Ye Have Not Written This Thing

Before Nephi, the son of Helaman, disappeared from the land, he transferred the responsibility of keeping the Nephite records to his son Nephi. Mormon recorded, “Then he departed out of the land, and whither he went, no man knoweth; and his son Nephi did keep the records in his stead, yea, the record of this people” (3 Nephi 1:3). He emphasized this point again in the next chapter: “And Nephi, who was the father of Nephi, who had the charge of the records, did not return to the land of Zarahemla, and could nowhere be found in all the land” (3 Nephi 2:9). It appears that the phrase “who had the charge of the records” was meant to describe Nephi the son and not the father since it was the son who had been given the records (suggesting that perhaps the second comma in the verse should not be there). Mormon again mentioned Nephi’s responsibility to keep the record as he spoke of his own responsibility with the records, “But behold there are records which do contain all the proceedings of this people; and a shorter but true account was given by Nephi. Therefore I have made my record of these things according to the record of Nephi, which was engraven on the plates which were called the plates of Nephi” (3 Nephi 5:9-10). Mormon bore witness that Nephi’s record was indeed true as he introduced the destructions that came upon the people, “And now it came to pass that according to our record, and we know our record to be true, for behold, it was a just man who did keep the record…. And now it came to pass, if there was no mistake made by this man in the reckoning of our time, the thirty and third year had passed away…. And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land” (3 Nephi 8:2-5). Mormon seems to have been very conscious of the fact that Nephi had this responsibility to keep the record, not only preserving the old records but writing down the dealings of the Lord with their people. It was not a side job in his role as the prophet—keeping the record was key to what Nephi had been called to do.

                Interestingly, Mormon wrote that Nephi gave a “shorter but true account” of what was happening to the people. Apparently, the Savior thought that it was a little too short, for Nephi had missed recording something important. In the well-known exchange between the Savior and His disciples, He reviewed the records that had been kept and asked, “Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?” When they confirmed this, the Lord then questioned, “How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?” (3 Nephi 23:9-11) Nephi had not recorded this event, though it seems he could have given a lot of good excuses for why not. The event would have taken place shortly after the three days of darkness, and since that time Nephi had been undoubtedly quite busy trying to care for his people. Countless had died, and surely they couldn’t number the amount of injured from the storms and devastation on the land. The people gathered to Bountiful and as the spiritual leader of the Nephites and Lamanites, Nephi was likely very occupied trying to help the people get to Bountiful and to find food, shelter, water, and clothing. We don’t know when the Savior came exactly among the Nephites, but we know from 3 Nephi 10:18 that it was less than a year from the time of the three days of darkness. They were surely still in the process of rebuilding lives at that point. With such upheaval in the land and among the people, Nephi could have argued that there had been no time for writing down the fulfillment of prophecy—there were people to be helped! But Nephi, as far as we know, did not make such a defense and instead he humbly admitted the mistake and made sure that the fulfillment of this magnificent prophecy was written down. The story highlights the importance for each of us to write down the events of our own lives, especially those in which we see the hand of God blessing us and our families. And clearly the Savior won’t be satisfied with an excuse that we didn’t have time to do it!