As a first matter of business, the Lord asks Nephi to “bring forth the record which ye have kept,” and Nephi presented to the Lord the records that his people had kept. The Lord “cast his eyes upon them” and accepted them (23:8), with one needed correction: Samuel’s prophecy had been omitted, about “many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many” at the time that “the father should glorify his name” in Jesus (23:9). That point was then added and now appears as inserted into Helaman 14:25. Jesus then ratified all the rest by expounding these records “all in one” and commanding the people to use those records in teaching the things “which he had expounded unto them” (23:14).
What personal lessons can we learn from this brief exchange? Why do you suppose that the Nephites had failed to record this detail? Have you had some experiences in which recordkeeping proved especially crucial? Why would Nephi and then Mormon have included this little event in the record? Either of them could have felt embarrassed by it. As recordkeepers, they were doing their best, but they knew they were not perfect. Moroni, too, worried about any possible imperfections in the record (Ether 12:23–24). But they did not hide their failings.
Remember that writing records in the ancient world was no simple task. You couldn’t just go down to the bookstore and buy paper or fig bark sheets or tumbaga plates. You had to make the materials on which you would write. You had to record by hand the characters or letters of the words very carefully. It was difficult. It was also one of the most sacred responsibilities of ancient priests to keep the holy books of any temple, and it is out of the books that people will be judged. These written words need to be preserved and handed down from one generation to another.
In this text we find a wonderful depiction of the earnestness of this Nephi—the High Priest presenting his records to the Lord—how devoted he must have been to have created those records in the first place. I imagine Nephi would have been crestfallen when the Lord pointed out that something important had been left out of the record. Perhaps he even wondered, “Am I worthy to continue to serve having made such an obvious mistake?” He and his people also would have known the kindness of Jesus in his response. His interest was not in chastising but in emphasizing the importance of record-keeping. And think how many other things Nephi had gotten right!
Earlier that day, Jesus had gone off by himself to pray for the people, asking for the Lord’s infinite blessings to come upon them. Nephi would have had the confidence to know that even though he had made a mistake in recordkeeping, the record was being given with earnestness and fullness. It was the best he could do, and the Lord would take what he had done and perfect it.
This also, of course, gives us yet another meaningful lesson about how important it is when we deal with the scriptures: every word is important. Sometimes, we read the scriptures too quickly. I think the slower we read them, the more we will look at each particular word and wonder: Why did the Lord or his prophets want these particular words in this text? The answers will speak to our hearts and souls, speaking volumes of meaning far beyond what just the ink on the printed pages might represent.
Sometimes when we talk about the auditing of the Nephite records, we think of what Samuel prophesied. However, Jesus specifically asked not just what Samuel had said but if Samuel’s prophecies were fulfilled. He was concerned that the Nephites noted the fulfillment of Samuel’s prophecies. Think of all the times in the New Testament Gospels, when the author says, “because it was written,” “as it was written,” or “to fulfill that which was written.” It is important to the Lord that we take note of when prophecy is fulfilled. He sees that every word shall be fulfilled.