1 Nephi 1

Some thirty years after Nephi had left Jerusalem, he begins another record of the more spiritual teachings and events that had transpired since his days in Jerusalem. He begins this "spiritual" record with -

"...I make an abridgment of the record of my father, upon plates which I have made with mine own hands; wherefore, after I have abridged the record of my father then will I make an account of mine own life." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:17)

It seems the first eight chapters of 1 Nephi are the abreviations of his father's record for we know that after Lehi -

"...as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his people.
6 And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much..." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:5 - 6)

And afterwards -

"...he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen.
8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision..." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:7 - 8)

In this vision, not only did he see "God sitting upon his throne", among other things, the Savior -

"...came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:11)

I wonder if this book was much like the little book read by John where -

"We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him..." (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 77:14)

Or in other words, his patriarchal blessing and how his mission fell in line with the plan of salvation. You can sense a portion of his mission as Lehi faithfully -

"...after the Lord had shown so many marvelous things unto my father, Lehi, yea, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, behold he went forth among the people, and began to prophesy and to declare unto them concerning the things which he had both seen and heard." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:18)

In my mind, this is the very definition we find of "prophets" in the Old Testament. Being that Lehi was living during -

"...the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah..." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:4)

...he would then be a contemporary with Jeremiah, Nahum,. Habakkuk, and Zephaniah for -

"...in that same year there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:4)

Being a prophet and being one much like these other great prophets, Lehi to -

"...hath written many things which he saw in visions and in dreams; and he also hath written many things which he prophesied and spake unto his children..." (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 1:16)

Lehi's mission though was not the same as these other great prophets. His mission was to carry a righteous branch to another part of the world. I'm convinced though, if he had remained, his writings would have been much like the other prophets and would be today a popular Old Testament book.