24 Rebel no more against your brother, whose views have been glorious, and who hath kept the commandments from the time that we left Jerusalem; and who hath been an instrument in the hands of God, in bringing us forth into the land of promise; for were it not for him, we must have perished with hunger in the wilderness; nevertheless, ye sought to take away his life; yea, and he hath suffered much sorrow because of you.
Lehi recognizes that Nephi is a prophet, and in fact the prophet of this people after he
(Lehi) dies. These wayward sons of his have caused Nephi a lot of grief, even
to the point of trying to kill him on at least one occasion (see 1 Nephi 16:
37), and that was after Nephi had
saved their lives. So Lehi does admonish his sons to heed Nephi out of respect
for his calling as prophet, but if not for that reason, then they should stop
rebelling simply because had kept them alive, and they owed him. They owed him
their lives. They could at least stop rebelling, even if they disagreed with
his teachings. However, the problem was not so much his teachings, but their
jealousy of his power and influence over them. They thought Nephi was trying to
take their place as rightful heirs of Lehi to lead the people. The times that
they rebelled were not so much when he was teaching or preaching, but rather
when he was telling them what to do.
- 1 Nephi 16: 32
- 1 Nephi 16: 37
