The tree of life vision is, according to the Book of Mormon, a vision received in a dream by the prophet Lehi, and later in vision by his son Nephi, who wrote about it in the First Book of Nephi. The vision includes a path leading to a tree symbolizing salvation[citation needed], with an iron rod along the path whereby followers of Jesus[clarification needed] may hold to the rod[clarification needed] and avoid wandering off the path into pits or waters[tone], symbolizing the ways of sin[citation needed]. The vision also includes a large building where the wicked look down on the righteous and mock them.
The vision is said to symbolize the spiritual plight of humanity and is a well-known and cited story among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Corbin T. Volluz, a Latter-day Saint lawyer, reflected a common belief of church members that the vision is "one of the richest, most flexible, and far-reaching pieces of symbolic prophecy contained in the standard works [scriptures]."[1]:30[2]
Synopsis
"Lehi Relates His Dream" still from the lost movie Life of Nephi (1915)
According to the Book of Mormon, the prophet Lehi received the vision in a dream during his exile in the Arabian wilderness sometime after 600 B.C. He awoke and recounted it to his children as described in the 8th chapter of the First Book of Nephi. Lehi's son, Nephi, recorded the vision on the golden plates, and later had the same vision, albeit a more detailed version, which he records later in the same book.[3] Nephi's vision also included an interpretation of the vision.
In the vision, Lehi is in a "dark and dreary"[4] wilderness, where he follows a man in a white robe to a "dark and dreary waste"[5] where he travels in darkness. After praying for mercy, he sees a tree next to a river and eats its fruit, which makes him joyful. Wishing to share the fruit with his family, he sees his wife, Sariah, and two sons, Nephi and Sam, who come and eat it with him. His two oldest sons, Laman and Lemuel, stay near the river and do not eat the fruit. Then Lehi sees a "rod of iron" and a "strait and narrow path" which leads to the tree.[6] People try to get to the tree, but are lost in the "mist of darkness".[7] Some are able to hold to the rod and make it to the tree, but they are ashamed when they eat the fruit. Across the river, a "great and spacious building" is full of people who are making fun of the people who ate the fruit, and subsequently, the fruit-eaters become lost.[8][9]
Importance
Lehi partakes of the tree of life, from Stories of the Book of Mormon by John Philip DalbyLeft side of tree of life mosaic by Wallace Lock Parker.Right side of Parker's tree of life mosaic at the LDS chapel in Newport Beach, California.
The story of the vision is well known among members of the LDS Church and is widely cited. The "rod of iron" specifically is mentioned often referring to the scriptures or the words of the Lord, in order to convey the importance of heeding God's teachings.[10]
Interpretation
Book of Mormon scholars have used multiple interpretive lenses to interpret the tree of life vision, which were popular in different eras of Book of Mormon scholarship. Historical interpretations were popular from the mid 1940s up through the 1980s. In his summary of tree of life visions in Approaching the Tree, Joseph Spencer writes that the first academic analysis of the vision was in Sidney Sperry's Our Book of Mormon (1947), which described Lehi's dream as a type of "symbolic prophecy".[11]Hugh Nibley placed the dream in an ancient eastern context, stating that the elements of the vision reflected Lehi's experience wandering the deserts of Arabia, and large fields were reminiscent of desert plains.[11]
Literary interpretations of the vision started in the 1970s.[12] Writing in 1977, Brigham Young University (BYU) English professor Bruce Jorgensen introduced an interpretation of the tree of life vision as a key to understanding the Book of Mormon's typological unity. Lehi's dream enacts the pattern of moving from a wasteland to a land of promise, a pattern which occurs several times in the Book of Mormon, both in earthly and spiritual realities. Alma's experience being dramatically converted by an angel reflects a transformation from darkness into light. Alma's sermon on faith compares faith to a seed that can grow into a "tree springing up unto everlasting life".[13] He tells his listeners that they can "taste the light".[14] These references are, for Jorgensen, clear allusions to the tree of life vision. He sees Jacob's Parable of the Olive Tree as the other side of the figural coin to Lehi's dream.[15]
BYU religion professor Charles Swift sees the vision as part of visionary literature. Citing Leland Ryken's work, Swift shows that visionary literature, including the tree of life vision, includes a strange, imaginary other world rich in symbolism, a reversal of ordinary reality, elements of transcendence, and a "kaleidoscopic" structure.[16] There are imaginative elements in the vision: the fruit doesn't fill Lehi's stomach, but his heart; a rod of iron appears in the wilderness, not attached to another structure; the great and spacious building floats in the air. The reversals include subverting our expectations, like the guide taking Lehi to another dreary wilderness and people who eat the fruit but are ashamed and become lost. Elements of disconnect are when objects like the rod suddenly appear, and when scenes and groups of people do not interact with one another.[17]
For Salleh and Hemming, writing in The Book of Mormon for the Least of These, Nephi's vision provides a notable inversion of God's covenant with Abraham. Rather than his descendants being preserved, as Abraham's were, God promises that Nephi's descendants will be destroyed. Salleh and Hemming see this as a challenge to Nephi to realize that his record and the gospel are for all humans, not just his bloodline. This is a theme that comes up again later in the Book of Mormon.[18]
Symbolism
As interpreted by Nephi to his brothers, the tree of life and represents God's love, the rod of iron represent the "word of God," the great and spacious building represents the "pride of the world," the river represents the "depths of hell," and the mists of darkness represent the "temptations of the devil."[19] For Volluz, there is an additional layer of symbolism to the vision. Writing in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, he sees the entire tree of life vision as a symbolic version of the vision of the future Nephi receives later. When the angel in Nephi's vision explains the symbolism of various parts of Lehi's vision, Nephi juxtaposes the explanations with Nephi's vision of the future. The explanation of the symbolism of the tree as the love of God is followed by a vision of Christ's birth. The living water represents the baptism of Jesus, with the rod of iron representing his ministry. The "multitudes" who gather to fight against the apostles correspond to those gathered in the large and spacious building, with its fall representing the scattering of the house of Israel. Volluz further interprets the three different groups of people in Lehi's dream as Nephi's descendants who are destroyed in wickedness, come to Christ and fall away, or who come to Christ and remain.[20] In the same article, Volluz offers another symbolic possibility of the vision: as corresponding to the events in the afterlife, with the righteous and unrighteous parted by the river representing the justice of God, the iron rod acting as the judgement "bar," and the righteous partaking of the fruit representing eternal life.[21]
Amy Easton-Flake, a religion professor at BYU, uses the same metaphor between the visions of Lehi and Nephi, but with a different interpretation. Using the "word of God" as a name of Christ, she interprets the rod of iron as a symbol for Christ. Christ performs multiple functions in the vision, also being symbolized by the fountain of living water and the tree of life. Nephi uses language as a shorthand for corresponding parts of Nephi's and Lehi's vision, like when the children of men fall down and worship Christ, and when people in Lehi's dream fall down and eat the fruit. The large and spacious field symbolizes the land promised to Lehi and, according to Daniel L. Belnap, becomes a new narrative for Lehi's family. The great and spacious building becomes a symbol of the Nephites and Lamanites battling one another, and the mist of darkness symbolizes the actual darkness that covers the land at the time of Jesus' death in the Book of Mormon. The great and spacious building represents the "great and abominable church", etc.[22]
Claims by Mormons of Mesoamerican parallels
Izapa Stela 5
Latter-day Saint archaeologist M. Wells Jakeman wrote in 1958 that Izapa Stela 5 is a depiction of the tree of life vision.[23] Jakeman's theory was popular for a time among Mormons, but found little support from Mormon apologists.[24] Professor of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Art, Julia Guernsey, wrote that Jakeman's research "belies an obvious religious agenda that ignored Izapa Stela 5's heritage".[25]
Codex Boturini, folios 2-3, as presented in The Story of the Book of Mormon
Codex Boturini
In a March 1845 edition of the LDS Newspaper The Prophet, a passage stated Codex Boturini was said to be the story of the Aztecs coming to America.[26] In his book The Story of the Book of Mormon (published in 1888), LDS Church general authorityGeorge Reynolds interpreted folios 2-3 of Codex Boturini to be a representation of Lehi's dream.[27] In this interpretation, of the group of five people closest to the tree, three are Sariah, Sam, and Nephi eating its fruit, and the other two are Laman and Lemuel refusing to eat. Further to the right, the death of Ishmael is depicted. However, the people and broken tree illustrated in these folios depicts the migration of the Azteca, later Mexica, people from Aztlán. Its date of manufacture is unknown, but likely to have occurred before or just after the Conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521).[28] The figure to the immediate right of the tree trunk is the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli.[28]
Lucy Mack Smith's dream
Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith's mother, recorded a visionary dream from Joseph Smith Sr. in Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet with many similarities to the tree of life vision. It contained a tree with delicious fruit, a path, and a large building where the wicked looked down in scorn of the righteous.[29] According to Lucy, Joseph Sr. had this dream prior to publication of the Book of Mormon. However, her biographical sketches were written and published after the publication of the Book of Mormon, so the direction of influence (whether Joseph Smith Sr.'s dream influenced Joseph Smith Jr.'s translation of the Book of Mormon or the Book of Mormon influenced Lucy's retelling of the dream) is uncertain.[30]Fawn Brodie noticed these similarities in her book No Man Knows My History, stating that a "reverse borrowing is unlikely" because Lucy Mack Smith had "probably" told the story of the dream many times before.[31] In Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, Dan Vogel wrote that Lucy's interpretation of her husband's dream was "probably inspired by the Book of Mormon."[30]
Guernsey, Julia (2006). Ritual and Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. ISBN9780292713239.
Salleh, Fatimah; Hemming, Margaret Olsen (2020). The Book of Mormon for the Least of These. Vol.1. Common Consent Press. ISBN978-1-948218-23-8.
Spencer, Joseph (2023). "Wandering in Strange Roads: Interpretations of Lehi's Dream". In Spencer, Joseph; Champoux, Jennifer; Keogh, Benjamin (eds.). Approaching the Tree: Interpreting 1 Nephi 8. Deseret Book.
The Angel Moroni is an angel whom Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel Moroni was the guardian of the golden plates buried near his home in western New York, which Latter Day Saints believe were the source of the Book of Mormon. An important figure in the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, Moroni is featured prominently in its architecture and art. Besides Smith, the Three Witnesses and several other witnesses also reported that they saw Moroni in visions in 1829.
The First Book of Nephi: His Reign and Ministry, usually referred to as First Nephi or 1 Nephi, is the first book of the Book of Mormon, the sacred text of churches within the Latter Day Saint Movement, and one of four books with the name Nephi. First Nephi tells the story of his family's escape from Jerusalem prior to the exile to Babylon, struggle to survive in the wilderness, build a ship and sail to the "promised land," commonly interpreted by Mormons as the Americas. The book is composed of two intermingled genres; one a historical narrative describing the events and conversations that occurred and the other a recounting of visions, sermons, poetry, and doctrinal discourses as shared by either Nephi or Lehi to members of the family.
The Second Book of Nephi, usually referred to as Second Nephi or 2 Nephi, is the second book of the Book of Mormon, the primary religious text of the Latter-day Saint Movement. Narrated by Nephi, son of Lehi, unlike the first Book of Nephi, 2 Nephi contains little history of the Nephite people and focuses predominately on visions and prophecies of Nephi himself and other prophets, particularly Isaiah.
The relationship between Archaeology and the Book of Mormon is based on the claims made by the Book of Mormon that could be verified or discredited by archeological investigations. While members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement believe the Book of Mormon describes ancient historical events in the Americas, the available historical and archaeological facts point to the book being an anachronistic invention of Joseph Smith. Since the book's publication in 1830, Mormon archaeologists have been trying to use archaeological evidence to confirm the veracity of the narratives, but this has proved unsuccessful.
According to the Book of Mormon, Lehi was a prophet who lived in Jerusalem during the reign of King Zedekiah. In First Nephi, Lehi is rejected for preaching repentance and he leads his family, including Sariah, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi, into the wilderness. He sends his sons back to recover the plates of brass and once more for the family of Ishmael. As they travel, Lehi has a vision of the tree of life in which most of his family, excepting Laman and Lemuel, accepts God. He also prophesies Christ's coming 600 years in the future.
Nephi is one of the central figures described in the Book of Mormon. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he is described as the son of Lehi, a prophet, and the founder of the Nephite people. He is also the author of the first two books of the Book of Mormon, First and Second Nephi.
In the Book of Mormon, Laman and Lemuel are the two eldest sons of Lehi and the older brothers of Sam, Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph. According to the text, they lived around 600 BC. They were notable for their rebellion against Lehi and Nephi, becoming the primary antagonists of the First and Second Books of Nephi. Their descendants became known as the Lamanites and Lemuelites, while the descendants of Nephi and their other brothers became the Nephites. Disputes over the proper order of succession fueled disputes between the two peoples over the course of the Book of Mormon's narrative.
According to the Book of Mormon, Sariah was the wife of Lehi, and the mother of Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. She traveled with her husband from Jerusalem, into the wilderness, and eventually, across the ocean to the "promised land". She is noted for the story in First Nephi where she complains to Lehi for sending her sons back to Jerusalem thinking that they may have died. Once they return, Sariah testifies that her husband is truly a prophet. In Lehi's vision of the tree of life, Sariah chooses to eat the fruit representing God's love. She has two more sons, Jacob and Joseph, while traveling in the wilderness and almost dies of grief while crossing the ocean when Laman and Lemuel try to kill Nephi.
The House of Joseph is a designation which members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apply to the ancient "birthright" tribe of the house of Israel (Jacob) as it is described in the Old Testament, made up of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The tribes' namesakes — the two sons of Joseph of Egypt — are first mentioned in Genesis 41:50-52.
Bountiful is the name of two places described in the Book of Mormon, a religious text dictated in 1829 by Joseph Smith. The first location is set in the Old World near Jerusalem, and the second location is set somewhere in the Americas. While secular and non-LDS scholars consider the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction, Latter Day Saints view the book as a chronicle of actual indigenous American people. Accordingly, several scholars in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have attempted to coordinate the Book of Mormon text relating to Bountiful with actual locations in the Old World and the New World.
Izapa Stela 5 is one of a number of large, carved stelae found in the ancient Mesoamerican site of Izapa, in the Soconusco region of Chiapas, Mexico along the present-day Guatemalan border. These stelae date from roughly 300 BCE to 50 or 100 BCE, although some argue for dates as late as 250 CE.
According to the Book of Mormon, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies were an ethnic group of Lamanites formed around 90 BC, after a significant religious conversion. They made a covenant that they would not participate in war, and buried their weapons. Eventually they changed their name to the people of Ammon, or Ammonites. During a later period of warfare, the young men of the group who had not made the pacifist covenant became a military unit known as the two thousand stripling warriors, and were protected by divine intervention.
Joseph Fielding McConkie was a professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an author or co-author of over 25 books.
Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet is a biography written by Dan Vogel that depicts the formative years of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. The book covers the period of Smith's life up until 1831. Vogel casts Smith in the role of a magician, who perhaps believes in his own ability to perform magic while using fraud to support his position: a charlatan that came to believe that he was called of God. The author assumes Smith to be the author of the Book of Mormon and takes the position that the book may be used as a "primary source document" that represents a reflection of Smith's own life. Events portrayed in the Book of Mormon are compared to specific events in Smith's life to illustrate similarities and to deduce Smith's thoughts and aspirations during these periods. Making of a Prophet won the Smith–Pettit Best Book Award from the John Whitmer Historical Association and the Best Biography Award from the Mormon History Association.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the great and abominable church is a church described in the Book of Mormon and other revelations by Joseph Smith. The great and abominable church is identified as being synonymous with the Whore of Babylon described in chapter 17 of the Book of Revelation. Although many Latter Day Saints have associated the great and abominable church with the Catholic Church, official publications of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have discouraged this interpretation.
In the Book of Mormon, Zenock is a prophet who predates the events of the book's main plot and whose prophecies and statements are recorded upon brass plates possessed by the Nephites. Nephite prophets quote or paraphrase Zenock several times in the course of the narrative.
Max Wells Jakeman was the founder of the department of archaeology at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an early member of the advisory board of the New World Archaeology Foundation (NWAF). Jakeman has been described as "the father of Book of Mormon archaeology".
Thomas Stuart Ferguson was an American lawyer, a Mormon and an amateur archaeologist who dedicated his life to finding archeological evidence of the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica. He was instrumental in the foundation of the New World Archaeological Foundation. He initially believed that the history of Mesoamerican cultures provided support to the historicity of the Book of Mormon, but towards the end of his life came to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon was a work of fiction rather than a historical book.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Book of Mormon:
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