Nephi had learned by personal experience how to understand scriptures that he did not understand. He would simply ask the Lord for more understanding. This is exactly how he received his vision of the tree of life (1 Nephi 11:1). Afterward, his brothers contended about the meaning of Lehi's vision, exclaiming, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken. Nephi's response was as follows:
'And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?
And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.
Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?
Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?--If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.' (1 Nephi 15:8-11)