Nephi makes a strange statement in Helaman 7:7:
Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy to be entreated; firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord--
Hugh Nibley queries, Is this a naive statement he makes here? When Nephi got to the promised land, he had to break off from his brethren, and he ends on a note of dire misgivings. His people weren't at all ["easy to be entreated"]. But this is a very realistic touch in the Book of Mormon. We do look back to those happy times, not really knowing what they were like, reading their teachings rather. . . . Actually, the early Nephi said they were very slow to hearken to the words of the Lord. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 3, pp. 255-256]
Note* Could it be that Nephi really did have some success in a major way with people being converted to the gospel such that they would be referred to as "his people"? In other words, was Nephi a missionary to the peoples he came in contact with as he journeyed from Jerusalem to the Promised Land and to the land of Nephi? While the text basically focuses on the family of Lehi, and does not definitely describe any missionary efforts of Nephi, part of the covenant responsibilities of the Lord's covenant servants has always been to spread the gospel to others. George Potter and Lynn Hilton have shown that along the Frankincense Trail there were a number of opportunities and evidences for the missionary preachings of Nephi and Lehi. If such was the case, then the sons of Helaman (Nephi and Lehi) would have shared the common bond of missionary experiences with their fathers Nephi and Lehi who first came out of Jerusalem, and Nephi's statement here in Helaman 7:7 could have been correct. Once again it should be pointed out that in referring to Nephi of old, the present Nephi refers to "his people," not "his family." [Alan C. Miner] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 16:14 "Keeping in the Most Fertile Parts", 1 Nephi 2:14 "The Valley of Lemuel (Hilton Theory)]