1 Nephi 3 – 5
One of the reasons that Nephi went so willingly was because he had just been receiving answers from the Lord and was still feeling the Spirit. On the other hand, Laman and Lemuel may only have gone because they still feared Lehi from when he confounded them upon arriving in the valley. When they then became afraid of Laban that fear was more current and pressing than their fear of Lehi. After the bust of the angel Laman and Lemuel were torn between their fear of the angel and their fear of Laban. I’m sure they were happy to have Nephi go to Laban because if Laman killed him they would be rid of their self-righteous little brother and if he somehow succeeded they could return to the wilderness without having to face Laban again.
Down must have been present on at least on occasion when the sons of Lehi sought the plates. That would explain hour Nephi recognized him and how he recognized the brothers of Nephi.
It also occurs to me that if there are some who wanted to slay Lehi enough that they would be willing to track him into the wilderness the return of the sons of Lehi might have mistakenly convinced them that Lehi was still around or that he was closer to Jerusalem than he actually was.
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