Whatever conclusions Laman and Lemuel might have come to about Yahweh’s “absence” from their enterprise were dramatically contradicted by this angel’s appearance. If his purpose were only to stop the beating, natural means would have sufficed. Nephi could have defended himself successfully, Sam could have intervened, a thunderstorm could have forced them to seek shelter, etc.
Furthermore, since the angel’s message did not have a lasting impact on Laman and Lemuel, perhaps his real mission was to Nephi—to strengthen his faith for the tasks to come. I have already argued that Nephi had probably not communicated Yahweh’s revelation that he would rule his brothers; Laman and Lemuel were probably learning it for the first time, and it almost certainly did not sweeten their tempers. Interestingly, as readers we know that Laman and Lemuel effectively negated this prophecy by rejecting Nephi’s leadership once Lehi was dead. Thus, the history of the wilderness journey and crossing the ocean developed into a continual contest between Nephi as leader and his older brothers’ reluctant cooperation, resistance, and defiance.
History: Beating with a stick is typical of the Middle East at this time period. Nibley notes:
Every free man in the East carries a stick, the immemorial badge of independence and of authority; and every man asserts his authority over his inferiors by his stick, which “shows that the holder is a man of position, superior to the workman or day-labourers. The government officials, superior officers, tax-gatherers, and schoolmasters use this short rod to threaten—or if necessary to beat—their inferiors, whoever they may be.” The usage is very ancient. “A blow for a slave,” is the ancient maxim in Ahikar, [Grand Vizier of Assyria, whose story is one of the most popular and translated of the Ancient Near East. It is found among the Elephantine papyri (fifth to fourth century B.C.)] and the proper designation of an underling is ’abd-al-’asa, “stick-servant.” This is exactly the sense in which Laman and Lemuel intended their little lesson to Nephi.
Literature: In addition to the physical force of the rod, the ancient Near East also understood it as a symbol of power. Bokovoy and Tvedtnes note:
The rod was seen as a symbol of political authority in the ancient Near East. Anciently, shepherds used rods or staffs as a tool to care for their flocks. In the Bible, a connection appears between Israel’s rulers and shepherds in passages such as Ezekiel 34:2, 23, and Jeremiah 2:8. In addition, the Egyptian Pharaohs were frequently depicted with a flail in one hand and a small shepherd’s crook in the other.
The famous stela of Hammurabi depicts the Babylonian king receiving a rod from the sun god Shamesh as a sign that Hammurabi was “the shepherd selected by the god Enlil” to establish a righteous government over his people. This same symbol also appears throughout the Hebrew Bible. “The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion,” declares the Psalmist, “rule thou in the midst of thine enemies” (Psalm 110:2).