Sources of tree symbolism in the scriptures

I have started to dig into tree-language in the Book of Mormon since there is a lot of it. I believe that there are two primary sources of this: 

1. The trees in the Garden of Eden, especially the tree of life
2. Joseph of Egypt / The olive tree in Zenos' allegory

Yes, Joseph and Zenos are two different sources, but I will get back to that. Two ideas I would like to explore are

1. These two sources of tree symbolism influence a lot if not all of the other tree symbolism used in the scriptures
2. These two sources, although using different tree symbolism, are connected

This post will deal with the first idea. I have primarily researched the Book of Mormon myself but recently found an article dealing with the tree symbolism and Zenos's possible influence in the Bible that I will get back to. In the Book of Mormon, the most well-known uses of tree symbolism except for Jacob 5 are probably Lehi's dream (and later Nephi's vision where he sees the same tree) and Alma's lecture on faith, where the seed eventually grows to a tree. In both of these cases, the trees are named the tree of life so these are clear references to the tree in the Garden of Eden.

And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life. (Alma 32:40)

21 And it came to pass that they did speak unto me again, saying: What meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream? What meaneth the tree which he saw?

22 And I said unto them: It was a representation of the tree of life. (1 Nephi 15)

Other direct references to the tree of life are made in Alma 5, Alma 12, Alma 42 and 2 Nephi 2. As far as I can see, all other tree symbolism in the Book of Mormon that is not related to the tree of life, deals with the scattering or gathering of Israel. Keep in mind that the scattering and gathering of Israel has both a physical and spiritual dimension, both of which are reflected in the tree symbolism. In Zenos's olive tree allegory, these aspects are generally symbolized by

• Branches broken off and planted elsewhere - Physical scattering of Israel (captivity or emigration)
• Grafting of branches into the mother tree - Physical (but also spiritual) gathering (entering into covenants, unification, Zion)
• Bringing forth wild/evil fruit - Spiritual scattering (distancing from God, apostasy, covenant breaking)
• Bringing forth good fruit - Spiritual gathering (repentance, works of righteousness, covenant keeping)

This symbolism is quite common in the rest of the Book of Mormon too. I will give one example from each category.

Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land (Alma 26:36)

That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God. (Alma 16:17) 

For behold, the time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn. (Alma 5:36)

And now I speak concerning baptism. Behold, elders, priests, and teachers were baptized; and they were not baptized save they brought forth fruit meet that they were worthy of it. (Moroni 6:1)

I have a hard time finding any tree-related symbolism in the Book of Mormon that is not in line with either Zenos's allegory in this manner or the tree of life. In fact, the Book of Mormon people seem very aware of the fact that they are a "branch of the tree of Israel" that "has been lost from its body". It is also prophesied that their seed eventually will become a "righteous branch" of the House of Israel (see for instance 2 Nephi 9:53 and Jacob 2:25). This idea seems to originate from Joseph of Egypt.

Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord (2 Nephi 3:5)

This is the same kind of tree symbolism that is found in Jacob 5, but it comes from Joseph. In the Old Testament, Joseph received the following in his patriarchical blessing

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall (Genesis 49:22) 

This is similar to the Zenos symbolism and among Latter-Day Saints understood to mean that Lehi and his group will cross the ocean and establish their society in the Americas. But this is very sparse. Knowing from the Book of Mormon that there is much more Joseph material on the brass plates and even having the quotes containing tree symbolism in 2 Nephi 3, would lead us to believe that the tree allegory in Genesis originally was more detailed. What does that have to do with Zenos? Well, Zenos was likely a North Kingdom prophet and descendent of Joseph and "testified particularly concerning [the Nephites], who are the remnant of their seed" (3 Nephi 10:16). I am wondering if his olive tree allegory is a sort of expansion on whatever tree allegory Joseph had been using when prophesying of his seed.

Another use of tree analogy similar to Zenos is Lehi in 1 Nephi 10. This article proposes that Lehi drew from Zenos's allegory when comparing his family to one of the branches on the olive tree. I already mentioned this article by John A. Tvedtnes discussing numerous examples of tree symbolism in the Bible and even extra-Biblical religious texts and how they might be influenced by Zenos. It makes a lot of sense to me that Zenos influenced these texts and not the other way around. For that argument, I will just quote the Tvedtnes article

Critics of the Book of Mormon will undoubtedly continue to maintain that Joseph Smith invented the Zenos parable by borrowing elements from the Bible. Three facts make me think otherwise. The most obvious is the vast array of biblical texts from which he would have had to derive these elements. After more than forty years of studying the Bible, I needed the help of a computer to find some of the passages. I doubt that Joseph Smith could have had very many of these passages at his command. The second point is the fact that different Bible passages have combinations of elements found in Jacob 5. The variety of these combinations is so complex that I suspect that no two of the texts share all elements with any of the others except with the Zenos parable. Finally, we have the fact that a number of pseudepigraphic works (only a few of them discussed herein), like the various biblical passages, contain elements found in Zenos's olive tree parable, with the same variety of combinations seen in the Bible. Indeed, some of them have elements of Jacob 5 that are not found in any of the Bible passages. Since Joseph Smith did not have access to these pseudepigraphic books, we conclude that the authors of those works had direct or indirect access to the Zenos parable.

In simple terms: If you find a long self-contained text and a bunch of fragments with elements of that text, you would naturally conclude that the longer one came first rather than being patched together from bits and pieces here and there.

To summarize

• Tree symbolism in the Book of Mormon seems to be based on one of two sources: The tre of life in the Garden of Eden or the olive tree representing the House of Israel originating from either Joseph of Egypt or Zenos.
• Joseph used tree symbolism to prophesy of his posterity. In the Bible it is only found in the form of his patriarchical blessing, but the Book of Mormon teaches us that he also used it in his prophesies contained on the brass plates 
• Presuming Zenos was a descendent of Joseph (the Book of Mormon indicates so), he might have expanded on this symbolism to include the House of Israel and the Gentiles in the allegory in Jacob 5
• Zenos's allegory seems to have been highly influential in the Bible and even the Apocrypha, even though the original source has been lost 

In the next post we will consider the connection between the tree of life and Zenos's olive tree.

Fasting in the Book of Mormon -- Part 5

This is the last part of the series where I look into fasting in the Book of Mormon and compare it with fasting in the Old Testament. Here are the links to the previous four parts of this series.

• Part 1: Introduction and fasting as a sign of grief or mourning
• Part 2: Fasting as a sign of repentance and seeking forgiveness for sin
• Part 3: Fasting as an aid in prayer
• Part 4: Fasting as an experience of the presence of God and endorsement of his messenger

In this post we will look at

• Fasting as an act of ceremonial public worship

This one is quite familiar to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Fasting is often a collective, congregational event, not just personal. We see the same in the Book of Mormon.

Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God. (Alma 6:6)

Behold, now it came to pass that the people of Nephi were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy. (Alma 45:1)

And it came to pass that as the disciples of Jesus were journeying and were preaching the things which they had both heard and seen, and were baptizing in the name of Jesus, it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and fasting (3 Nephi 27:1)

And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. (Moroni 6:5)

Another aspect of the ceremonial worship is fasting as part of the Jewish calendar or required by the law of Moses. While studying this subject, I came across this article exploring the same subject. The following paragraph gives interesting insight:

The only periodic fast prescribed for the Israelites in the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses) occurs on the Day of Atonement, “the tenth day of the seventh month” of the ancient Jewish calendar (the first month of the current Jewish calendar), when the Lord commanded the Israelites to meet together to “afflict [their] souls” (i.e., to fast) and to “offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord” (Leviticus 23:27ff.; see also 16:29, 31; Numbers 29:7–10). There are no references to this festival in the Old Testament outside of the books of Moses, although Isaiah 58:3–7 may refer to abuses of the fast associated with the Day of Atonement.

The observance of the Day of Atonement fast is never explicitly mentioned in the Book of Mormon. However, its observance may be implied in Alma 30:2, where fasting, mourning, and prayer are referred to, and in Alma 45:1, where fasting, rejoicing, and prayer are mentioned as taking place at the beginning of the year, at the time when the Day of Atonement rites were probably observed among the Nephites. This presumption that these two fasts reflect observances associated with the Pentateuch is, I think, strengthened by the observation in Alma 30:3 (following the mention of fasting and associated rites) that “the people did observe to keep the commandments of the Lord; and they were strict in observing the ordinances of God, according to the law of Moses; for they were taught to keep the law of Moses until it should be fulfilled.”

That concludes the series on fasting in the Book of Mormon and how it compares with Old Testament practice. As we have seen, there are many parallels and a few differences. Fasting in general is also mentioned or described more frequently in the Old Testament compared to the Book of Mormon. Still, there is enough in the Book of Mormon to show that this was definitely part of the Nephite culture and religious tradition, which was inherited from ancient Israelite tradition.