1 Nephi 17: 17

17 And when my brethren saw that I was about to build a ship, they began to murmur against me, saying: Our brother is a fool, for he thinketh that he can build a ship; yea, and he also thinketh that he can cross these great waters.

These murmuring brothers just don’t get it. They don’t have any vision (see Proverbs 29:18). They are small-minded. I’m sure part of why they started murmuring about building a ship is because they were content with staying there in Bountiful. It was beautiful, they had all the food they needed, and in their minds there really was no reason to move on, especially after the last eight years of living the nomad life. Crossing the ocean also represented their last chance of ever going back home to Jerusalem. I wonder if they had been secretly planning to return after Lehi died. The stated reason for complaining was simply that they didn’t believe Nephi, their pesky little brother, was smart enough to design a ship sea-worthy enough to cross the ocean. The scripture says, “build,” but I think it was more a matter of design. Nephi had already shown that he could work well with his hands. None of these people were lazy; I just think they didn’t trust Nephi to be smart enough to design a ship. That and their vision wasn’t large enough to take in the whole ocean. I don’t think they could wrap their heads around that idea. Once again, we shall see that they underestimate the Lord.