1 Nephi 8

1 Nephi 8
Chapter 8 starts off with a verse which is very much out of place. The last verse in chapter seven talks about giving thanks to God with sacrifice and burnt offerings for returning from Jerusalem (yet again) with Ishmael and his beautiful daughters. The second verse in chapter 8 introduces another dream of Lehi’s, this time not a dream to flee Jerusalem (they had already done that) but a dream that outlines the major spiritual events in everyone’s life. Stuck in between those two verses, between a verse of thanking God and a verse of a dream from God, Nephi strangely inserted a verse about gathering grain and seeds of every kind. I can think of no reason why he would have put that verse there. It doesn’t add anything of substance to the narrative nor does it help introduce Lehi’s dream. I can only surmise that perhaps Nephi began to write about something else and canned the idea (1 Nephi 6:5).

The rest of Chapter 8 is an allegorical dream of the choices we make in this life to follow a path through temptation, pain and fog towards a tree of delicious fruit or do we follow another path to a building without foundation, to laugh and divert ourselves from pain and suffering.

Vs 5 Lehi follows a man dressed in a white robe, and as soon as he does follow him he realizes that he is in a “dark and dreary waste.” Welcome to the world buddy, it is often dark and on Mondays particularly dreary (you may wonder if I wrote that on a Monday; the answer is no, I wrote it on Tuesday with perfect memory of my Monday).

Vs 8 Lehi gives a sense here of how he chose to respond to dark and dreary wastes in his life. As soon as he realized how dark and dreary it was (travelling for the space of many hours in darkness) he began to pray unto the Lord “that he would have mercy on [him] according to the multitude of his tender mercies.” One must ask themselves if this is their response to darkness. How many times have I prayed, in faith, when I realized I was in darkness? Prayer really can lift you up and out of darkness, especially if the prayer is sincere and honest.

Vs 9-10 No sooner had Lehi prayed than he found himself in a large and spacious field. Somewhere on that field he saw a tree and knew that its fruit was desirable to make one happy.

Vs 11 putting his knowledge to the test, Lehi went and partook of the fruit and confirmed the fact that it was “most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted.” In contrast to the hours of darkness that preceded tasting of this fruit, Lehi states that the fruit itself was white, to exceed all the whiteness that he had ever seen. Repentance really is like this; hours of darkness, realizing you are in darkness, praying for help, seeing a tree far off in the distance, moving purposefully towards it knowing that it is desirable to make one happy, partaking of the fruit, being filled with joy, and wanting to share that joy with others.

Vs 12 finishes that parable of sin and repentance by Lehi describing his joy and desire to share that joy with his family.

Vs 13 as soon as Lehi thinks of sharing the fruit with his family, he decides to look around for them. Interesting that in the midst of his “darkness” and “dreariness” he did not look for his family. Nor did he look for them when he saw the tree and rushed to eat its fruit. Truthfully, repentance is a personal endeveour that while it can be empathized with it cannot be shared fully. It is something between you and God. We are all locked in a cell from which we can communicate with other cells around us by yelling and pounding on our walls, but what happens in our cell can never be perfectly shared.

Vs 14-15 Lehi sees a river of water and he follows it and until he sees the head of the river, where as luck would have it his wife and two sons were. Nephi, Same, and Sariah were looking lost until Lehi “beckoned” them, and called out with a loud voice that they should come to the tree and eat fruit with him. I think it’s great that Lehi first “beckons” and then calls out with a “loud voice.” I feel like I often beckon people with gentle advice and occasionally hopefully by example, but I should also not be afraid to use a “loud voice.”

Vs 16 we read nothing of Sariah’s, Sam’s nor Nephi’s experience making it to the tree of life. Perhaps by the time Lehi saw them they had already experienced their own dark and dreariness and had been praying for help from God when Lehi called out to them. This often happens in my life. I am stuck in my cell of suffering, praying to God, and it is someone who loves me that bangs on my wall and reminds me about the tree of life. Ultimately I have to make the journey on my own, but it is friends and family that remind me and help me make it beyond the darkness to the light of the fruit.

Vs 17-18 Lehi realizes that Laman and Lemuel were not with the rest of his family. Perhaps they were still struggling through the darkness. Lehi looks toward the head of the river, and sees them, but they would not come to the tree of the white fruit. Their pride held them rooted. They had come through a lot of suffering and had done some praying/repenting (1 Nephi 7:20-21) but they would not complete their journey.

Vs 19-20 while Lehi is pondering his sons’ recalcitrance he notices a rod of iron that extends along the bank of the river, leading to the tree. Along with the rod he notices a “strait and narrow path.” Oddly enough the path along the iron rod led away from the tree along the river, and beyond the head of the river all the way to a large and spacious field. One assumes the large and spacious field is where Lehi first found himself surrounded in darkness, and thought it was a wasteland. I think of it as the world when you are living without God. Without God there is no direction, no landmarks to tell you where you are; just wasteland absent of beauty. But it is the “strait and narrow path” that leaves the world, and leads to the tree of life by way of an iron rod.

Vs 21 Lehi begins his description of the various groups of people who were travelling on the strait and narrow. These people are those that had come through the mists of darkness and at least found the path that led from the world to the tree.

Vs 22-23 the first group that makes it from the world and is baptized (start on the path) lose their way because of a mist of darkness that arises. These people leave the iron rod before they even truly taste the fruits of repentance, namely the tree of life. They have only begun their reform, have prayed asking God for strength but immediately denied him his greatest gift, namely the gift of true repentance, that fills you with eternal joy.

Vs 24 the second group that is baptized, begins the path pushing through mists of darkness, “clinging to the rod of iron” until they finally eat of the fruit. But after eating the fruit they are ashamed. Sadly, many of us I am sure have experienced the sincere pleasure of repenting of our sins, partaking of that delicious fruit of the atonement, but then immediately missing the “fun” things we did before we “repented.” Or in other words, there are some of us who still harbor desires for that which is wicked, for that which brings immediate pleasure but everlasting pain. We call it a “guilty pleasure” since it pleasures us yet also guilts us.

Vs 26-27 There is a large and spacious building, hovering in the air, filled with all manner of people who do nothing but mock those who partake of the fruit.

Vs 28 some of those ashamed of eating the fruit fall away and are lost as they seek the building in the sky.

Vs 29-30 There were other groups of people who pressed forward towards the tree and, when arriving, fell down (Matt 26:39) and partook of the fruit of the tree.

Vs 32 besides those people who partook and then were ashamed and sought the floating building, there were others who did not even bother with the fruit before they sought the floating building.

Vs 32 many people drowned in the fountain and many were lost, wandering in strange roads.

Vs 35-38 Lehi casually mentions to his whole family that Laman and Lemuel were some of those who did not eat of the fruit, and that he was afraid that they were going to hell. You know, the regular family home evening message you hear every Monday evening from dad. Lehi tells them with all the “feeling of a tender parent” that Laman and Lemuel should listen to him, and God would be merciful and not cast them down to hell. The final message Lehi left with everyone is that they should keep the commandments. After preaching an prophesying, after elaborating a complicated allegorical dream, Lehi simply says, “keep the commandments.”