Laman and Lemuel make their appearance in chapter 17 in verse 17, where they say:<\/p>\n
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. (1 Ne. 17:17)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When Nephi sorrows at the “hardness of their hearts,” they continue their taunts, saying:<\/p>\n
We knew that ye could not construct a ship, for we knew that ye were lacking in judgment; wherefore, thou canst not accomplish so great a work. And thou are like our father, led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart; yea, he hath led us out of the land of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled being big with child; and they have born children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jersusalem than to have suffered these afflictions. (1 Ne. 17:19-20)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Given the way that Nephi has already located his narrative within the story of the Exodus, I think that we are meant to read this passage against that background.\u00a0 Certainly, the structure of the story is striking.\u00a0 God’s chosen people are led by revelation out of a wicked country, and travel to the promised land.\u00a0 Their way is blocked, however, by a body of water that they are called upon to miraculously cross.\u00a0 In Exodus, of course, the body of water is the Red Sea, while in Nephi 17 it is “Irreantum, which, being interpreted, is many waters” (v. 5).\u00a0 That being the case, the lament of Nephi’s brothers seems to echo the lament of the Children of Israel on the shores of the Red Sea:<\/p>\n
And they said unto Moses, Because there<\/em> were<\/em> no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?\u00a0 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it<\/em> had<\/em> been<\/em> better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. (Ex. 14: 11-12)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The comparison, however, does more than simply cast Laman and Lemuel as the faithless lusting for the flesh pots of Egypt.\u00a0 Both Nephi’s brothers and the Children of Israel are enmeshed in a narrative irony.\u00a0 They both believe that they know how the story is going, but both are mistaken.\u00a0 As Moses explains to the faithless Israelites on the shores of the Red Sea:<\/p>\n
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord<\/span>, which he will shewy to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.\u00a0 The Lord<\/span> shall fight <\/sup>for you, and ye shall hold your peace. (Ex. 14: 13-14)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Later in the chapter, Nephi will offer his own rebuke to to his brother’s accusations that he is a fool who cannot build a ship or cross the waters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I said unto them: If God had commanded to do all things I could do them.\u00a0 If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.\u00a0 And now if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship? (1 Ne. 17: 50-51)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Notice how Nephi’s rebuke explicitly harks back to Moses before the Red Sea — “If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth” — reinforcing the sense that Laman and Lemuel don’t really understand the story that they are inhabiting, the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.\u00a0 The ignorance of Laman and Lemuel about the meaning of this story becomes very important for the battle about interpretation that lies at the heart of this chapter, because as we will see in the next passage, Laman and Lemuel claim to have a true understanding of Moses and the meaning of his story!<\/p>\n
To be continued…<\/p>\n