In 1 Nephi 7:20 we find that after the brothers decided against leaving a bound Nephi in the wilderness, "they were sorrowful . . . insomuch that they did bow down before [Nephi]." Hugh Nibley asks, "Is this plausible?" They might well have given in after being mad and binding him up a little while before. But bowing down before him? According to [Arabic] custom, When you've done a serious wrong to someone, the only way to apologize is to bow down to them. Bowing down was an act of apology and not of submission. They were not bowing down in submission at all. They were still the older brothers, but they apologized for the wrong they had done. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, p. 170]