The poetic imagery Lehi uses—awake, arise from the dust, shake off bonds, and come forth—evokes struggle and change. By telling them to “awake,” he communicates his view that their minds, groggy with sleep, do not yet grasp the real world. For Laman and Lemuel, the world their father inhabited was a visionary mishmash of self-deception and exaggerated alarms. Their “real” world was the world of sensual gratification, physical effort, and violence. Lehi clearly sees, however, where the deception lies; he calls them to awaken from the phantasmagoria of this world to the “reality” of the spiritual world.
Once “awake,” they can “shake off the chains with which ye are bound.” The brothers would know about shackles and chains, especially how hard it would be to free themselves once they had been imprisoned and fettered. Nevertheless, once “awake,” they could simply shake off the chains. The chains would no longer be welded shut and no longer a burden.
The “slumbering” brothers, once awakened by turning to Yahweh, could then “come forth” from obscurity. Once they see themselves clearly—including the wretched state of their souls and the baseness of their lives—they could aspire to become men of God, wise and strong leaders, far-seeing prophets. They could, in fact, become men like Nephi.