The brutal attack on Father Lehi made him realize the seriousness of the situation. And so, in the dignity and majesty of his office, he met their accusations. Their position was clear. They did not, they had said, believe that God had spoken to Lehi, or to their brother; nor that the Jews in Jerusalem were an unrighteous people, ripe for destruction. Nephi, therefore, began his defense by asking a penetrating question, Do you believe that the Children of Israel would have been led out of bondage in Egypt, if God had not spoken through his servant Moses (vv. 23, 24)? Then he asserted that they did know (1) That the children of Israel were in bondage (v. 25); (2) that Moses was commanded to lead them out of Egypt through the Red Sea (v. 26); (3) that the Egyptians were drowned in the pursuit (v. 27); (4) that the Israelites were miraculously supplied with manna to eat and with water to drink (vv. 28, 29). You know, Nephi said, all this, and you know also that, although they were led by their Redeemer, by day and by night, they hardened their hearts and reviled Moses and even God; wherefore he destroyed them in the wilderness (vv. 30-32). This was an obvious lesson of history applied upon their own case, and also a solemn warning of what the consequences of their own disobedience might be.
But he continues his argument: Do you suppose, he asks, that the Canaanites would have been driven out of their land if they had been a righteous people? Or, that the Jews under Joshua would have been more favored than the Canaanites, if the latter had been a righteous people (v. 33)?
No! he said. God is no respecter of persons. He favors the nations that are righteous and destroys those who are ripe in iniquity. He leads those that fear him to choice lands, and he curses the lands of the wicked. He rules in heaven and on earth (his throne and his footstool), and he fulfills his covenants with his children (vv. 34-46).