2 And I knew not at the time when I made them that I should be commanded of the Lord to make these plates; wherefore, the record of my father, and the genealogy of his fathers, and the more part of all our proceedings in the wilderness are engraven upon those first plates of which I have spoken; wherefore, the things which transpired before I made these plates are, of a truth, more particularly made mention upon the first plates.
Nephi wants to be as clear as possible about the records he
has kept. His first record has become the official state record of the more
day-to-day affairs of the kingdom. It goes into more detail about histories and
genealogies. This record (the small plates) is the official record of the
“church,” even though there doesn’t seem to be an official, organized church at
the time Nephi is making his records. This might be compared to our Doctrine
and Covenants in today’s canon of scriptures. These plates, at any rate, record
the spiritual matters of the people, while the other plates record the more
temporal matters of the kingdom.
It occurs to me that this is a model that I should follow
more closely. I keep this journal of my research and thoughts about my study of
the Book of Mormon, but I should be more diligent in my journal of more
day-to-day, temporal matters.
- 1 Nephi 9:2 (1–5)
