Jarom, the son of Enos and grandson of Jacob, kept the small plates of Nephi at the commandment of his father (Jarom 1:1). His record runs only fifteen verses; he wrote little, explaining that the plates were written “for the intent of the benefit of our brethren the Lamanites,” and that he would not add his own prophesying or revelations because his fathers had already revealed the plan of salvation, and that sufficed him (Jarom 1:2). His stewardship is dated to about 420 B.C. through 361 B.C., a span of 59 years, ending after 238 years had passed since Lehi left Jerusalem (Jarom 1:13, 1:15).
Jarom recorded that the Nephites prospered as they kept the commandments of the Lord (Jarom 1:7-9), and that their kings and leaders were mighty men in the faith who taught the people the ways of the Lord and withstood repeated Lamanite attacks (Jarom 1:7). The prophets, priests, and teachers taught the law of Moses and its intent, directing the people to look forward to the Messiah and to “believe in him to come as though he already was” — treating his future advent as a present reality (Jarom 1:11). He noted that not all the people were hardened against God: many had faith and communion with the Holy Spirit (Jarom 1:4).
Jarom delivered the plates to his son Omni and directed readers to the larger plates of Nephi for the records of the Nephites’ wars (Jarom 1:14-15).