Lehi is recounting his dream to his family. He tells them of a large and spacious building filled with people who laugh at those who have chosen to partake of the fruit of the tree, and how many have fallen away and become lost after listening to the mocking.
35. And Laman and Lemuel partook not of the fruit, said my father.
This is interesting to me. He didn’t see Laman and Lemuel partake and then fall away—he saw that they didn’t partake at all. This must have caused him great distress as a parent, but he can’t have been too surprised by his sons’ choice not to partake.
36. And it came to pass after my father had spoken all the words of his dream or vision, which were many, he said unto us, because of these things which he saw in a vision, he exceedingly feared for Laman and Lemuel; yea, he feared lest they should be cast off from the presence of the Lord.
37. And he did exhort them then with all the feeling of a tender parent, that they would hearken to his words, that perhaps the Lord would be merciful to them, and not cast them off; yea, my father did preach unto them.
38. And after he had preached unto them, and also prophesied unto them of many things, he bade them to keep the commandments of the Lord; and he did cease speaking unto them.
I love the expressions used in these verses. He “exhorted” them. He didn’t just suggest or advise—he begged them and pleaded with them to change their ways. I know that if I saw a vision of my child’s eventual downfall, I would do everything in my power to keep it from happening. Laman and Lemuel are adults and they have to make their own decisions, but Lehi uses all his powers of persuasion to try to encourage them to come unto Christ and repent.
I particularly like the phrase “tender parent.” He wasn’t yelling at them or trying to make them feel bad about themselves—he spoke with love, but urgency, and did it for their own good and salvation. I think about how Lehi must have felt about his sons. He loved each of them so very much, and how it must have hurt him to see Laman and Lemuel behave the way they did. Laman, as the eldest, was the birthright son, and in that culture, he should have been his father’s right hand man. He would have taken over the family business and eventually leadership of the family when Lehi passed away. But Lehi has learned that his birthright son is not to be trusted, and so more and more, he’s leaning on Nephi.
From today’s reading: How do we draw the line between encouraging our children to be righteous and yet allowing them their free agency?
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