The beasts of the field and the natural man

I'm stuck in the Garden of Eden and related symbolism these days, it seems. We learned that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was more "arum" than any beast of the field. How about the other beasts of the field? They are "arum" (naked) too. For me, the beasts of the field are symbols of the carnal or the natural man. Dwelling in the fields, they are also confined to the ground.

Joseph Smith said:

If a man learns nothing more than to eat, drink and sleep, and does not comprehend any of the designs of God, the beast comprehends the same things

The beast follows its instincts. If man does the same, the natural man takes control and we become subject to the flesh or our carnal desires.

This leads me to the Exodus, another story in the Bible with layers of symbolism. Among Israelites, Egypt is considered the low point on earth, the antithesis of Jerusalem. As you always go up to Jerusalem, you always go down to Egypt. These opposites are also found in their respective ways of worship. The Egyptians worshiped their idols/Gods. Egyptian Gods are often in the form of a human with an animal head. Symbolically, they worshiped that animal side of man, the carnal. The Israelites on the other hand, were asked to sacrifice it! They were asked to put the beast of the field on the altar as a sign of forsaking their carnal desires or sins.

Leaving Egypt can thus be symbolic for forsaking sin. You leave the worshiping of the beast/carnal to offer up the beast/carnal instead. Also, in the scriptures, sin is often associated with captivity of the devil and the children of Israel were in bondage. The people of Israel were now free. What did they do with their freedom? By Mount Sinai we see the contrasts play out. Moses ascends from the field/ground/dust to the mountain top to converse with the Lord, the mountain often being used as symbol for the temple where covenants are made binding us to God. The people of Israel, however, were not ready to enter into the higher covenant. They stayed on the ground and started worshiping the golden calf, a beast of the field. In the Exodus this lead to physical death. In the spiritual sense, worshiping the carnal leads to spiritual death, whereas arising and ascending to the mountain and entering into covenants leads to spiritual life.

Again, this was a Bible note rather than a Book of Mormon note, but we see a lot of the same concepts in the Book of Mormon. For instance, the famous "the natural man is an enemy to God" and Nephi ascending on the mountain to gain understanding, whereas his brothers stay on the ground and remain in confusion and sin.