1 Nephi 8:28-38

After quoting his father’s record so far, Nephi stops recording Lehi’s account.   “Nephi leaves no doubt when he stops quoting Lehi, for at the end he only summarizes the rest of his father's vision.”[1]  At this point, Nephi takes over the account.  There is some speculation that Nephi gave us an incomplete account.[2]

Multitudes were moving towards the tree of life.  They grasped the iron rod and arrived at the tree, partaking of the fruit.  There were throngs heading towards the great and spacious building.  Others wandered strange roads and were lost.  Others, while wandering, drowned the in river of water.

“[T]he water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water.

“And I said unto [Laman and Lemuel] that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.

“And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked” (1 Nephi 15:27-29).

Mack Sterling writes about the portrayal of spiritual death in the account.

“The way of spiritual death is also powerfully portrayed in the dream. Lehi describes five groups of people who walk in the way of death: those who start in the path and become lost because of the mists of darkness (see 1 Nephi 8:22–23); those who taste the fruit, become ashamed, and are lost in forbidden paths (see 1 Nephi 8:28); those who are drowned in the depths of the fountain of filthy water (see 1 Nephi 8:32; 1 Nephi 15:26–27); those who become lost wandering in strange roads (see 1 Nephi 8:32); those who enter the great and spacious building, which represents the pride of the world and is to be destroyed in a great fall (see 1 Nephi 8:33; 11:34–36).”[3]

Those in the multitude going to the great and spacious building entered it.  No sooner than they entered the building, they joined in the mocking o Nephi and those who were eating the fruit.  Nephi tell us they “heeded them not” (1 Nephi 8:33).  “The lack of heed given by those at the tree of life to the scorn of the wicked leads us to the conclusion that they did not fall away from the tree as did their predecessors, but remained there permanently. Thus concludes the dream of Lehi.”^[4]

Those that heeded the mocking fell away from the truth.  The children of Israel were taught, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment: [or Thou shalt not follow the crowd to do evil, neither speak up in a lawsuit, being influenced by the majority, to subvert justice]” (Exodus 23:2).  Solomon counseled his son to stop “[hearing] the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge” (Proverbs 19:27).  King Benjamin taught:

“For behold, there is a wo pronounced upon him who listeth to obey [the evil spirit]; for if he listeth to obey him, and remaineth and dieth in his sins, the same drinketh damnation to his own soul; for he receiveth for his wages an everlasting punishment, having transgressed the law of God contrary to his own knowledge.

“I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples” (Mosiah 2:33, 37).

Laman and Lemuel refused to eat the fruit.  This concerned Lehi.  He feared “they  should be cast off from the presence of the Lord” (1 Nephi 8:36).   Nephi tells us Lehi “did exhort them then with all the feeling of a tender parent, that they would hearken to his words” (1 Nephi 8:37). 

Lehi then ceased speaking to Laman and Lemuel.  All this occurred in the valley of Lemuel.  Many other things did occur, but they “cannot be written upon these plates” (1 Nephi 9:1).

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[1] Nephi's Use of Lehi's Record, S. Kent Brown, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.

[2] Lehi's Dream of the Tree of Life: Springboard to Prophecy, Corbin T. Volluz, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.

[3] The Way of Life and the Way of Death in the Book of Mormon, Mack C. Stirling, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.

[4] Lehi's Dream of the Tree of Life: Springboard to Prophecy, Corbin T. Volluz, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.