I find this specific topic fascinating because of the temple connections. The purpose of creation and the eternal destiny of mankind are major themes in the temple (see this post on the creation-covenant connection), and it is increasingly clear to me that these same themes are embedded in the scriptures in order to lead us to covenants and the Way of Life.
There is a contrasting good/evil pairing to some of these elements, which adds some depth to 2 Nephi 2, which discusses both the fall of Adam and also the nature of this life as "opposition in all things." This, of course, fits right in with "The Two Ways" concept that is on my mind a lot lately. Each good thing given to us by God has a contrasting counterfeit, designed by Satan to blind our minds and harden our hearts.
I'll highlight a few of these paired elements that intrigue me the most:
- The two types of land. Lehi describes both a "dark and dreary waste," where many people were wandering, and a "large and spacious field" where the tree of life grew (see 1 Nephi 8:9-10, 20). One is a wasteland, where nothing good grows, and the other is fertile. This fertile field is easily likened to the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 2:9), whereas the waste is compared to the land after Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden (see Genesis 3:17-19).
- The two sources of water. Lehi describes one source of water in his account of the dream (see 1 Nephi 8:17 and 20), but Nephi describes it more clearly -- there were two. The "fountain of living waters" in 1 Nephi 11:25 is a representation of the love of God. The "fountain of filthy water" (see 1 Nephi 12:16) is a representation of "the depths of hell."
- The two mists. This one is probably the most vague, but I find it really intriguing. I'll consider this set of paired elements below.
The Two Mists
The Genesis creation account includes the following passage:
5 ...for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.I don't think I'm stretching too far to connect the elements of "rain," "till the ground," "mist," and "water[ing] the whole face of the ground" to man's true purpose on earth, but I'll dive in deeper to this topic in a separate post. To quickly summarize, the water is God's message of salvation and covenants, the "breath of life" represents our divinity, and the "dust" represents our mortality, and the agriculture metaphor has to do with the work of salvation.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2)
In contrast, the mist of darkness blinds us to our purpose here on earth.
23 And it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost. (1 Nephi 8)
17 And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost. (1 Nephi 12)
I'll admit this could be a stretch, but it seems intriguing. More on this in the near future.
More connections between the Garden of Eden and Lehi's Dream
Here is a list from Calabro's paper (linked above), starting with the strongest common elements and working to the more obscure ones:
Table 1: Elements of Lehi’s Dream and the Garden of Eden
| ||
Garden of Eden
|
Lehi’s Dream
|
Degree
of Similarity |
| tree of life | tree of life |
high
|
a flaming sword which turned every way (Genesis 3:24)
| “the sword of the justice of the eternal God,” which is bright like “the brightness of a flaming fire” (1 Nephi 12:18; 15:30) |
high
|
| elevated location | elevated location |
high
|
| “the way of the tree of life,” meaning the path leading to the tree (Genesis 3:24) | “a strait and narrow path … which led (un)to the tree” (1 Nephi 8:20–23) |
high
|
| contrast between fertile garden and world of toil | contrast between “large and spacious field” and “dark and dreary wilderness/waste” (1 Nephi 8:4, 7, 9, 20) |
high
|
| four rivers with “heads” | two rivers with “heads” or “fountains” |
medium
|
| “mist” that waters the garden | “mist of darkness” |
low
|
| divine “rod (of iron)” associated with the royalty of Judah (Psalm 2:9; 110:2) | “rod of iron” leading to the tree (1 Nephi 8:19) |
uncertain
|
| “tree of knowledge of good and evil” | second tree implicit in Lehi’s dream, or great and spacious building |
uncertain
|
Connection to the Temple
Here is the purpose of the temple endowment, according to Brigham Young:
“Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you...to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood...” (source)The purpose of the temple is to reverse the effects of the fall and bring about redemption through the atonement of Jesus Christ--"walk[ing] back" to the tree of life, so to speak. Lehi's dream is clearly teaching us the same thing.