Today’s scripture of choice is in 1 Nephi 8.
This chapter deals with Lehi’s dream. Since it’s longer than the previous chapter (38 verses) I’m going to try to just pick up the salient points on this one and try to clarify as much as I can. So, if I say anything you don’t understand, please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try to answer it to the best of my knowledge and abilities.
First of all, Nephi comments that the families were gathering together seeds of every kind. I’m guessing that the reason for that is because they don’t know what all kinds of food will be available to them in the new land. Therefore, to be safe if for no other reason, they have decided to bring along some local seeds that they can plant and, later, harvest. What’s more, sometimes seeds can be edible in and of themselves, so, they might also have been something of an emergency food source when meat was scarce as is seen later.
Anyway, while they’re there, Lehi gathers everyone together. He’s had another vision. This vision leads him to believe that Nephi and Sam will be saved along with many of their descendants. Like any good father, however, he’s afraid for his two eldest sons.
As Lehi’s dream begins, he finds himself standing in a “dark and dreary wilderness.” Merriam-Webster’s main definition of wilderness impresses upon us the idea of a place uncultivated and uninhabited. A wild place. While Lehi is there, a man dressed all in white appears, then walks over, stands before him and directs him to follow. Lehi states next that he travelled through a dark and dreary waste. Merriam-Websters definition of waste isn’t too much different from “wilderness”, but the differences, such as the word “barren,” add a whole new understanding of the kind of place Lehi found himself in. After what seemed to be a long time travelling in darkness, Lehi pled to the Lord for mercy. When he’d finished praying, he looked and realized he was in a large field, which Merriam-Websters defines as an open area with no woods or buildings of any kind. So, at first, all Lehi noticed was that the place he was in seemed very dark and desolate. Then, following prayer, he realized he was in an open, undeveloped place with no trees or signs of human habitation. In one place in this field, Lehi saw a tree whose fruit he knew was meant to make the partaker happy. So, he went and had some fruit.
Lehi’s description of the fruit is that it was sweeter than anything he’d ever tasted and whiter than anything he’d ever seen. Upon eating the fruit, Lehi found that his soul was filled with joy and he immediately wished to share it with his family. I’m familiar with this feeling. After being in the dark for long periods of time, I’ve found that anything that brings me joy is something I find myself wanting to share with people I love. So, anyway, Lehi turned around and started to look for his family. As he did, he noticed that there was a river running not too far from the tree and at the head of this he saw his wife and two younger sons. He called to them and they also came and ate some fruit. However, Lehi noticed that Laman and Lemuel hadn’t come, so he looked back toward the head of the river trying to spot them. When he saw them, however, he was dismayed to find that they wouldn’t come forward to eat some fruit.
While he was in the middle of trying to pursuade his sons to join him at the tree, Lehi happened to notice that there was a path leading along the bank of the river to the tree that most of his family was enjoying and also out past the head of the river and into the field, which now seemed so big that Lehi said it was “as if it had been a world.” Next to the path, there stood a rod of iron, like a hand rail, I’m guessing and the field was filled with people, all pressing forward to try and reach the path that led to the tree by which Lehi and his family stood. As the people gained the path, a thick mist arose, causing many of those that were on the path to wander away from it. Still others gained the path, these, however, caught hold of the hand railing and clung to it as they moved forward on the path until they reached the tree and ate the fruit. But, to Lehi’s surprise, they immediately appeared ashamed. Confused, Lehi also looked around and saw a large building nearby, hanging high in the air. It was filled with people who were mocking and ridiculing those that ate the fruit so that they wandered onto “forbidden paths” and were lost.
At this point, Nephi says, rather funnily, that he feels a need to compress the remainder of the dream. To be succinct, other people came, grabbing the iron hand railing, and pressed forward holding it until they reached the tree and ate the fruit. These, Nephi notes, didn’t pay any attention to the people in the building. He also saw a number of people find their way to the building, where everyone was well dressed and well fed and mocking those that ate the fruit. However, Lehi’s last words in describing the dream are those of a worried father. “And Laman and Lemuel partook not of the fruit. (v35)” Nephi comments that Lehi spent a lot of time talking with his two elder boys, trying with all the feeling of a loving father to try and persuade them to stick close to the gospel, so that they might obtain the mercy of the Lord. He even prophesied some things to them, but we’re not told what those things were. After that, however, Nephi says he left them alone.
Applying the Scriptures to My Own Life
Since we’ll be going into the interpretation of the dream in further chapters, I want to focus on Lehi’s reactions toward the actions of his family where the tree was concerned. He had reason to rejoice because of Sam and Nephi. Their feet were firmly planted on the path leading to the tree. Laman and Lemuel, however, gave him cause to worry. They almost completely refused to move forward and take the fruit. The scripture doesn’t say so, but it’s been implied that Laman and Lemuel ended up in the great building. As a mother, I understand the feelings Lehi is feeling where it comes to his two elder sons. I wish, sometimes, that I could guarantee to myself that my children’s hands will be firmly placed on that iron hand railing. With that in mind, reading this scripture, I know that I can only teach them this by holding onto it myself and trying to beckon them on. I cannot force them to hold on. I can only hope and pray that my actions and my words will be enough to put that hand railing in their hands.
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