"Catch/Caught" in the Book of Mormon

As I was studying the double-meaning of "carried away" in the scriptures (see here, here and here), I noticed a similar term is used in the same way: "catch/caught"

The positive examples are intimately connected with the word of God and heavenly experiences:

• We find people "[catching] hold of the end of the rod of iron" in 1 Nephi 8:24, 30. 
• The three disciples who were to tarry are "caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things" which were "forbidden them that they should utter; neither was it given unto them power that they could utter the things which they saw and heard." (3 Nephi 28:13, 26).  Compare 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.
• Nephi is "caught away in the Spirit of the Lord" as he sat pondering in faith "into an exceedingly high mountain" (see 1 Nephi 11:1). Compare Moses 1:1 where Moses is "caught up into an exceedingly high mountain" and Moses 6:64 where Adam is "caught away by the Spirit of the Lord" and was baptized.
• As Alma recounts his conversion, he explains that as he was "racked with torment," he remembered his father prophesy concerning Jesus Christ. "Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me..." This leads to a vision of "God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels..."
• Ammon "caught" King Lamoni with guile in convincing him to believe all his words. (See Alma 18:23.) Compare 2 Corinthians 12:16.
• In Alma 12:1, Alma sees that Amulek had silenced Zeezrom by "[catching] him in his lying and deceiving to destroy him." Alma sees an opportunity to teach. Seeing that Zeezrom "began to tremble under a consciousness of his guilt, he opened his mouth and began to speak unto him, and to establish the words of Amulek, and to explain things beyond..."

The negative examples connect with the concept of a trap or snare:

• The best example of this might be Alma 12:6, which is contained in the same passage as the final positive example above. "6 And behold I say unto you all that this was a snare of the adversary, which he has laid to catch this people, that he might bring you into subjection unto him, that he might encircle you about with his chains, that he might chain you down to everlasting destruction, according to the power of his captivity." (See a similar usage in Luke 11:54.)
• Alma 10 offers us a detailed description of the plans of these same men. In verse 13: "...there were some among them who thought to question them, that by their cunning devices they might catch them in their words, that they might find witness against them, that they might deliver them to their judges that they might be judged according to the law, and that they might be slain or cast into prison, according to the crime which they could make appear or witness against them." From Amulek's rebuke in verse 17: "O ye wicked and perverse generation, ye lawyers and hypocrites, for ye are laying the foundations of the devil; for ye are laying traps and snares to catch the holy ones of God."
• As Alma-1 refuses to be king over his people, he offers this counsel: "But remember the iniquity of king Noah and his priests; and I myself was caught in a snare, and did many things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord, which caused me sore repentance..." (Mosiah 23:9)

We also find multiple examples in the Doctrine & Covenants:

D&C 88:

96 And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.

97 And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven—

98 They are Christ’s, the first fruits, they who shall descend with him first, and they who are on the earth and in their graves, who are first caught up to meet him; and all this by the voice of the sounding of the trump of the angel of God.

See also D&C 101:31, D&C 109:75, D&C 75:102. A similar example is also found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

D&C 27:

18 ...be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also.

D&C 61:

18 And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;

19 I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree.

In the New Testament:

Luke 8:

29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)

Conclusion

I don't think it is a coincidence that the two positive contexts involve hearing the word of God and having an encounter with the divine. I believe the one naturally leads to the other. These two elements bookend the way of life.

Similarly and by contrast, the negative examples connect being caught by words and being taken captive.  These two points illustrate the way of death.

Thus, just like with "carried away" there will necessarily be a "catching" for each one of us -- either we "catch" the rod of iron and allow ourselves to be led back to God's presence, or we allow ourselves to be caught by Satan's lies and end up caught in his carefully prepared snare of damnation. 

What does it mean to be "carried away in the Spirit"? -- Part 1

Nephi's visions starts this way

I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot. (1 Nephi 11:1)

The term "caught away in the Spirit" caught my interest (pun not intended), mainly because I'm not quite sure what it means. 2 Nephi 4:25 sheds more light on this verse.

And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

This is a clear reference to 1 Nephi 11-14. We recognize the term, "exceedingly high mountain" from 1 Nephi 11:1 and also the fact that he was forbidden to write parts of his vision. From this verse it is clear that the high mountain wasn't just non-physical and part of the vision. Nephi's body was actually there. But what does it mean to be carried away there in the Spirit? I don't know the answer but I have two thoughts.

1. A transformation of the body?

In 2. Corinthians 12:2, the Apostle Paul refers to himself when he says:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.

In a similar account in 3 Nephi 28:13

And behold, the heavens were opened, and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things.

Paul says he doesn't know whether he was in or out of his body. The three disciples don't know either.

And whether they were in the body or out of the body, they could not tell; (3 Nephi 28:15)

But Mormon finds out

36 And now behold, as I spake concerning those whom the Lord hath chosen, yea, even three who were caught up into the heavens, that I knew not whether they were cleansed from mortality to immortality—37 But behold, since I wrote, I have inquired of the Lord, and he hath made it manifest unto me that there must needs be a change wrought upon their bodies, or else it needs be that they must taste of death (2 Nephi 28:36-37)

So we learn that they were in their bodies, but their bodies were somehow transformed. Could it be that "caught up into heaven" and "caught away in the Spirit" mean similar things, in which case Nephi describes a transformation of his body to be able to endure the presence of heavenly beings and see the things he was shown?

2. Guided/aided/lifted by the Spirit

Finding the expression, "wings of his Spirit" in 2 Nephi 4 quite interesting, I tried to learn more about wings. The Hebrew word for wing is "kanaph". It can also mean edge, border or corner and is associated with clothing, typically the edge of a garment. I don't know who "the Spirit" is in this case, but we learn from 1 Nephi 11 that he had the form of a man that Nephi could converse with face to face. So presumably he wore a garment of some kind? Perhaps the "caught/carried" away is more literal than I initially thought and Nephi was somehow helped or guided by the Spirit up to the mountain by holding on to the edge of his garment and/or being lifted somehow?

The Hebrew preposition "be" is translated as either "in" or "by", so "carried away in the Spirit" and "carried away by the Spirit" is the same thing. In the Book of Moses 6:64, we read

And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.

Notice the same passive language: Nephi was caught/carried away and Adam was caught away and carried down. So who baptized Adam and how? I'm not quite sure, but it seems that the Spirit of the Lord took the active role and somehow baptized Adam. Presumably, he also helped Nephi up to that mountain top in a similar way. I know this all sounds very physical, while realizing that "the Spirit of the Lord" likely did not have a physical body. I have no idea how this all works, I'm just going where the scriptural accounts seem to lead me.

Of course, these two possible interpretations are not mutually exclusive.

In Part 2 we will look at common patterns in the various "carried away in Spirit" accounts.