To illustrate the doctrines of gathering and scattering, Nephi used as a type the assembling of those who came to hear him. The faithful of all dispensations have gathered to be taught the gospel and also to facilitate the observance of their covenants. When they have rebelled against those teachings and broken their vows, their lands of promise have been taken from them and they have been driven, scattered, and often destroyed. Nephi applies that principle to his immediate audience—as they have gathered to hear him, so they must repent; and if they fail to do so they will be scattered, he prophesies, and become “meat for dogs and wild beasts.”