In a recent post, he makes a connection between "El-elah" (God-tree) and "Adam-adamah" (man-ground) and makes the case that this represents a symbol for what man can aspire to be.
I'm very interested in this, since I've been thinking lately about the symbolic connection between establishing a covenant with God and crossing the great waters.
In studying that topic, I noticed that in the case of the Lehites and the Jaredites, as soon as they arrive at the promised land, they "till the earth."
13 And it came to pass that they went forth upon the face of the land, and began to till the earth. (Ether 6)
24 And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance. (1 Nephi 18)
Notice what the scriptures say about Adam and Eve once they were cast out of the garden of Eden:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Genesis 3)
Tilling is the first step in replicating what you'd find in a garden. That seems significant to me. It's as if Nephi and Moroni knew that by stating this detail they'd be underscoring the fact that two groups were righteous, covenant people who belonged right where the Lord had placed them, but managed to state it such a way so that it is hidden in plain sight.
This symbolism also adds a rich layer of depth to the seed analogy in Alma 32, framing the entire passage in the context of covenant-making and covenant-keeping. More about that in a future post.
