1 Nephi 19:18 - 19:22

1 Nephi 19:18 And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer.

Nephi has written these things because he wants the world to know that the Lord is indeed behind all these advancements. He wants the nations to know that it is the Lord that is behind all these things not their own powers.

1 Nephi 19:19 Wherefore, I speak unto all the house of Israel, if it so be that they should obtain these things.

Nephi especially wants the house of Israel to know that the Lord is behind all that appears miraculous in world events. When these advancements are to appear, it should be apparent to them that it is not cultural evolution that caused these things to happen but that a power behind the scenes that is causing all these things to happen.

1 Nephi 19:20 For behold, I have workings in the spirit, which doth weary me even that all my joints are weak, for those who are at Jerusalem; for had not the Lord been merciful, to show unto me concerning them, even as he had prophets of old, I should have perished also.

Nephi is blessed with the spirit which is revealing these things to him about the house of Israel’s future both good and bad. The effect on him is weariness of soul. He is just exhausted thinking about what will happen to his friends and neighbors back in Jerusalem. But he is thankful that the Lord commanded his father to get away so not to be destroyed along with them.

1 Nephi 19:21 And he surely did show unto the prophets of old all things concerning them; and also he did show unto many concerning us; wherefore, it must needs be that we know concerning them for they are written upon the plates of brass.

Much of this information was on the plates of brass. The plates talked about the very events Nephi is living through and that his family’s experience of leaving Jerusalem was known to prophets in times past and recorded on the plates.

1 Nephi 19:22 Now it came to pass that I, Nephi, did teach my brethren these things; and it came to pass that I did read many things to them, which were engraven upon the plates of brass, that they might know concerning the doings of the Lord in other lands, among people of old.

Nephi reads these things to his brothers in family night that they might see that the Lord is indeed behind what their family is experiencing. That their coming to the land of promise was planned and known about many years before they were even born.