1 Nephi 8

Lehi partakes of the most desirable fruit and is filled with joy

This chapter deserves much more time, perhaps even a life time of study, but this morning a few things stood out to me.  First thing: if you find yourself in a dark and dreary wilderness, and you decide to pray, and a man dressed in a white robe appears to you and bids you to follow him, I can't help but suppose that it would be a good thing to do as he says.  There are probably a lot of speculations about who this man in a white robe was that appeared to Lehi.  I wonder if it was the Lord.  I wonder if it was the pre-mortal future author of the Book of Revelation.  Whoever it was, he asked Lehi to follow him, and Lehi obeyed.  Curiously, however, Lehi wasn't immediately led to something better after he prayed.  He was led, even with all of the tender mercies of the Lord, first to a dark and dreary waste.  Then after he prayed, he was led to a large and spacious field, after which he beheld a tree.  Answers to our prayers don't always come immediately.

If it was the Lord that led Lehi to the tree of life, it is an interesting parallel to Nephi's later vision in which the Spirit of the Lord leads Nephi for a time, and then delegates the rest of the vision to an angel.  The man in a white robe (think of Lehi's earlier vision of the twelve and the One), leads Lehi to the field (the world), and shows him the tree.  But then where is the man in the white robe?  Is this similar to Nephi's vision?  Once Lehi sees the tree, as far as I can tell, we read no more about the man in the white robe.  Maybe there is a reason for this.

Whatever the case, the tree, and the fruit thereof, are spectacularly white and beautiful.  The fruit is exceedingly delicious.  It is the most desirable fruit.

There is just too much in this vision, in this chapter.  Maybe I'll spend another day on it, or another couple of days.  Or a week.  It's just too good.