church] and no one else."
But in this very exceptional case, Nephi proves his faith by killing Laban and pretending to be him (using his voice, clothing, and armor) to get the brass plates (the all-important record) from Laban's treasury with the help of one of Laban's servants, who is named Zoram.
Presumably because Nephi realized that he couldn't leave Zoram behind as a witness to put the people of Jerusalem on his family's trail (after the inevitable discovery of Laban's body), Nephi has Zoram follow him out of the city to his brothers. When Zoram hears Nephi call to Laman, Lemuel and Sam in his own voice, he realizes that Nephi is not Laban, and thinks to run back to Jerusalem.
Nephi is a very strong man, so he restrains Zoram from fleeing and calms him by promising that he and his brothers will not harm Zoram if Zoram is willing to come with them and join their family in the wilderness. I guess we might wonder at what Zoram might be leaving behind, but all we know is that Zoram quickly agreed to Nephi's terms, so it is likely that Zoram did not have much of possessions or prospects to motivate him to stay in Jerusalem, especially after realizing he had unknowingly helped his former master's killer and would probably have to answer for it if he stayed. Many of us in our day, who are used to deception and double crosses, may think it's extremely naive and unrealistic for Nephi and Zoram to trust each other in this situation. However, the long-held traditions of the Middle East put such value on a man's word or oath that it's perfectly natural to accept that once the two had exchanged oaths, they didn't give such matters a second thought.
So, it didn't exactly go as planned, but ultimately the brothers find themselves heading back toward their family with the plates in hand, and an extra man at their side.
Read the chapter here: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/4?lang=eng
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