This post is a continuation of previous posts on food and drink metaphors in the Book of Mormon. See here, here and here. To enable the reader to skip those post, the next paragraph gives a short summary:
The scriptures and the Book of Mormon in particular are full of food and drink metaphors: (Living) waters, bread (of life) and fruit (from the tree of life). The symbolism is obvious. Just like food and water is necessary to sustain physical life, we need spiritual nourishment to gain eternal life. But this is scratching the surface and I want to dig a bit deeper. The previous posts I linked show a pattern where food and drink metaphors are coupled with judgment. At first, this seemed puzzling. Then I realized that these metaphors represent the word of God. Judgment consists of an examination to see if the word is found in us (see Alma 12:12-13). This is only the case if we have partaken of the fruit, the bread and the living waters.
Having pondered this some more, I realize this is rooted in the ancient temple. This video is a good explanation of the temple of Solomon. It contains all the elements I mentioned, water, bread and tree/fruit. As explained in the video, the water was outside in the molten sea and in the bronze water basins for washings. Fruit is found in the form of pomegranates on the pillars at the entrance and the clothing of the high priest. The menorah, that was in the form of a tree, was inside the holy place as was the table with the shewbread.
As the video also explains, the Garden of Eden is believed to be the first temple of sorts, or at least the tabernacle was modeled after or representing the Garden of Eden. The tree and fruit symbolism is obviously very prevalent there, but there is also water in the form of four streams. See Lord Wilmore's post about that here. What about the bread? It is not something that is found in the Garden of Eden per se as far as we know, but it is mentioned.
In the of thy face shalt thou eat , till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for thou art, and unto shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19)
When man was cast out of God's presence in the Garden, it was not meant to be forever. The temple represented the journey back. When the Book of Mormon prophets talk about water, bread and fruit in a spiritual sense, I believe these to be temple references. This is part of the spiritual journey, represented by the temple, back to God's presence, represented by the Holy of Holies. When I have noticed previously that these metaphors appear together with judgment in the Book of Mormon, I now understand that they appear together with the concept of being in God's presence. The journey there is what the temple symbolizes. In order to get there, we need to drink or cleanse ourselves with the living waters, eat the bread of life. We need to produce good fruit to one day be able to partake of the fruit of the tree of life.
This would be well known to Alma, who was the high priest.
Yea, he saith: unto me and ye shall partake of the of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the and the waters of life
It is also believed that this sermon in Alma 5 was spoken in conjunction with renewal of covenants and admission of temple entry in a so-called sabbatical year, according to the Law of Moses. See this article for more information. After asking several probing questions related to worthiness in Alma 5, Alma extends this invitation to partake of the fruit, bread and water. In other words, he invites the people to temple worship and the preparation that is necessary to enter into God's presence. If we have not done that, we will also be brought before him, but we will be judged and not able to dwell in his presence.