20 And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly, because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness; and also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord.
This verse illustrates just how bad things got as the company
got more and more hungry. Even Lehi, the prophet, the visionary (realize that
pessimists and negative people, by definition, can’t really be classified as
visionary) started to murmur against the Lord. Murmur is an interesting word.
It’s not coming out in open rebellion, rather it is just griping and
complaining. It’s the same thing Laman and Lemuel have been doing all along.
And now, things are bad enough that their father, the prophet who brought them
on this journey in the first place, began to murmur against the Lord. I’ll bet
Nephi’s brethren had a hay day with that one. Again, this just illustrates how
important physical nourishment is to spiritual wellbeing.
