38 Now, he says that the Lord has talked with him, and also that angels have ministered unto him. But behold, we know that he lies unto us; and he tells us these things, and he worketh many things by his cunning arts, that he may deceive our eyes, thinking, perhaps, that he may lead us away into some strange wilderness; and after he has led us away, he has thought to make himself a king and a ruler over us, that he may do with us according to his will and pleasure. And after this manner did my brother Laman stir up their hearts to anger.
The irony here is that Laman, in accusing Nephi of lying
about angels ministering to him, is himself lying. I can cut him some slack in
not being present when the Lord talked to Nephi; he had to take that on faith.
But Laman was eyewitness to at least one instance of when an angel ministered
to Nephi. In that case, the angel stopped Laman from beating his brothers, Sam
and Nephi (1 Nephi 3:30–31). So in at least that instance, Laman is lying for
the purpose of turning everyone against his brother. The other thing here is
that Laman is attributing all the miracles they have witnessed to Nephi instead
of God. That means that everything from breaking the bands that bound him (1
Nephi 7:18) to seeing messages on the Liahona (vs. 27), which were all
witnessed by the whole company, were worked by Nephi’s “cunning arts.” In other
words, magic. And the whole purpose of using that “magic” was to make himself a
king or ruler over everyone, an idea that was given to Laman by an angel. This
is Laman’s pride, plain and simple. He is the one who wants to be a king and
ruler over everyone. This is just another power play to do exactly what he is
accusing Nephi of doing.
