One of the major subplots in 1 Nephi is the contrast between Laman, Lemuel, and Nephi. Nephi begins with a distinct division witnessed by the way the brothers receive their Father’s prophetic call. Laman and Lemuel reject it, following Jerusalem. Nephi prays to receive a confirmation from Yahweh, and follows Lehi.
Yahweh codifies this essential division by declaring that Nephi will be the divinely sanctioned ruler and teacher over his brothers. Notice that the verses that define the relationship between Laman, Lemuel, and the Nephi who is the appointed ruler and teacher over them are all negative. Yahweh describes what will happen when they rebel against Nephi. There is no provision for repentance.
By the time Nephi is writing, this is fulfilled prophecy. Certainly, Yahweh allowed for repentance, but by the time Nephi wrote, it was clear that they not only had not repented, but that they would not. Therefore, Nephi subtly declares the next subtheme for all of Nephite history. In Yahweh’s words: “and if it so be that they rebel against [God], they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.” That prophecy was repeatedly fulfilled over the next nearly one thousand years. It ended when the scourging no longer stirred them to remembrance, and repentance.