23 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, spake unto them, saying: Do ye believe that our fathers, who were the children of Israel, would have been led away out of the hands of the Egyptians if they had not hearkened unto the words of the Lord?
Nephi’s response to Laman and Lemuel’s complaint is to remind
them of the Lord’s hand in the history of their people. This is consistent with
what Moroni instructs us to do when he tells us how to gain a testimony of the
Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:3). Moroni says that one of the first things we
should do when we read the Book of Mormon is to “remember how merciful the Lord
hath been unto the children of men…and ponder it in [our] hearts.” I think one
of the main reasons for Moroni’s advice and Nephi’s approach to answering his
brothers’ complaints is to establish the Lord’s track record. If you can
believe that the Lord would help His people in this other situation, then why
can’t you believe He would help His people this time as well? The other point
Nephi is laying the foundation to make is that the Lord will help His people if
they listen and hearken to what He says. So if the children of Israel had not
done what the Lord told them, they would have been stuck as slaves in Egypt.
The obvious connection here is that if Lehi had not hearkened to the Lord, he
and his family would have been destroyed with the rest of Jerusalem. This is
part of the case Nephi will make over the next several verses.
- Moroni 10:3
