Nephi writes of the end-results of his quarrel with his brethren over his intention to build a ship that “they were desirous to throw me into the depths of the sea” (1 Nephi 17:48). Potter and Wellington write of this incident that as one can clearly see, this was no boisterous romp between loving siblings, this was not a prank to get their little brother wet, this was an attempt on Nephi’s life. It should be obvious then that merely throwing Nephi into the sea from the shore would not have produced the desired result, he would just swim away a short distance onto the beach and walk off. To accomplish their intended result they would have to throw him from a great height into deep water. There could be no beach for Nephi to swim up onto; he would have to be crushed by the waves upon the rocks, or dragged out to sea by the current. To be thrown into the depths of the sea he would have to be thrown from a vertical or overhanging cliff so that he would go directly into deep water. Additionally, to cast Nephi into deep water or “depths of the sea,” he and his brothers would have had to have been at a place jutting far out from the shoreline.
Nephi’s description requires tall, vertical or overhanging cliffs with deep water directly below them. Possibly a strong swell to crush Nephi and nowhere to swim to for safety. The shoreline of Dhofar is made up of sand beaches, and in a few places, cliffs. There are vertical and overhanging cliffs between Khor Rori and Taqah. While there are cliffs at Reysut to the west of Salalah they are not vertical. What truly separates the cliffs at Khor Rori from those of any other spot along the Dhofari shoreline is that they are an odd set of two giant rock promontories that reach into the sea some 150 yards from the natural shoreline. (see illustration) The depth of the water below them is approximately 25-35 feet deep. [George Potter & Richard Wellington, Discovering The Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript (July 2000), pp. 253-254]
Note* Is there an allusion here to what the Pharoah planned to do with Moses and the children of Israel? That is, did he plan on throwing their bodies into the sea? Was the justice of what actually happened (the drowning of the Egyptian army) a reversal of what the Pharoah had decreed for the children of Israel? (see Exodus 14:9-13, 28-30) [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
Additional Note* If Nephi‘s brethren didn’t want to work on his ship, and if they represented the older and more numerous part of the family, then why didn’t they just over-rule him or simply not work? What was it about Nephi’s enterprise that so infuriated them? Could it be their group was larger than just the family and that Nephi was intending to use not only their manpower, but trading their money, their camels, their goods in order to barter for the supplies to build a ship rather than for the immediate welfare of the group? [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
1 Nephi 17:48 They … were desirous to throw me into the depths of the sea ([Illustration]-Potter). Richard sits atop one of the vertical cliffs between Taqah and Khor Rori looking down at the deep water below. This may well be the place that Laman and Lemuel attempted to throw Nephi into the depths of the sea. [George Potter & Richard Wellington, Discovering The Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript (July 2000), p. 261]
1 Nephi 17:48 Touch me not, for I am filled with the power of God ([Illustration] Nephi Subdues His Rebellious Brothers. [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gospel Art, #303]
1 Nephi 17:48 Touch me not, for I am filled with the power of God ([Illustration] Nephi Rebukes His Brothers. Nephi shocks his brothers with the power of God. Artist: Gary Kapp. [Thomas R. Valletta ed., The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families, 1999, p. 55]