1 Nephi 2:10-13 After counseling Laman to always be a source of righteousness, he instructs Lemuel to be "firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!" Clearly these are characteristics that Lehi prized in his own life and in the lives of others. Laman and Lemuel murmured "because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them." So that was their problem--easily diagnosed by Nephi. Yet how did Nephi come to this conclusion? Because they could not understand their position before God, they lacked the perspective to see anything else clearly. Their priorities and prerogatives, the things that they valued as important in their young lives, had been altogether stripped from them in following their father into the wilderness. Of course, they were on the defensive. Their failure to see the larger picture consequently led them to murmuring and violence.
A personal study of the Book of Mormon by Brent Leavitt,
a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.