Episode 4: The Tree of Life, Part 1 (1Ne. 8)

Chapter Eight of First Nephi is, in my opinion, one of the most important chapters of the Book of Mormon--possibly even of all the scriptures.  The vision of the Tree of Life is so much deeper and more crucial to our faith than I think most members of the church realize.

That is part of the reason why Nephi himself also saw the vision, which he records in chapters 11-14 (and is what I will be covering in Part 2 of this gripping commentary on Lehi's dream: stay tuned!)  The vision was important enough for two prophets to see it and for two accounts to be included.

However, before we get the deeper instruction that comes with Nephi's account of the vision, we get Lehi's sparser, almost "picture book" version first.  There's a reason for this, too.  

Let me first lay out all the symbols that Lehi describes in his account.  Again, I'm going to draw on Hugh Nibley for some of this because he made some great points about what Lehi might have been envisioning when he saw the vision (was that redundant?)

First, in the dream, Lehi was a man wandering in a "dark and dreary waste."  This is what I used to picture, as a kid, how a dark and dreary waste looks:

 But this next picture (which you might wonder, "why on earth is he putting this here?") shows just how dark it can be in the desert wilderness, where Lehi lived:

This is a picture of a hot rod out in the middle of the Arabian desert.  Don't be distracted by the absolute coolness of the car!  If you look around behind it, you will see absolute blackness.  That's how dark it can get in a desert wilderness.  "Dark and dreary" can get much darker and much drearier than a misty forest at night: pitch black in a barren wasteland is, to me, much more frightening.  And, considering this was the environment in which Lehi lived, it is likely what he saw in his vision (visions teach us using imagery that we're familiar with, after all--that's the point of them).

But we're not left to wander in the wilderness without help.  Remember that John the Baptist was referred to as "one crying in the wilderness": Heavenly Father always sends rescuers.  Thus, Lehi eventually saw a man dressed in a white robe.

This man invited Lehi to follow him (remember the Savior's words to his disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee: "Come, follow me").

Lehi followed this figure through the dark and dreary waste, traveling for many hours, until he began to get a little worried again and started to call upon God for help.  Remember that after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, they were placed in a pretty "dark and dreary" place, like Lehi, and it was there that they began to call on God for help (because now they definitely saw a need to call upon God).  None of us is exempt from traveling through these wastelands, even if we're following Christ (Lehi was following Christ while still walking through the dark and dreary waste)--but remember what you should do when you're out there wandering around, lost: you pray; and then you pray some more; and you don't stop praying.  You also don't stop following Christ.

Anyway, after calling upon God, Lehi saw a field, and then a tree:

In a field like this, you can see how a tree can provide
shade, respite, sustenance--it's a welcome sight for weary
travelers.

A "river of sand" is probably more
common than a "river of water" in
some parts of the desert regions
around Palestine and throughout
the Arabian Desert.

Once he'd partaken of the fruit, he started looking for his family so that he could share it with them, too.  This is when he saw a river of water (it's noteworthy that Nephi constantly says "river of water," because so often in the desert, rivers dry up, leaving only a riverbed, or, in other words, a "river of sand"; so, it's interesting that Nephi constantly makes this distinction of a "river of water").  Lehi apparently didn't notice that the river was filthy, though, and this is something we only learn later on when Nephi gives his own account of the vision:

Water may have been a precious commodity, but big,
scary, powerful rivers were not unknown in Lehi's
world.  The photo above is from a news article on floods
that were sweeping through Jordan just a few years ago, which
were powerful enough to even sweep cars away, let alone
people.  (And it's pretty filthy water to boot).

Then Lehi notices the infamous Iron Rod that we like to talk and sing about so much in church.  It was accompanied by a "strait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree by which I (Lehi) stood."  Notice Joseph Smith's choice in his translation to use the word "strait." This word is not to be confused with "straight."  There's a difference; let me illustrate:

I cringe whenever I hear a talk in sacrament meeting begin with the recitation of a word's definition in Webster's Dictionary; nevertheless, I've found it useful here:

Webster's defines "strait" as: 1. strict, narrow, constricted, difficult, straitened; 2. a narrow channel connecting two bodies of water (there's some juicy symbolism in that definition, but we'll talk about that one later); 3. distress.

The path along the rod of iron isn't an easy one, nor is it a very broad one.  The word "strait" is also associated with the word "distress" (as pointed out in the definition above).  This is where the term "dire straits" comes from (which means "big trouble," as well as being a rock band whose music sounds surprisingly un-dire...)  This definition coincides with the admonition of Christ when he tells his followers that each man must "take up the cross and follow me" (Mark 10:21).  The exact scripture I just referenced was when the Savior was speaking with the wealthy man who asked Jesus what one must do to have eternal life.  For this man, according to Christ, taking up his cross meant that he must "sell all thou hast."  What sacrifices must each of us make in order to follow this strait and narrow path?  Something I've found that I've had to "sell" a lot of in order to take up the cross and follow Christ has been time: less time watching TV or listening to music or indulging in idle pleasure; and more time serving others, reading my scriptures, and praying.

Back to Lehi:

Then he saw "numberless concourses" of people trying to make their way onto the path and working their way towards the Tree.  It was then that he noticed the appearance of a "mist of darkness" that rose up around the people walking along the rod of iron.  If you look in this next picture, which was taken in the Arabian desert, you'll see that the desert is no stranger to "mists" that can blind people and cause them to get lost or disoriented:

This picture came from an article on how to drive through
desert mist in Arabia: apparently it's frequent enough of an
occurrence to warrant a whole "How To" guide on it; thus,
the imagery of a "mist of darkness" would have been some-
thing both familiar and potent to someone like Lehi.

Eventually, Lehi saw a lot of these people arriving at the Tree of Life.  However, he then noticed that some of them were embarrassed when they got there.  Seeking to figure out why, Lehi looked around and saw a "great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth."  Hugh Nibley makes an interesting observation that ancient buildings throughout the region usually had the windows beginning on the second floor, rather than the first.  This was done for defensive purposes.

These ruins illustrate nicely the
practice of placing the lowest
windows high above the ground.

 But at night, when it's dark and you can only see a silhouette of a building with lighted windows appearing some twenty feet above the ground, this could very well look as if it were a building floating in the air.

Whatever Lehi saw or had in mind, though, it's important that this building, which we will later learn represents the "pride of the world," has a foundation of air.  It's not just floating--it's literally built on nothing.  The prophet Helaman encouraged his sons to build their "foundation" on "the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ" (I'm not going to include the chapter and verse--you seminary students should already know where this one is).  But again, this sort of foundation don't come cheap: you have to take up the cross, "sell all thou hast," and follow Christ.  When the going gets tough, you pray, you keep following that figure in white, and you pray some more.

One more important point before we really dive into the symbolism (so far we've only dipped our toe):

Something I think that many people don't realize is that the Tree of Life referenced in Lehi's vision, and the Tree of Life referenced in the book of Genesis, are the same Tree. The fruit of both of them represents Eternal Life, which is the "greatest of all the gifts of God" (1 Ne. 15:36).  They also both represent the love of God, from which Adam and Eve had been cut off by their decisions (and from which we all cut ourselves off by our decisions [see Article of Faith #2]), and to which we all desire to be reconnected.

A lot of this Adam-and-Eve stuff we'll come back to when we look at 2 Nephi chapter 2.  However, for now, it's important to be aware of other parallels between Lehi's vision and the Creation Story in Genesis.  The Great and Spacious Building ties in with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; the river of filthy water ties in with the cherubim and flaming sword; when looking at the Tree of Life from all these angles, the imagery and symbolism suddenly springs to life and everything begins to make more sense. And it's not only the kind of "sense" that's just fun for trivia and making yourself look smart in Gospel Doctrine class: these are lessons that leap off the page and infect your life, helping you to shed the "natural man" and make some real, positive changes in your life.  This is applied research.

And I know this because I applied it to myself.