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The Tree of Life
[Coming of John The Baptist and the Messiah]
[Vision of the Tree of Life]
[White and Delightsome Defined]
173 1 Nephi 8:10-14 We were talking about that tree which is later explained as the Tree of Life. In 1 Nephi 8:10 he starts talking about the tree. We were pointing out the main shrine of the ancient synagogue at Dura-Europos the oldest Jewish remains in the world. Right above it is the Tree of Life, and it has Orpheus striking his lyre, bringing harmony into all things. This represents the love of God. The animals and birds are in the tree, and all are being fed from the fruit thereof. We will refer to that later. He goes on and talks about it here. In 1 Nephi 8:14 we read, “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.”
174 1 Nephi 8:12,19 So Lehi beckoned to them and told them, This is the way, this is the way. Come over here [paraphrased]. They did, and he told them that they should partake of the fruit which was desirable above all fruit. He wanted Laman and Lemuel to come too, but they wouldn’t do it. Then he beheld the famous rod of iron in 1 Nephi 8:19. What is the rod of iron? It’s along the bank of the river, and it’s something to hold on to so you won’t fall in. There is a statement in the Midrash about this. The temple mountain in Jerusalem has been flattened off artificially to make a place for the Dome of the Rock that stands there today, the great mosque of the Moslems. Before then it was really quite steep where the temple was originally built in the time of David, and in the Jebusite city. The sacred way that went up to the temple was steep and narrow and went zigzag up the side. You can see this in Athens at the Acropolis. The sacred ways always go up that way. It was slippery and it was on the rock. When it would storm, you could fall off—with old, feeble people, etc. So there was a railing that went up, and you could follow it. It was iron, and it rusted away in time. It was replaced with a wooden railing. They had to cling to the iron rod to get up to the temple so they wouldn’t slip and fall on the rocks.
176 There was the strait and narrow path, and then the large and spacious building as if it had been a world, and everybody striving toward that. First there’s the wide and spacious field, the MAYDAN. We mentioned the maydan before. That’s a Persian word, but it goes back everywhere to the idea of MAYDAn, where the fortunes of men are settled in the world. Every battlefield, every field of jousting is a maydan, where you settle the affairs of the human race. You come together and counsel. There’s the great assembly. It’s described in the beginning of the Book of Abraham—the hill of Olishem by the plain where they all met for the sacrifice of Abraham.
176 1 Nephi 8:23 Then there rose a mist of darkness. These mists of darkness, Doughty tells us, are very common and terrifying. It’s funny, the desert isn’t the place where you would expect to find a mist of darkness, but you do. Many people have described this mist of darkness. This came and they got lost in it, “insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost” (1 Nephi 8:23). That’s the scene of the first Psalm, isn’t it? The righteous man, as I mentioned before, is like a tree planted by a pool of water, which bears fruit in its time and its leaves never fall off. But that is not so with the wicked who are like dry, shriveled up vegetation that the wind blows away. Then it says, “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalms 1:3-4, 6).
176,177 So many ancient Egyptian and Semitic words are related to English that, you will find, are not shared with any other language. Only with English. It’s a strange thing. English is an archaic language, and we speak it. It’s monosyllabic. Almost everything we say is just one-syllable words. No other language has worn down that far. We have no more case endings; we ignore them completely. We don’t even pay any attention to declensions. “He said it to my wife and I.” You couldn’t use worse English than that, but everybody says it. It’s horrible, but we’re not going to bother to say me anymore. We don’t decline things anymore.
177 1 Nephi 8:24-27 Anyway it’s interesting, ‘The way of the wicked shall perish,” [paraphrased] and it does here. They lose their way. Then the others came and “caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness [they had to have a support, something to guide them; it guides them and it supports them at the same time; it tells you where to go] clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree” (1 Nephi 8:24). We are told that it rotted away, as iron will rust, and was replaced by a wooden railing later on. Then he cast his eyes on the other side of the river, and there was the great and spacious building. What a picture! “And it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth [the top floors were filled with people partying—it was a highrise] ... 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 ...”
178 1 Nephi 8:27 They were having a party [in Lehi’s vision] with exceedingly fine dresses and all the rest. They were making fun of the people who had partaken of the fruit. That wasn’t the thing to do, but the people in the city were always doing that. They call them the BAYT AL-SHA R. Of course, our people felt bedraggled, and they were ashamed of that. But it’s true that the distinction between the BAYT AL-SHA’RAND the BAYT AL-HAJAR is very great, between the people who live in the houses of stone and the people who live in the desert. They look on the people who live in the desert as the people in the American West looked upon the Indians. They were Bedouins and wanderers—living upon the face of the earth, picking up what they could. So they made fun of them here [in 1 Nephi], and they were ashamed of that. They didn’t want to be mocked anymore, so they wandered off and were lost.
178 1 Nephi 8:30-32 Continuing with 1 Nephi 8:30, “But, to be short in writing [very interesting], 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 [here are the two ways]. And he also saw other multitudes feeling their way towards that great and spacious building. [They came and couldn’t cross the water and] were drowned in the depths of the fountain; and many were lost from his view, wandering in strange roads.”
180 1 Nephi 8:32-35 This great and spacious building has to do with our religion, of course. We are all partying these days, and we want the expensive highrise and the rest of the things. So many were drowned (1 Nephi 8:32). “And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building [that was the popular place] ... and they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also; but we heeded them not.... Because of these things which he saw in a vision, he exceedingly feared for Laman and Lemuel.”
180 1 Nephi 9:1 Notice here in chapter nine he repeats it again: “And all these things did my father see, and hear, and speak, as he dwelt in a tent, in the valley of Lemuel.” That was their base camp; they had been there a long time. They didn’t intend to move until the Lord gave him a dream and told him to move. Notice, fourteen times in 1 Nephi it says, “My father dwelt in a tent.” This makes it very specific that the style of their life was totally different.
180,181 Then he talks about these plates, a summary of other plates. The Lord has commanded him to make these plates, and he doesn’t know why. But the Lord has commanded him to make them, and he is making these plates to put his record on. There are others, but this is the special one for us. Chapters ten, twelve and thirteen go together, and they are very important. Chapter ten sounds like familiar stuff to begin with. Don’t fool yourself. This puts it all together; from beginning to end it is one story. This is the account of the Jews, and chapter twelve is the account of the New World version—a summary of what is going to happen in the New World version. Chapter thirteen is the world-wide version, what’s going to happen in all the rest of the world. So first we have the Jews. Then we have the people in the New World, including the Gentiles. Then we have the whole world embraced in this. Remember, we started with the Brass Plates as a little tiny speck. Even Lehi, who was an important man and a very religious man, didn’t own a copy of the Bible. There was just this one copy he had to get from Laban, and it was worth “stealing” to get it. So it all starts out with this little tiny point of light, and it says that these plates shall never grow dim again, and they (the Old Testament) shall finally come to the entire world. As we said, it was the Tanakh. It had the Torah, the prophets, and the histories, and the literary writings (the Kethubim). But why aren’t the literary writings there? Why isn’t Esther there? And Tobit and all those writings? Because they were not found in the [Old Testament]. They come long after the time of Lehi. Joseph Smith was very smart not to get sucked in on that one, wasn’t he? No, there’s none of that—just the histories, not the literary writings. There’s lots of poetry. The Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and the like are later, and they come from the schools.
181 1 Nephi 10:2,3 Notice that this chapter [1 Nephi 10] is what happened to the Jews. “He spake unto them concerning the Jews,” it says in the second verse. [Nephi] puts it all together here, and the Dead Sea Scrolls certainly vindicate the necessity of this indispensable chapter. From the beginning to the ending it is all one history. This is the theme of chapter ten, and it’s a grandiose prospect, the same as we find in those other two chapters. So we’ll go through it. The next step was that they should be destroyed. After that they would be carried away captive to Babylon—which happened. And they would return—which they did, of course—”and possess again the land.” Then six hundred years later “a prophet would the Lord God raise up among the Jews—even a Messiah, or in other words, a Savior of the world [this is Jesus; John the Baptist is mentioned later]. ... How great a number had testified of these things, concerning this Messiah ... or this Redeemer of the world. Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer.”
181 1 Nephi 10:6 This is the peculiar situation. As I said, there was just this one point of light. The book came into the possession of Lehi, and then just one lone family was to carry the whole civilization, the whole culture, to the New World where it was to last for a thousand years. Notice, the Lord works with very small centers, and it’s the same thing here. What about the rest of the human race? This [verse 6] is the rest of the human race. All mankind were in a lost and fallen state and would be forever if they didn’t rely on the Redeemer—and how few people knew about the Redeemer. Without the Atonement we are not going anywhere, and nobody in the world knew about the Atonement. How few people know about it today. Isn’t that a strange thing? The first words of the Lord to Joseph Smith when he spoke to him in the grove, after he had introduced himself were: “The world at this time lieth in sin, and there is none that doeth well, no not one. Mine anger is kindled against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them according to this ungodliness.” That sounds pretty grim, so it was swept under the rug. It dates from 1831 and was older by far than any other account we had of the First Vision. It was written from the dictation of the Prophet by Frederick G. Williams, and the Lord speaks in the first person. In the version we have from later on (the Wentworth Letter, etc) it says, “He told me this and he told me that.” But this is what he actually said. Why shouldn’t we have embraced that? Somebody doesn’t like it. I don’t know. The world doesn’t like this story, and they reject it.
182 1 Nephi 10:7 Then John the Baptist in verse 7: “And he spake also concerning a prophet who should come before the Messiah, to prepare the way of the Lord.” That was John the Baptist to prepare and make straight his way in the wilderness. He follows the Dead Sea Scrolls condition very closely, as you know. Why is he so important? He is the link, as we read in Luke, which begins with two righteous people—both direct descendants of Aaron— Elizabeth and Zachariah, doing their stint in the temple. He had to go just a few days a year to do his service in the temple. They lived in the country, out in the hills, and he came in to serve. He went into the Holy of Holies to get things ready, and there he saw an angel. No one had seen an angel in four hundred years. Of course, he was struck dumb; he was absolutely terrified. The same angel went to Mary. Then Zachariah announced that his son would come and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, etc. He announced the birth of John the Baptist. So the gospel began in the Meridian of Times with the Angel Gabriel introducing himself and coming to John the Baptist. It’s good that Gabriel should come to John the Baptist because his work was to baptize and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. The fathers were dead. Then it goes on that they who sat in darkness should see a great light there in the underworld. There was the chance to work for the dead. Of course, Gabriel is Noah, as Joseph Smith said. Who is better to administer the “water works” than Noah and John the Baptist? They are together in this operation. But the necessity and importance of baptism are being emphasized here. So he went forth in the wilderness to make straight the paths of the Lord. This is the link, you see.
182 1 Nephi 10:9 “And my father said he should baptize in Bethabara [he is telling about John the Baptist here] and ... that he should baptize the Messiah with water. [And the gospel would be preached among the Jews then.] ... concerning the gospel which should be preached among the Jews. ... And after they had slain the Messiah, who should come, and after he had been slain he should rise from the dead, and should make himself manifest, by the Holy Ghost, unto the Gentiles.” Notice, the best people he could come to, his chosen, wouldn’t accept him at all. What is the Lord throwing the gospel away on us for? Talk about pearls before swine. Nobody wants it, nobody accepts it, nobody understands it. It’s a very puzzling thing that’s going on here.
182,183 1 Nephi 10:14 Then he talks about the olive tree on which the fifth chapter of Jacob goes into detail. The olive, as you know, is the immortal tree. There are olives in Athens and olives in Jerusalem which were growing in the time of Lehi. They live as long as redwoods or anything else because you can’t kill them when you trim them down and cut everything off. When there was a raid and the city was destroyed and burned down, the olives would start growing again. So it was a miraculous tree of life. It had inextinguishable life in it. You find these two-thousand-year-old olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. They are immense because they just keep putting out shoots and growing. What’s more they can always be grafted. We will talk about that when we come to Jacob, if we ever get to Jacob. He talks about that. Verse 14: “The natural branches of the olive-tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel should be grafted in [you can graft anything onto an olive tree] or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer. And after this manner of language [using the olive tree as an image, etc.]... I have written as many of them [these things] as were expedient for me in mine other book.” So if you want to find out about that, I recommend you go to the library and ask for Nephi’s other book.
183,184 1 Nephi 10:17-21; Abraham 2:12 He saw in a vision “the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost.” You notice what he is talking about here: Time, place, and culture are no object, as experience has shown. The gospel is the same whether you introduce it to the Hopis, the Moslems, the Icelanders, or Nigerians, or whoever it is. You may preach to all of those and you will find the gospel has the same response in all of them. It’s amazing that we don’t have to adapt ourselves to their culture at all. Just preach the gospel to them and they embrace it. They can keep their culture too as far as that goes. I know devout Moslems who are equally enthusiastic in embracing the gospel. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be. Notice in verse 17 that this is universal: “I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men. For he is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men” (1 Nephi 10:17-18). See, this universal now; he is not talking about only the Jews. He sees it breaking loose through the Jews and going to all the world. In Abraham it’s the same thing: “All those who diligently seek him.” Remember, that was Abraham’s great merit. In Abraham 2:12 he says, “Thy servant has sought thee earnestly; now I have found thee.” Abraham sought diligently first and then found. “The way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him. For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them [making no distinction], by the power of the Holy Ghost [the Holy Ghost is free to minister to anybody who makes himself eligible no matter where you are], as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round [this is a cosmic thing]. Then continuing with verse 21: “Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation [this is the first mention of the days of probation in the Book of Mormon, which is often mentioned, and it speaks volumes, of course], then ye are found unclean [and you can’t possibly dwell with God].... And the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things, and deny them not.”
184 1 Nephi 11:1 The first verse of chapter 11 gives the steps by which you solve any problem. The solution to any great problem, whether it’s nuclear power or anything you want to solve, is found through these steps in the first verse. First, you desire to know. In the Eyring Building they have how the TV was invented—the first steps by which you get something. The first and most important question was not asked. The first thing they asked was, “Is there a demand for it? Will it make a profit?” The first thing you should ask is, “Will it do more harm than good?” But how can you know? “For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen...” First you have to desire to know; then you have to believe that it can be done. People gave up on the atom because they didn’t know it could be split, but once Rutherford had done it at least half the difficulty had been overcome. Then everybody jumped on the problem because they knew there was a solution. That was the greatest obstacle. It had never been done; it was theoretical and probably could never be done. But as soon as it was done, the biggest part of the problem was solved. So if you believe it can be solved, that’s the most important step. “And believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me ...” Then what do you do? You sit pondering. You size the problem up from various situations. You research and do everything you can. You sit pondering, and if you keep pondering, suddenly (this is the only way you will get it; you can’t ponder it into existence) you will have a flash of insight. Suddenly you will get the bright idea. It’s something over which you have no control, according to all great scientists and inventors. It just comes to you as a flash after you have been working on the problem, maybe for years. Then it comes. So this is the way it comes to Nephi here. First you desire; then you are sure it can be done, the Lord can do it. Then you work it out in your own mind: “... pondering in mine heart.”
184,185 1 Nephi 11:1-6 Then “I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain.” Here’s the solution. We think of all sorts of high mountains of revelation: the Mount of Transfiguration, the Mount of Olives, the ancient Ziggurat on which the king went up to make contact with heaven, the pyramid which was the holy mountain in Egypt, and the mountain of the Lord’s house in the Bible. The temple is on the mountain of the Lord’s house. There’s the Acropolis, the capitol, the highest place. You go up to the top of a mountain because people [generally] don’t go up on an exceedingly high mountain. The Mount of Transfiguration is the most notable because it is high. Nobody ever went up there. You’re removed and aloof from the world; you’re by yourself, etc. That’s the place to have it. And this is an exceedingly high mountain he had never seen before. So he’s caught up here. What we are talking about is another dimension. When you have a vision like this one here, you are in another dimension. All you can do is describe it. He says that this is going to be largely just metaphors to try to make you realize the sort of thing he is talking about. Notice he says, “upon which I never had before set my foot.” Well, is it real or isn’t it? “And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou? And I said: I desire to behold the things which my father saw. Then the next step, “Do you believe it?” He replied, “Yes, I believe it.” Then “the Spirit cried with a loud voice, saying: Hosanna to the Lord.” This is the most exciting experience anyone can have when suddenly there is a breakthrough, and this is it. The voice of the Spirit cried, Well, we’ve got somebody qualified here; hosanna, three cheers to the most high God, and you shall behold them [paraphrased]. You believe it, you are qualified, and this is the answer.
185,186 1 Nephi 11:6 “Thou shalt behold the things which thou hast desired. And behold this thing shall be given unto thee for a sign.. .. Thou shalt also behold a man .. . and ye shall bear record that it is the Son of God. And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree [now he is being shown things; he sees a tree]... exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow [this whiteness is mentioned throughout the Book of Mormon; we will see it right in this same chapter here]. Notice, this is another dimension. You would think the fruit would be at least orange, pink, rosy, or some tempting color. Nobody wants to eat snow—white fruit. Verse 10: “And he said unto me: What desirest thou?” As Nephi spoke to him, “he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord [now we are using some sort of double talk; as I said, we are in another dimension]; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.” And he says, “Look,” and “I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.” Why do they use white? Well, I just went to the dictionary to consult white. I could think of a lot of [synonyms], but they think of a lot more here. In Arabic there’s an expression that means, “may God cheer him,” or “may God show him favor.” Literally, it says, “BAYYAD ALLAHU, may God whiten his countenance.” Another one is, “he is white of face,” which simply means, “he is of good character,” or “he is a good person.” In the Book of Mormon it says the Nephites were “white and delightsome” and the others were “dark and loathsome.” It means white in this sense, in the sense of good character. But it is the regular word for white. You ask for the AL-BAYAD, who is the white man of the place? That means the “foremost man, the most respected man.” If he is white, he is most respected. What are AYYAM AL-BAYAD, “days of whiteness?” They are “happy days, days of prosperity.” I guess it would be the BELIYE NOCHI in Moscow, “the white nights.”
186 Then this is an interesting thing: Here is YAD BAYDA*. BAYDA is the regular feminine. (Colors are always a defective form.) It means “the white hand,” which means BENEFICENCE, power, favor, merit, glory. And there are two kinds of men. The human race is divided into AL-SUDANU and AL-BAYDANU. The SUDANU are the black ones, and the BAYDANU are the white ones. Well, that wouldn’t be natural in a culture where people are either outdoors or indoors. You know in Greek paintings, of which we have thousands, all the men, being outdoors, are always painted a dark bronze; and all the women, staying indoors and keeping white lead on their faces, are always white. It’s a cultural thing with members of the same race. So we get this idea of the contrast between the good guys and the bad guys, called black and white. This is important, this white business.
166 And here’s a regular word for woman, MAR A. A HIJIR is a curtain indoors, the apartment for woman. A woman is one who does not go outdoors and get in the hot sun. But the regular word for woman is MAR^A. As I said, the HIJIR is the veil, the HARIM, “the inner part of the house.” It could be the kitchen or anything else. It’s just not going outdoors, with the two cultures. But it’s a cultural thing whether you are black or white—the whole thing, cultural and moral. But “black and white” are the universal words to use for “good and bad.”
186,187 1 Nephi 11:15 So we go merrily on our way here: This virgin was “exceedingly fair and white.” It doesn’t mean she was leprous or anything like that; of course not. This is the expression it was using: “fair and white” would go together. Verse 15: “And I said unto him: A virgin most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.” Again, you see the other dimensions. This “is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.” That “Son of God” has been inserted. We used to use in this class Wilford Wood’s printing of the first edition of the Book of Mormon, so everybody had a first edition. It was more helpful. We got rid of it because it is not divided into verses, so it is very hard to locate things in it. It’s just a straight story, but it reads much better that way. You can still get it. It’s called Joseph Smith Begins His Work, Volume I, the Wilford Wood series. It didn’t say, “mother of the Son of God;” it said “mother of God.” And, of course, throughout the Book of Mormon Jesus Christ is God. He is the Lord and the Creator. (There would be a quibble about this sort of thing.) When he came down to earth, he still had his status, but he was born of a mother. This became a great controversy between the sects of the Eastern and Western churches. The Eastern church asked, “Should we use that expression ‘mother of God’ or not?” The idea that God could have a mother is very offensive when you consider [believe] that God is like nothing you can possibly imagine. But God for us is not like nothing you can possibly imagine. He has been carried away in the Spirit, in the next verse, which means he is in this other dimension.
187 1 Nephi 11:21-25 “And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God [of course, it wasn’t a real lamb], yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? [notice, ‘do you know the meaning’—it’s an allegory; this isn’t a real tree, or is it?].... It is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men.” That’s what we have in this picture. The person is striking the lyre to bring harmony to all nature with the animals and the birds—showering its favor above the altar in the temple here. They didn’t have an altar or a temple; they had the scroll of the law there. Yes, this is what the meaning of the tree is: “it is the love of God,... wherefore, it is the most desirable above all other things.” That’s why the fruit is so desirable; it is the love of God. But then he tells us in verse 25 that the waters also represent the love of God,... which waters are a representation of the love of God.” This is another allegory.
187 1 Nephi 11:26,32; 1 Nephi 9 “Behold the condescension of God!” Remember, the world is absolutely out of it. Nobody accepts this, and nobody understands it. What a strange thing to work in a vacuum like that! What’s going on, one begins to ask. That’s what we have the Book of Mormon for. “Behold the condescension of God” to work with such people. “And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom my father had spoken; and I also beheld the prophet [John] who should prepare the way before him.... And I also beheld twelve others following him.” In 1 Nephi 1:9 Lehi had that dream too in his ascension vision. He saw the angels descending to minister to men and “beheld the Lamb of God going forth among the children of men.” And what happened to him? At last he visits the children of men, and he is completely rejected. He can’t get anywhere. Remember, even the apostles all fled and left him at this time. Verse 32: “He was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.” It really happened. If his own people did this, He would have been wasted on the rest of the human world. That’s why an absolute atonement is necessary with no strings attached. Because if anybody could be disqualified for atonement for any reason, we would all be out in the cold. The Atonement is absolute; it covers everything—even whether you want it or not. We will get to that later. He was lifted up on the cross, and the multitudes of the earth were gathered together against the apostles. They were wiped out.