Lehi sees the ultimate end in the beginnings of the contention within his own family, and the separation of some of his children from the ways of the Lord. With the vision of the ultimate fate of those children before his eyes, he pleads with them. What he sees clearly, they see not at all, and Lehi aptly uses the metaphor of eyes closed in sleep to describe them. They do not see nor understand the nature of ultimate results of their actions.