Come to the Knowledge of Your Fathers

We generally think of the Book of Mormon as not really speaking about temple and family history work.  Certainly, there is nothing in the book that would tell us that we need to research our ancestors in order to do vicarious ordinance work for them.  And yet if we look closely I think there are plenty of reminders that we need to be concerned about our ancestors.  It is modern revelation that teaches us about the great work for the salvation for the dead, but the Book of Mormon certainly supports and encourages us to follow that revelation. 

               The Book of Mormon starts out with an emphasis on genealogy and understanding our forefathers.  After Lehi went into the wilderness he sent back his sons to get the plates of brass, and one of the reasons for that was because they “contained the genealogy of [Lehi].”  Lehi had told Nephi, “For behold, Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass” (1 Nephi 3:3, 12).  Once the plates were obtained, one of the first things Lehi did was to read and find out about his family line: “And it came to pass that my father, Lehi, also found upon the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph” (1 Nephi 5:14).  Lehi kept a record (which we don’t have) and in it apparently wrote that genealogy—perhaps adding to what was in the plates of brass (see 1 Nephi 6:1).  Clearly understanding their genealogy was of high importance to Lehi, Nephi, and their family.  It provided understanding to the Nephites throughout their history about where they came from; for example, Moroni used their understanding that they were from Joseph to inspire the people (see Alma 46:23).  All of the writers in the Book of Mormon were also very concerned about keeping the record of their genealogy as the writings passed from father to son.  Jarom said that the reason he was writing was “that our genealogy may be kept” (Jarom 1:1).  Omni similarly said he wrote in order to “preserve our genealogy” (Omni 1:1).  The writers of the Book of Mormon seemed to be very cognizant of the fact that one of their roles was to record their genealogy. 

               In Mormon’s last words to us in the Book of Mormon, he spoke of how he hoped that his readers might “know of the things of their fathers.”  He exhorted us with this language: “Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ” (Mormon 7:5).  That call to know our fathers I believe encompasses many things, but certainly we can at least in part view it as a call to work harder in our own lives to get to know our fathers who came before us.  Moroni wrote in his introduction to the Book of Mormon: “Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers” (title page).  The Lord has done great things for the fathers we read about in the scriptures—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—but he also has done great things in our individual families and for our fathers if we can have the eyes to see.