According to Robert Matthews, Nephi instructed Jacob that he should write upon the small plates only those things that were "most precious" such as "preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying," and that he should touch but lightly on the history of the people (Jacob 1:2-4). That type of commandment required that Jacob wait for a while before writing upon the plates, since it calls for time to make comparisons and gain perspective. We can discern that Jacob waited for some length of time after he was given the records before he began writing, for in his first chapter he . . . tells us that the successors to Nephi had taken the title of second, and then third Nephi, and so forth (see Jacob 1:9-11; see also Jacob 3:13). Jacob would not have been able to make such a glance into the past had he written immediately. [Robert Matthews, "Jacob: Prophet, Theologian, Historian," in The Book of Mormon: Jacob through Words of Mormon, To Learn with Joy, pp. 37-38]