Social: This verse holds tremendous information concerning the nature of Nephite politics at this point in history. To understand the import of this verse, we must remember that Nephi the elder was once the chief judge of the land. When Nephi was chief judge, the people were still following the gospel for the more part. As we have discussed, that statistical balance shifted, and the “new rulers” received the voice of the people. We have also seen that this shift in political power was accompanied by a shift in the majority religion. At this point in time, the statistically dominant Nephite religion is the Order of Nehor, not the gospel of God. The fact of the change in politics coinciding with a change in religion is not accidental. Politics and religion were inseparable in the ancient world, and the change in one almost always correlated with a change in the other.
As the Nephites grew more and more interested in the outside world, in the wealth and social hierarchies associated with wealth, the cultural and political ideas that accompanied those ideas were also imported. The shift in the voice of the people simultaneously pushed for a different political leadership as it accepted and embraced a new “gospel.” There was no way for shared dominance of the two competing religions. Just as the righteous Nephites had attempted to remove the order of the Nehors from their midst, so too did the order of the Nehors attempt to persecute the righteous Nephites when the order of Nehors gained power.
It is into this political and religious background that we must see this particular verse. The part that is interesting is the Nephi the father gives to Nephi the son a charge “concerning the of brass, and all the records which had been kept, and all those things which had been kept sacred from the departure of Lehi out of Jerusalem.” The specific mention of the brass plates tells us a little more about what “all those things which had been kept sacred” might have been. This was the sacred bundle of items that was transferred from ruler to ruler in the righteous Nephites political lineage. The tradition is specifically noted in the book of Mosiah:
Mosiah 1:15-16
15 And it came to pass that after king Benjamin had made an end of these sayings to his son, that he gave him charge concerning all the affairs of the kingdom.
16 And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him.
The symbolic passing of these relics was tantamount to the passing of the crown. They were part of the package of authority wielded by the Nephite kings. (Gordon C. Thomasson. “Mosiah: the Complex Symbolism and Symbolic Complex of Kingship in the Book of Mormon,” FARMS Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 2, no. 1 (Spring 1993), 26 – 27). As the regalia of kings, it would have been passed to the line of the judges. The set was kept together, and appears in modern days as witnesses to the Book of Mormon, thus preserving their function as legitimizers of authority:
“It was in June, 1829—the latter part of the month, and the Eight Witnesses saw them, I think, the next day or the day after (i.e. one or two days after). Joseph showed them the plates himself, but the angel showed us (the Three Witnesses) the plates, as I suppose to fulfill the words of the book itself. Martin Harris was not with us at this time; he obtained a view of them afterwards (the same day). Joseph, Oliver and myself were together when I saw them. We not only saw the plates of the Book of Mormon but also the brass plates, the plates of the Book of Ether, the plates containing the records of the wickedness and secret combinations of the people of the world down to the time of their being [page 772] engraved, and many other plates. The fact is, it was just as though Joseph, Oliver and I were sitting just here on a log, when we were overshadowed by a light. It was not like the light of the sun nor like that of a fire, but more glorious and beautiful. It extended away round us, I cannot tell how far, but in the midst of this light about as far off as he sits (pointing to John C. Whitmer, sitting a few feet from him), there appeared as it were, a table with many records or plates upon it, besides the plates of the Book of Mormon, also the Sword of Laban, the Directors—i.e., the ball which Lehi had—and the Interpreters. I saw them just as plain as I see this bed (striking the bed beside him with his hand), and I heard the voice of the Lord, as distinctly as I ever heard anything in my life, declaring that the records of the plates of the Book of Mormon were translated by the gift and power of God.” (David Whitmer, "Report of Elders Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith,” (Millennial Star 40, 9 Dec 1878):771-74.)
These things were the very representation of Nephite authority, but now we find them in the hands of Nephi, who has no political authority. They would certainly have been accessible to his father while his father was in power, but the fact of their presence outside of the lines of power now show us exactly how far the apostasy of the Nephites had gone. The rulers of the people not only have shifted to adopt the religion of the Nehorites, but they have rejected the inheritance of the rule by the gospel and supplanted it with a new rule, and a new justification. In that change, the relics of authority were no longer wanted, as they were links to a past now severed. Apparently Nephi the father salvaged them when he was removed from office, and now passes the sacred relics to his son.