According to Terrence Szink, quite probably, Nephi, the author of this section, consciously wrote his account of the wilderness journey in a way that would remind the reader of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. . . . In comparing 1 Nephi 17:20 ("It would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem") with Numbers 14:2 ("Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt!") the reader should notice that this desire was irrational because, in both cases, to return could have meant death. The children of Israel likely would have been punished for the death of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, while Nephi, Laman, Lemuel, and Sam could well have been punished for the killing of Laban in Jerusalem. [Terrence L. Szink, "Nephi and the Exodus," in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, pp. 42-43]