Nephi has previously described Yahweh’s miraculous assistance to relive the party’s sufferings in the wilderness. Again, he expects his brothers to fill in the personal parallel. This time, however, he makes the parallel explicit: the Israelites “hardened their hearts, even as ye have.” He boldly accuses his brothers of bringing some of their afflictions on themselves because of their hard-heartedness. It directly challenges their view that either Lehi or Nephi is to blame for their sufferings.
Still, Nephi encourages them to repent by citing the example of the fiery flying serpents. He is obviously suggesting that Laman and Lemuel avail themselves of this “simple” and “easy” way.
Vocabulary: Eldin Ricks notes that “straiten” means to “put into difficulties.”
Translation:In the Isaiah passages a single Hebrew word is translated as “fiery flying.” It is the same word that is transliterated to seraph. In other cases (Num. 21:6, Deut. 8:15) the Hebrew word for serpent is modified with the word for “burning.” Hence it is a poisonous snake whose bite “burns.” The addition of “flying” is interesting but not clearly supported by the text. A flying serpent is particularly interesting in a Mesoamerican context, but I do not find any connection between the Mesoamerican flying serpent and the Book of Mormon. (See “Excursus: Quetzalcoatl, a Malleable Mythology,” following 3 Nephi 11.) The presence of the “flying fiery serpent” in the Book of Mormon is best explained as a reference to the Isaiah passages.
Variant: The original manuscript had “flying firey serpents.” Oliver Cowdery changed the order to “fiery flying serpents,” presumably to follow the order found in Isaiah 14:29 (quoted in 2 Ne. 24:29) and Isaiah 30:6.