The first five books of the Bible, traditionally ascribed to Moses, actually are more properly described as a single work in five volumes rather than five different books (because of the heavy redaction). Contemporary scholars generally accept that these works took their final form around 450–400 B.C. during the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah. Nevertheless, the core material of our current text was certainly available earlier, and Nephi confirms that the brass plates contained more than one book of Moses.
Nephi’s insightful characterization of the scriptures captures one reason why we sense their truthfulness. Although they may have been written to a particular people at a particular time, they still transcend space and time to be relevant to each reader. In each generation, new readers take up the same text and in it see, not just history, but themselves. It is the scriptures’ power to communicate directly to the individual in his or her distinctive circumstances that lets him or her heal, be inspired to repentance, or be provoked to righteousness.
It is no coincidence that Nephi’s explanation that he “did liken all scriptures unto us, that that it might be for our profit and learning” follows immediately upon his declaration that he “did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah.” This simple statement is the interpretive foundation for all of Nephi’s quotations from Isaiah. Nephi quotes entire chapters from a prophet who lived over 100 years earlier, and typically provides little commentary on them. What he does is use these hundred-year-old writings as a basis for his discussion of the future. In 1 Nephi, he quotes Isaiah in chapters 20–21, and in chapter 23 he discusses future events. In 2 Nephi, he quotes Isaiah in chapters 12–24, and then discusses the future in chapters 25–31. For Nephi, the principle of “likening” scriptures meant that, although a text was written for another time and place, it still has applicability to the present and to future events. While we may also liken scriptures to us, we must understand that Nephi likened them to his own people and his own time. These are not random inclusions of Nephi’s favorite scriptures; they are calculated inclusions of texts that have current impact on Nephi’s situation and on the future of his people.