Let Us Go Down to the Land of Our Father's Inheritance

Was Nephi inspired when he suggested to his brothers that they go gather up the riches that they had left behind to barter with Laban for the plates?  My first thought was that he was only relying on his own ideas at this time.  But upon pondering it, I've changed my mind.  Nephi knew how important the plates were, that they were worth far more than the gold and silver and riches that they were offering to Laban.  He tells his brothers (and us) that the temporal reason for their importance would be in the preservation of their language.  But the spiritual reason was that they needed the words of the prophets to keep them closer to the Spirit - the same reason we're encouraged to study the scriptures today.

So Nephi and his brothers offered to trade Laban the riches for the plates, but he chased them out and kept the riches.  I think the brothers needed to try all avenues which seemed logical and possible, to explore every avenue available.  Because the method that worked in the end was obviously miraculous and no one could possibly claim that they had obtained the records by their own efforts or ideas. 

And since they had already brought all the gold and silver and riches, they had paid for the plates in full.  They didn't steal them, but they prepaid and had to wait for the Lord to help them collect on the debt.