The Written Word is Critical

"3 And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.

4 For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time.

5 I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct." (Mosiah 1:3-5)

King Benjamin teaches his sons about the scriptures. He explains to them the importance of having the actual scriptures to refer to. He mentions that Lehi couldn't remember everything, and would have been lost, had he not had the brass plates to refer to and to use in teaching his descendants. This kind of underscores the same reasons why Lehi's sons had such an important task to go back to Jerusalem and get the brass plates in the first place. Nephi even was prompted to go so far as to kill Laban for them.

This just happens to coincide with a talk given by the Stake Patriarch (Walt Denton) today about patriarchal blessings. He was talking about how it is your own personal scripture and you should refer to it frequently. I think this is the same kind of thing, because no matter how good of a memory we have, it will never remember everything all the time, and so it's important to refer back to our patriarchal blessings and other scriptures so we can remember old concepts and be taught new ones at the same time.

Good reminder of how important it is to read and study the scriptures often, even if you feel like you know them very well.