Nephi’s actions to get the Brass Plates is meaningful for our day. In particular, I’m mindful of what he told Laman and Lemuel after they’d lost their family fortune to Laban.
Laman said:
“How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man and he can command fifty. Yea, even he can slay fifty, then why not us?”
Nephi’s answer:
“Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord. For behold, he is mightier than all the earth. Then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty? Yea, or even than his tens of thousands? Therefore let us go up.”
Then Nephi does and he recounts, “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.”
He took action. In doing so, I think the Lord led him to where Laban had passed out in a drunken stupor. (Because he was celebrating his newly acquired wealth?) Whereupon Nephi is obedient to the Spirit and kills Laban so he can get the plates. This is a great link that goes deeper into explaining the “legality” of Nephi murdering Laban:
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/was-nephis-slaying-of-laban-legal
It’s interesting, in light of what is happening today, that what Nephi was told to get was a history of his people. The Lord intended it to preserve the Nephite's history, language, and culture. The Lamanites and Mulekites didn’t have it and they forgot who they were. With the crackdown and censoring going on by Twitter, FaceBook and YouTube, this is also what’s also at stake for us to remember who we are in the face of deliberate "cancelling" of the truth from our society.
It’s also instructive, that despite Laban’s overwhelming political power compared to what Nephi and his brothers had at that time. When it really mattered, it didn't matter at all: the Lord’s will was still accomplished.
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