Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 11: "Looky-Loo"
Chapter Summary:
Nephi sees the Spirit of the Lord and is shown in vision the tree of life--He sees the mother of the Son of God and learns of the condescension of God--He sees the baptism, ministry, and crucifixion of the Lamb of God--He sees also the call and ministry of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. About 600–592 B.C.
This chapter is essentially a retelling of Chapter 8 where Lehi saw the "Tree of Life" in a dream, however this time it is Nephi's turn. First, Nephi is taken by the "Spirit of god" to a super high mountain, where the Spirit asks Nephi what he desires. As one might guess, Nephi says that he desires to see his father's vision of the Tree of Life. The Spirit then asks if Nephi believes his father saw the tree, and, of course, the ever-trusting Nephi says he "believes all the words of his father". He doesn't provide a reason, but as one will recall from an earlier chapter, an angel appeared to Nephi and basically told him that Lehi is a prophet. This is very common for Mormons: take a spiritual experience and extend it to unrelated things (such as other people's visions) as some kind of proof which warrants faith in whatever it is they want to believe. Never mind attempting to verify the spiritual experience (i.e. How does one positively identify an angel?); simply having such an experience is sufficient for belief.
After Nephi affirms his belief in anything his father says without question, the Spirit rather oddly exclaims: "Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God; for he is God over all the earth, yea, even above all. And blessed art thou, Nephi, because thou believest in the Son of the most high God; wherefore, thou shalt behold the things which thou hast desired." There are so many things wrong with this. First, why is the Spirit of god praising god? It seems redundant even if one buys into the notion that god and the Spirit of god are separate beings--they are still part of the same godhead, as Mormons call it. Second, at no point did Nephi profess a belief in the "Son of the most high God." All he said was that he believes everything that Lehi says. Third, why on earth is the spirit walking Nephi through the vision? Did the spirit afford Lehi the same courtesy?
It occurred to me that Joseph Smith may have realized that many of the symbols in the vision are not readily apparent to the average reader, and having a second character see the same vision would allow him a chance to spell things out to the reader (not unlike the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future walking Ebenezer Scrooge through his various Christmases). It is not for the benefit of Nephi, who presumably would have discussed the symbolism with Lehi, thereby fueling his desire to experience the vision, as it were, in person. No, this literary device is for the lay reader.
In Verse 7, rather interestingly, the Spirit tells Nephi that this vision will be a "sign" of the coming of the son of god (Jesus), to which Nephi will be a witness by way of the vision. This implies that visions are as good as the real thing and should totally be taken seriously. Seriously? Even if Nephi had seen an entirely redundant vision, in what way would it make him a witness of anything?
A quick aside, I found it humorous that Nephi, a native of Jerusalem, would describe the whiteness of the fruit of the Tree of Life as exceeding "the whiteness of the driven snow". Perhaps Nephi is more savvy to world climates and forms of precipitation that the average young bronze-age Palestinian desert-dwelling lad. Perhaps...
For some inexplicable reason, in verse 11 Nephi feels the need to clarify that the Spirit speaks to him as a man and in the form of a man. Is this really necessary? This is a symbolic vision. The Spirit could take the form of a seven-headed cowboy boot and speak to Nephi as a colonial slave-trader with siphilus and a chipped tooth and it wouldn't make a lick of difference to the meaning of the vision, or to the nature of god. Do I really need to spell this out? Visions are different from reality!
Nothing else in this vision is literal, so why would Nephi emphasize this characteristic of the Spirit of god? Because this reinforces the concept of the godhead held by believing Mormons who read this as an historical text (the Holy Ghost is a separate, male spirit-being, who will one day get a body, you know, after Judgment Day and all that). Again, Joseph Smith is leading his audience to a conclusion which seems internally consistent, revelatory, revolutionary and which confirms his story of being called of god to start yet another Christian religion. It is small things like the nature of the godhead which set apart Mormons from other sects of Christianity. And why should any thinking-person buy into it? Because, as Mormons will tell you, it makes you feel good, therefore, it is of god. Although, this form of verification can only be used to affirm Mormonism. Don't bother trying it on another religion, science, superstitions, aliens, Bigfoot or new age woo. And no matter how good I may feel thinking about it, I will never be able to move objects using "The Force".
The rest of the chapter is a semi-clever tying-in of the various symbols in the vision to various events recorded in the New Testament about the life of Jesus. It is all spelled out neatly for your reading pleasure. And Nephi, not being one to disappoint, repeatedly says that he does "witness and bear record" of everything being shown to him. But, of course, nothing he claims to be a witness of really matters because he only saw it in a vision, so what good is it to anybody else?
Really, this is all just another attempt by Joseph Smith to borrow the authority of the New Testament (at least for Christians) by retro-fitting events recorded in the New Testament as though they were prophecies in the Book of Mormon. Do you believe it now?