Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Lehi and Nephi's visions -- Part 2

In Part 1, I looked at how the symbols in Lehi's dream and his prophecies in Chapter 10 connected in Nephi's vision. Searching for something else I stumbled upon this chart showing parallels between Lehi's dream and Nephi's vision. Another observation that underscores the point that Nephi also saw in vision what Lehi prophecied in Chapter 10, is several textual connections. There may be more, but these are the ones I found

Lamb of God: 1 Nephi 10:10, Lehi introduces this expression. He talked about a Messiah already in Chapter 1, but this is the first time the "Lamb of God" is used. In Nephi's vision, in Chapters 11-14, Christ is constantly refered to as "Lamb" or "Lamb of God". It appears 56 times in these chapters and only 13 times in the rest of the Book of Mormon.

Dwindle in unbelief: This is another expression introduced by Lehi in 1 Nephi 10. Nephi repeats this expression 3 times in his vision.

Fulness of the gospel: Another term introduced by Lehi in 1 Nephi 10 and repeated by Nephi in chapter 13.

Redeemer of the world: 
And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom my father had spoken (1 Nephi 11:27)
Obviously, this is a reference to 1 Nephi 10:5
And he also spake concerning the prophets, how great a number had testified of these things, concerning this Messiah, of whom he had spoken, or this Redeemer of the world.
Nephi really sees in vision what his father prophecied and uses much of the same language. These subtle textual connections contribute to the complexity of all the things outlined in part 1 of this post.