Chapter 8
Lehi sees a vision of
the tree of life—He partakes of its fruit and desires his family to do
likewise—He sees a rod of iron, a strait and narrow path, and the mists of
darkness that enshroud men—Sariah, Nephi, and Sam partake of the fruit, but
Laman and Lemuel refuse. About 600–592 B.C.
Lehi’s group had gathered an assortment of grain and fruit
seeds. When did they gather the
seeds? Did they bring them with them
from home? Did they gather them in the
valley of Lemuel? How long did they
stay? Nephi does not give us this
information in his small plates, so we’re left in a position where any answer
to these questions is speculation.
While in the valley of Lemuel, Lehi spoke to his family,
telling them “I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision”
(1 Nephi 8:2). “Confusion of types of
revelation is also the rule in the Book of Mormon, as when Lehi says, ‘I have
dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision’ (1 Nephi 8:2). Which
was it? It makes no difference, as long as the experience came from without by
the Spirit of the Lord.”[1]
Lehi rejoices because he has reason to believe that Nephi,
Sam, and many of their posterity will be saved.
On the other hand, he is concerned for Laman and Lemuel.
In his dream, he is in a dark wilderness. A man, dressed in a white robe, would act as
his guide through the wilderness. “In
the dream, Lehi first finds himself in a dark and dreary wilderness (see 1
Nephi 8:4–7). This suggests the state of fallen man in ignorance, cut off from
the presence of God, without knowledge of the way of life (or death).”[2]
That Lehi dreamed he was traveling in the dark was
representative of his lifestyle. “The
dream is also true to other cultural and geographical dimensions of the family’s
world. For example, Lehi’s dream began in ‘a dark and dreary wilderness’
wherein Lehi and a guide walked ‘in darkness’ for ‘many hours’ (1 Nephi 8:4,
8). Plainly, they were walking at night, the preferred time for traveling
through the hot desert.”[3]
Lehi traveled for many hours in the darkness. He began to pray to the Lord, asking Him to
show mercy. After he had prayed, he saw
a large and spacious field. Christ used
the field as an example. “The field is
the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the
children of the wicked one;” (Matthew 13:38).
“After praying for mercy, Lehi sees a large and spacious field wherein
the ways of life and death are symbolically portrayed, as well as the responses
of people to these two options. The very manifestation of the way of life,
then, is a function of the mercy or grace of God.”[4]
In that spacious field, Lehi saw a tree. The fruit “was desirable to make one happy”
(1 Nephi 8:10). Referring to the tree,
Alma said:
“But if ye will
nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith
with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof,
it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting
life.
“And because of
your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it,
that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit
thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and
which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure;
and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger
not, neither shall ye thirst.
“Then, my brethren,
ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and
long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you” (Alma
32:41-43).
Lehi went to the true and ate the fruit. “[I]t was most sweet, above all that I ever
before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that
the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen”
(1 Nephi 8:11). Alma taught the people
in Zarahemla the Lord told them, “Come unto me and ye shall partake of the
fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the
waters of life freely” (Alma 5:34).
Having partaken of the fruit, Lehi was filled with great
joy. He wanted his family to partake and
he began looking for his family.
Richard Bushman explains Laman’s and Lemuel’s perspective on
life referring to Lehi’s dream.
“Nephi’s and Lehi’s theology offered more enduring
sustenance to Laman and Lemuel as a way to resolve the conflict between
submission and pleasure. In the brothers’ characteristic plot, submission meant
deprivation, and pleasures came only through rebellion and violence. In their
view of events, God’s superior power forced them to submit and drove them into
the sufferings of the wilderness. The family’s theology and faith in Christ, by
contrast, offered supreme pleasure and happiness, not through rebellion but
through submission to God. Lehi’s vision made the point most graphically with
the tree ‘whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.’ When Lehi partook, he ‘beheld
that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted’ (1 Nephi 8:10-11).
Christ was presented as the resolution of the troubling conflict. The image of
divine love in the form of luscious fruit should have appealed directly to
Laman’s and Lemuel’s most fundamental need.”[5]
[2] The Way of Life and the Way of Death in the
Book of Mormon, Mack C. Stirling, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
[4] The Way of Life and the Way of Death in the
Book of Mormon, Mack C. Stirling, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
[5] The Lamanite View of Book of Mormon History, Richard
L. Bushman, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
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