In reading this account of the great controversy in the land of Bountiful in Asia, we may assume that Nephi, having carried out the instructions of the Lord and made the tools necessary, laid the matter of the building of the ship before the members of the little colony, since the law of common consent 3 undoubtedly applied to their important plans and decisions. We may assume that Nephi reported the divine commandments and instructions received, for their approval or rejection.
Then the brothers, or some of them, raised their objections. (1) They asserted emphatically that their brother, Nephi, was a "fool," if he thought that they could build a ship and cross the ocean (v. 17). (2) On that ground they refused to labor on the ship in question. (3) The representation of Nephi that he had only communicated to them the commandment of the Lord they pronounced a falsehood: "Neither would they believe that I was instructed of the Lord" (v. 18).
This attitude of the brothers was a stunning blow to Nephi. He was grief-stricken. His opponents rejoiced thinking that they had won the day. "We knew," they said, "that you could not construct a ship." (v. 19)
(4) The next move of the brothers was to turn their accusations against their father. He, they said, it is who has led us out of Jerusalem to suffer for years, and perish, in the wilderness, when we might have stayed at home in comfort and ease (vv. 20, 21).
(5) Having gone to this extreme in their opposition, 4 they invented an excuse for their rebellion. They asserted that the Jews, their friends and neighbors, their fellow-citizens, were a righteous people whom their father had misjudged. And Nephi, they said, was just like him (v. 22).