The line of Nephite record keepers

How were Nephite records passed from one generation to the next? Who had the responsibility? Easy, you would say: The record keeper gave them to his oldest son before he died (with a few exceptions like Nephi handing the plates to his brother, Jacob). That is the simple and not entirely correct version. Here is the detailed one:

The Small Plates of Nephi

As mentioned, Nephi gave the plates to his brother, Jacob. Why not his son? Her are some possible reasons:

• He did but only the large plates. This the large plates were passed down the line of kings, it would imply that Nephi's son became the king after Nephi died. This explanation seems unlikely, given the wording in Jacob 1:9: "Now Nephi began to be old, and he saw that he must soon die; wherefore, he anointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people". We would expect "a man" to be replaced with "his son" if that in fact were the case.
• Nephi had only girls. We know he had children (1 Nephi 18:19), but we don't know their gender.
• None of Nephi's sons had proven worthy to be entrusted with the plates
• This was the first time plates were handed over since Nephi created them. There simply was no system or tradition yet for how it was to be done and Nephi saw Jacob, who he had ordained as priest and teacher, as a natural successor.

From Jacob on, we read that the plates are typically handed from father to son, Enos, Jarom, Omni, etc. In one case they are handed to a brother for reasons we can only speculate about. But studying the timeline, it is quite obvious that the plates were not typically handed to the oldest son. I'm not going to include all the details of my study here, but I figured Jacob must have been 70+ when Enos was born, Enos around 70 when Jarom was born and Jarom about 50 when Omni was born. Information is scarce so these are rough estimates, but to make it all work, none of these figures can be much reduced without increasing the other. After Omni, there are about 50 years between the generations of record keepers until the plates are full and given to King Benjamin.

From this we can conclude that it was Nephite tradition to pass the small plates to the youngest son. One may even wonder how Jacob and Enos could have children when they were 70 or more. But in Ether 9:24, we read

24 And it came to pass that his wife died, being an hundred and two years old. And it came to pass that Coriantum took to wife, in his old age, a young maid, and begat sons and daughters; wherefore he lived until he was an hundred and forty and two years old.

This is pretty extreme, at least for our standards, and make even Jacob and Enos look like young fathers. If it happened among the Jaredites, there is no reason why it couldn't happen among the Nephites too.

The Large Plates of Nephi - Period of Kings

We know very little about the Nephite kings. But in the period between Nephi and Mosiah II, the large plates of Nephi were passed from one king to the next, which presumably also would be from father to son. Which son we don't know. I have realized that the Jaredites most likely had a system of conferring the kingdom to the youngest son. I don't think that is the case for Nephite kings. Although we know very little about the kings before Benjamin, we know that Benjamin had three sons, named in order in Mosiah 1:2. Since Mosiah is mentioned first, it is reasonable to assume that he also was the oldest and he became the next king. Based on that information, I assume that it was Nephite tradition to confer the kingdom and the large plates to the oldest son.

The Large Plates of Nephi - Period of Judges

We know much more about this period, described in detail from the beginning of the Book of Alma until Christ comes in 3 Nephi. The generational gap from one record keeper to the next is much smaller than the one we see on the small plates. In some cases, we also know that the plates were handed to the oldest son. For instance, Helaman-I was the oldest son of Alma-II. The interesting part, however, is that this was not at all obvious from the beginning.

It all starts with Mosiah-II ending the reign of kings and initiating the reign of judges. The large plates had been passed from king to king but also from father to son. Now that there was no king, should Mosiah's oldest son get the plates? He was not around since he had gone on a mission to the Lamanites. We know that Alma-II got the plates. But was it because the sons of Mosiah were not able to take the records or was it because Alma was now the ruler/chief judge? We are not told. Personally, I think Alma would have received the plates anyway. The plates contained time-keeping and a great deal of information about governmental affairs, wars, etc. in addition to prophecies and spiritual matters. The large plates had always been the responsibility of the chief ruler. It used to be a king, now it was a judge.

This helps explain an oddity in Alma 50

37 And it came to pass that in the same year that the people of Nephi had peace restored unto them, that Nephihah, the second chief judge, died, having filled the judgment-seat with perfect uprightness before God.

38 Nevertheless, he had refused Alma to take possession of those records and those things which were esteemed by Alma and his fathers to be most sacred; therefore Alma had conferred them upon his son, Helaman.

We learn that Helaman was Alma's second choice. He first asked Nephihah to take the plates and other sacred relics, but he refused. Since we are used to having the period of kings covered mostly by the small plates and knowing what happens after Alma-II, we are also used to the plates being handed primarily from father to son. This verse indicates that the change from kings to judges had not really settled the question about whose responsibility it was to keep the records. Alma had stepped away from the judgment seat and appointed Nephihah to rule in his place. He apparently thought that the plates, having been passed from one king to the next, now should go from one chief judge to the next. But Nephihah refused. Again we can only speculate. Did he not feel capable of fulfilling the task? Or did he simply think that the plates should go from father to son, not from one ruler to the next? (Ruler and son were not the same person anymore as it had been in the past).

Some have also speculated that Helaman was not up to the task and this is why Alma chose Nephihah first. It might be, but in the context of all this it actually makes sense to me that Alma would want to offer them to the chief judge first. Helaman getting the responsibility for the large plates of Nephi would probably be the first time a non-ruler had that. It marks a turning point in Nephite history. The records are now handed from father to (probably) the eldest son, regardless of who is chief judge. Incidentally, Helaman-II is appointed chief judge later on (see Helaman 2:2), but he is already the record keeper at the time. 

Another oddity: In the period of judges, we also read about a brother getting the responsibility. Alma 63:1

And it came to pass in the commencement of the thirty and sixth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Shiblon took possession of those sacred things which had been delivered unto Helaman by Alma.

Shiblon was the brother of Helaman-I and he "took possession" of the plates only 3 years before he conferred them to Helaman-I's son, Helaman-II and then died. Perhaps Helaman-I died suddenly and unexpected and didn't get the time to properly hand over the plates with instructions like for instance Alma did in Alma 37? That could explain the phrase, "took possession".

Conclusion

• The small plates of Nephi seem to typically be handed from father to the youngest son (in some cases a brother)
• The large plates of Nephi are handed from one king to the next, who is assumed to typically also be the oldest son
• After the period of kings, the large plates of Nephi are handed from father to the oldest son (with Shiblon, the brother of Helaman-I being one exception), after an apparent period of uncertainty about who they should be transmitted to