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1 Nephi 8:35-37 

35 And Laman and Lemuel partook not of the fruit, said my father. …
37 And he did exhort them then with all the feeling of a tender parent, that they would hearken to his words….

Nephi was probably in his early or mid-fifties{1} when he put the final editorial touches on First Nephi. By then, he reports, “we had already had wars and contentions with our brethren” (2 Nephi 5:34), We often stop and ponder Nephi’s comment about his father. “He did exhort them then with all the feeling of a tender parent.” We wonder if he really understood it that clearly when he saw it as a young teenager, or if he came to understand it later, when, as a father, he had experienced and recognized the feelings his father felt back then. If the latter, then the words present us not only with a window into Lehi’s personality, but also a larger window into the depths of Nephi’s soul.

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FOOTNOTE

{1} See above: 1 Nephi 1:4, reign of Zedekiah.

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1 Nephi 8:33-34 

33 And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also; but we heeded them not.
34 These are the words of my father: For as many as heeded them, had fallen away.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell described that situation in our own day:

Church members will live in this wheat-and-tares situation until the Millennium. Some real tares even masquerade as wheat, including the few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves of course, they leave the Church but they cannot leave the Church alone.{1}

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FOOTNOTES

{1} Ensign, May 1996, 68, quoted in Cory H. Maxwell, ed., The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997), 68.

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1 Nephi 8:31-32 

31 And he also saw other multitudes feeling their way towards that great and spacious building.
32 And it came to pass that many were drowned in the depths of the fountain; and many were lost from his view, wandering in strange roads.

There are only two paths, but the second has many forks, and as many destinations as one might set his soul to discover. Some lead to the treacherous brink of the river of filthy water. They thirst and seek to drink from a river that is not the waters of life, and many were drowned in its depths. Later, Nephi explained:

26 And they said unto me: What meaneth the river of water which our father saw?
27 And I said unto them that the 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.
28 And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.
29 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 15:26-29).

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1 Nephi 8:29-30 

29 And now I, Nephi, do not speak all the words of my father.
30 But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.

We know only one way to interpret what is meant by that, and it would have been very familiar to Lehi and Nephi. It is, as described in the 95th Psalm:

1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand (Psalm 95:1-7).

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1 Nephi 8:24-28  

24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.
25 And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed.
26. And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.
27 And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.
28 And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.

Later, the angel explained to Nephi,

18 And the large and spacious building, which thy father saw, is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men. And a great and a terrible gulf divideth them; yea, even the word of the justice of the Eternal God, and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record, from the beginning of the world until this time, and from this time henceforth and forever (1 Nephi 12:18).

The question might be asked: After tasting the fruit of the tree of life, why would people turn away and take the path that they had earlier chosen not to take? There are as many answers as there are individual choices, but they all fall under two great umbrellas. One is the nature of the persons who choose to leave the tree, and the other is the nature of the persons in the building to whom the drifters look for guidance.

There is an ancient, and very insightful, document that purports to be a description of what happened in the Garden of Eden. It describes this world as a place of “great distractions and pains in life, so that their men should be preoccupied with life, and not have time to attend on the Holy Spirit.”{1}

That is the first umbrella under which so many of the answers can be found: People let themselves get so busy attending to the perceived traumas and advantages of this world that they do “not have time to attend on the Holy Spirit.” Some who are at the tree recognize the weight of this message as it comes from the people in the building, and they become ashamed that they are not spending their time, energy—and their lives—being successful enough that they can also get in the building and wear the beautiful clothes. They do not have enough time to continue to enjoy the fruit of the tree and also achieve the goals that are requisite to becoming a part of the society that the building houses. “They were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.”

The second is the description of the attitudes—but more especially of the clothing—of the people in the building. Again we find that the key may be in the story of Adam and Eve. As we observed above, when God asked, “Who told you, you are naked,” he was not seeking information, he was asking them to consider the source of their nakedness and of the instruction to clothe themselves as they were then dressed.

As there are two paths on which to walk, so there are two ways to dress. One is in the pattern of the garment God gave to Adam and Eve as a temporary representation of their garment of light. The other is in the pattern of worldly prominence—which, like the fig leaf, will eventually dry up and turn to dust. Those folks who are in the building, who are dressed so well in their own sorts of clothes, have accepted the proposition that one ought to be preoccupied with the things of this world, and are laughing because they think the folks at the tree have missed the point and do not know how to find success in this world.
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FOOTNOTE

{1} The Hypostasis of the Archons, The Coptic Text with Translation and Commentary by Roger Aubrey Bullard (Berlin, Walter De Gruyter & Co., 1970), 28-29.

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1 Nephi 8:20 

20 And I also beheld a strait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree by which I stood; and it also led by the head of the fountain, unto a large and spacious field, as if it had been a world.

This is a perfect description of the uncompromising necessity to hang on to the rod of iron with all our might. The path which leads to the tree of life forks along the way, and the only way one can know which fork to take, is by holding on to the rod. The rod will direct us along the path leading to the tree. The alternative leads by the filthy river—to the world and all the advantages the world can contrive. The following are three quotes from Hugh Nibley. He was not discussing Lehi’s vision of tree of life,{1} but his analysis of the doctrine of the Two Ways is a perfect description of fork in the path that Lehi saw.

You come to the crossroads of the way of light and the way of darkness. It’s universal, the doctrine of the two ways. But the reason he [the gatekeeper] is weeping is that some people get by and go halfway to heaven. Why is he weeping? Because a lot of them must go to hell.{2}

About the two ways, Nibley wrote:

One may well ask if it is necessary to choose between such absolute extremes, and wonder if there is not some more moderate approach to the problems. By the very nature of things, there is no third way—as the early Jewish and Christian writers remind us repeatedly in their doctrine of the Two Ways. According to this oldest and best-established of teachings (though quite unpopular with the conventional Christianity and Judaism of our time), there are Two Ways lying before every person in this life, the Way of Light and the Way of Darkness, the Way of Life and the Way of Death; and every mortal every day of his life is required to make a choice between them. Unfortunately for our peace of mind, any compromise between the Two Ways is out of the question, since they lead in opposite directions.{3}

Satan’s masterpiece of counterfeiting is the doctrine that there are only two choices, and he will show us what they are. It is true that there are only two ways, but by pointing us the way he wants us to take and then showing us a fork in that road, he convinces us that we are making the vital choice, when actually we are choosing between branches in his road. Which one we take makes little difference to him, for both lead to destruction.{4}

In Lehi’s vision he saw that there are only two ways, and that when we come to the fork that separates them, the only way we can identify the right one is to hold on to the rod of iron, and go the direction it leads us. Even in doing that there always remain only two ways—we may continue to hold to the rod, or we may try to find our way without it. Lehi tells us that those who tried to find the correct path without holding on to the rod of iron were lost. Nephi tells us that the mist of darkness is the same as the second path Nibley described (1 Nephi 12:16-17).
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FOOTNOTES

{1} See: 1 Nephi 8:10-12, Lehi’s description of the tree, the water, and the fruit.

{2} Hugh Nibley, Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price, edited by Robert Smith and Robert Smythe (n.p., n.d.), 3 .

{3} Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, edited by Don E. Norton (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989), 30.

{4} Nibley, Approaching Zion, , 112 – 113.

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1 Nephi 8:19 

19 And I beheld a rod of iron, and it extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree by which I stood.

Nephi later describes the iron rod as “the word of God”:

23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?
24 And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.
25 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord; yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things(1 Nephi 15:23-25).

The rod, as “the word of God,” is frequently equated with the scriptures and the words of the prophet. Because the iron rod extends alone the bank of the river, and because holding on to it is such a vivid and effective analogy for keeping God’s commandments, the rod is almost always represented as a sturdy banister—a handrail that can keep one from straying off onto forbidden paths. Describing it that way is a powerful teaching tool.

While the ideas of a banister or of the scriptures are easiest to visualize and often the most applicable, there is another possible interpretation that may be more in keeping with the covenant-related subtextual context of Nephi’s writings. It is best expressed by the Hebrew word hesed.{1}

The reality of covenants made at the Council in Heaven and to be fulfilled in this world is one of the central themes of the ancient Israelite temple drama. It is expressed most beautifully in Psalm 25,{2} and reiterated by every prophet who writes of his sode experience.{3} In the Council in Heaven we received assignments (as described in Isaiah 6) and we accepted those assignments by covenants. In this life we walk in the darkness of our forgetfulness, sometimes stumbling as we go, moving through the fog that clouds our memory of who we were, and thereby obscures the reality of who we are. Nevertheless, as the 23rd Psalm assures us,

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me (Psalms 23:4).{4}

There, the rod is a scepter, the symbol of sacral kingship. The staff is a shepherd’s crook, a symbol of priesthood. The Hebrew word translated comfort means the power to transcend sorrow.{5} So that line in the 23rd Psalm might be understood as saying, “I am empowered by the symbols of priesthood and kingship.”

Psalm 2 also shows that the iron rod is a scepter. Psalm 2 is the coronation psalm where the king quotes the Lord’s covenant:

7 I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel (Psalms 2:7-9).

That the rod of iron in this psalm is the king’s royal scepter is affirmed by John the Beloved who paraphrased the psalm when he wrote:

26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father (Revelation 2:26-27).

The Prophet Joseph clarified the meaning when he wrote:

26 And to him who overcometh, and keepeth my commandments unto the end, will I give power over many kingdoms;
27 And he shall rule them with the word of God; and they shall be in his hands as the vessels of clay in the hands of a potter; and he shall govern them by faith, with equity and justice, even as I received of my Father (JST Revelation 1:24-28).{6}

That brings us back to Nephi’s statement that the iron rod is the word of God.

We walk in this world in relative darkness as we were picking our way through a labyrinth of options and ideas. We know neither our destination nor how to get there. Yet our innate sense of Self teaches us we must be true to the law of our eternal being. Listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost—the clearly understood, yet unspoken word of God— slowly brings to our remembrance shadows of who we are were—teaching us when and how to fulfill the covenants we made before we came here (See D&C 84:42-48).

Holding tightly to the powers and covenants of priesthood and kingship we may seem to wonder through the vicissitudes of life, but the promise is that we will arrive safely, as Nephi observed,

30 But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron;{7} and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree (1 Nephi 8:30).

If the iron rod does represent the powers of sacral kingship, then that must also presuppose the powers of priesthood, for while one can be a priest without being a king, one cannot be a king without first being a priest. It seems possible that the rod of iron seen by Lehi was a symbol of sacral kingship that is a function of legitimate priesthood. “King” is a name/title that connotes eternal covenants along with their attendant responsibilities. A possible interpretation of Lehi’s rod of iron might be this: that the way one comes to the tree of life is to hold tenaciously to the covenants one has made, and to fulfill the responsibilities they impose. As we approach the unknown with faith, fear, and hope we echo Romeo’s sentiment when he said:

But He, that hath steerage the of my course,
Directs my sail!{8}

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FOOTNOTES

{1} For a discussion of hesed see below: 1 Nephi 19:9, Testimony of the Savior. For a discussion of hesed in Psalm 25 see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 527-43; Second edition, p. 373-90.

{2} For a discussion of the 25th Psalm see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 527-43; Second edition, p. 379-90.

{3} For a discussion of the sode Experience see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 195-209; Second edition, p. 139-48.

{4} For a discussion of the 23rd Psalm see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 619-40; Second edition, p. 441-57.

{5} For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated as “comfort” see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 467-71; Second edition, p. 340-42.

{6} For another example see Revelation 19:12-16 compared with JST Revelation 19:11.
In these places the “rod of iron” is neither a banister nor a weapon, but it is a royal scepter. It is not unusual that the scepter should be made of iron. Iron was very strong, and when it was polished, it gleamed like silver.

{7} Nephi’s observation that “caught hold of the end of the rod of iron,” may refer to the end of a banister or it may refer to that end of the scepter which one grasps with one’s hand.

{8} William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 1 Scene 4.

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1 Nephi 8:17-18  

17 And it came to pass that I was desirous that Laman and Lemuel should come and partake of the fruit also; wherefore, I cast mine eyes towards the head of the river, that perhaps I might see them.
18 And it came to pass that I saw them, but they would not come unto me and partake of the fruit.

In the first chapter of 2 Nephi, Lehi addresses those same wayward sons. There he twice uses an intriguing word, “beginning.” In 1 Nephi, it was used to mean the beginning of Israelite history, the beginning of their journey, the beginning of a book, and the beginning—before the world was. Here Lehi uses it twice. The first time is clearly before the world was (2 Nephi 1:10). The second time is not so clear. It reads:

15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.
16 And I desire that ye should remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of the Lord; behold, this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning.
17 My heart hath been weighed down with sorrow from time to time, for I have feared, lest for the hardness of your hearts the Lord your God should come out in the fulness of his wrath upon you, that ye be cut off and destroyed forever (2 Nephi 1:15-17).

The whole tenor of Lehi’s admonition carries an eternal connotation, causing one to wonder if the words, “this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning.” Does this suggest his premortal understanding of his sons’ tendency to separate themselves from God?

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1 Nephi 8:13-16  

13 And as I cast my eyes round about, that perhaps I might discover my family also, I beheld a river of water; and it ran along, and it was near the tree of which I was partaking the fruit.{1}
14 And I looked to behold from whence it came; and I saw the head thereof a little way off; and at the head thereof I beheld your mother Sariah, and Sam, and Nephi; and they stood as if they knew not whither they should go.
15 And it came to pass that I beckoned unto them; and I also did say unto them with a loud voice that they should come unto me, and partake of the fruit, which was desirable above all other fruit.
16 And it came to pass that they did come unto me and partake of the fruit also.

Joseph’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, tells about similar dreams she and her husband had. Of her own she wrote,

…and as I traced this stream, I discovered two trees….one of them was surrounded with a bright belt, that shone like burnished gold, but far more brilliantly. … and the interpretation given me was, that [the bright tree represented her husband Joseph, who would accept the gospel] and unto him would be added intelligence, happiness, glory, and everlasting life.{2}

Joseph Smith Sr. wrote of his dream,

…beyond me was a low, but very pleasant valley, in that stood a tree such as I had never seen before. It was exceedingly handsome, insomuch that I looked upon it with wonder and admiration. Its beautiful branches spread themselves somewhat like an umbrella, and it bore a kind of fruit, in shape much like a chestnut bur, and as white as snow, or, if possible, whiter. I gazed upon the same with considerable interest, and as I was doing so, the burs or shells commenced opening and shedding their particles, or the fruit that they contained, that was of dazzling whiteness. I drew near and began to eat of it, and I found it delicious beyond description. As I was eating, I said in my heart, ‘I cannot eat this alone, I must bring my wife and children, that they may partake with me.’ Accordingly, I went and brought my family, that consisted of a wife and seven children, and we all commenced eating and praising God for this blessing. We were exceedingly happy, insomuch that our joy could not easily be expressed.{3}

An insightful idea lies within these stories: The wife sees her tree as a representation of her husband’s integrity. The husband sees his tree as a blessing that can only be fulfilled when his wife and children also come to eat the fruit.

When Joseph’s mother dictated her history, she was old, and her husband and sons were dead. She was clearly quoting something Joseph Sr. had written some years earlier, but apparently she was also quoting from an earlier account she had written of her own dream.
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FOOTNOTES

{1} See: 1 Nephi 8:10-12, Lehi’s description of the tree, the water, and the fruit.

{2} History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, 43-45.

{3} History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, 48-49.

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1 Nephi 8:13 

13 And as I cast my eyes round about, that perhaps I might discover my family also, I beheld a river of water; and it ran along, and it was near the tree of which I was partaking the fruit.

The rivers in Lehi’s vision present an interesting problem. There seem to have been two very different rivers, and the differences between them are important to understand the meaning of the vision. The first river Lehi mentions is the one that ran near the tree of life. In all the scriptural references where both the tree and the river are mentioned together, the source of the river is either the place where the tree was found, or else under the throne of the Temple and near the tree. We later learn that the second river represents filthiness and the depths of hell (1 Nephi 12:15-18, 15:26-29). Nothing filthy can be where the tree of life is, so the filthy river must be different from the one that was near the tree, or else it becomes filthy as it moves away from the tree and encounters this corrupt world.

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