Nephi said that his father Lehi saw the "justice of God." When did Lehi see the justice of God? It is never mentioned specifically in any text from Lehi that we have. But perhaps all that Lehi saw in vision or in dream was a depiction of God’s justice—the way in which God will separate the righteous from the wicked. In the dream there was a gulf and there were mists of darkness. People were either under the tree or they were heading to or living it up in the great and spacious building. Such a division is, in essence, the way in which ancient people thought of justice.
What symbol do we often use to depict justice? Two pans on a scale. When the scales are balanced, with compensation given to offset damages, we see justice as having been achieved. Somehow, the scales end in equilibrium. In the modern world, we also see justice as being blind. That is why we put a blindfold on Lady Justice.
But in the ancient world, there were no blindfolds associated with the idea of justice. Justice stood with eyes wide open. Justice was a respecter of persons. One’s character mattered. Indeed, the symbol of justice in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible is not the scales, but the sword. What does a sword do? The sword divides, it cuts asunder. Justice divides the sheep from the goats. It divides the righteous from the wicked. Even though the sword is not mentioned anywhere in accounts of Lehi’s visions (maybe it was present in the lost Book of Lehi on the 116 pages), the sword, in any event, would surely have been there in Lehi’s understanding of God’s justice.
Book of Mormon Central, "How Are Rod and Sword Connected to the Word of God? (1 Nephi 11:25)," KnoWhy 427 (April 24, 2018).
Book of Mormon Central, "What was the Great and Terrible Gulf in Lehi’s Dream? (1 Nephi 12:18)," KnoWhy 14 (January 19, 2016).