1 Nephi 5:13 - 5:17

1 Nephi 5:13 And also the prophecies of the holy prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah; and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah.

The records even contained the words of Jeremiah. It says by the mouth of Jeremiah. So it seems to me that someone was taking down his words. And I assume that they were in order to accuse Jeremiah of subversion.

1 Nephi 5:14 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; yea, even that Joseph who was the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father, Jacob, and all his household from perishing with famine.

Lehi also found out through the Genealogical records in the plates that he was a descendant of Joseph, the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers to slave traders and later finds himself in Egypt. I have often wondered why did not Joseph, escape when he could and return to his family? He was not that far from them, a couple of hundred miles anyway. Maybe he was told by the Lord to stay in Egypt and that He had a mission for him. That the assignment would be very difficult but it was at a later time save his family for death and starvation.

And why was the family taken to Egypt in the first place. Was the slavery that the Lord knew would happen in the future necessary for His children and their escape with Moses be important to them? Was these future events necessary in order to teach them and the Jews, who would not except Jesus, about a messiah to have a knowledge of a messiah in always in their minds until He came the second time when they would except Him as their redeemer?

The keeping of genealogy seems to be a very important aspect of record keeping. The events of one’s life in ancient times seem to have to included a record of one’s ancestors. It seems that we of the latter-day saints are required to do the same. Our records of our days have to be submitted along with our genealogy. If the genealogy is not there, the record will be rejected until it is included.

1 Nephi 5:15 And they were also led out of captivity and out of the land of Egypt, by that same God who had preserved them.

Lehi reads that the same God who had preserved them from events in the past was the one that lead them out of Egypt. Wonder why it was said in this way? Was there a question as to whether the God of the past had retired and a new one had come along to take care of them nowadays?

1 Nephi 5:16 And thus my father, Lehi, did discover the genealogy of his fathers. And Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records.

As mentioned, Lehi discovers his genealogy and also learns, if he did not know already, that he was related to Laban. Here we are told that Laban was the record keeper as was his ancestors. So if one sees the brass plates, one would see the engravings made by Laban or one of his scribes.

1 Nephi 5:17 And now when my father saw all these things, he was filled with the Spirit, and began to prophesy concerning his seed—

Upon reading the material in the plates, he was given information by the Spirit concerning Lehi’s own descendants. The scriptures can be a conduit to revelation and on a great many subjects including one’s own descendants.