Benjamin’s first emphasis is on the brass plates and only secondarily on the plates of Nephi. One reason for this emphasis, despite the absence of brass-plate material except for quotations from Isaiah, is that Benjamin is highlighting the distinction between the Nephites’ preservation of the Old World religion and the Lamanites’ loss of it. As the direct tie to that Old World, the brass plates both contain the literal and symbolic ties to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.