Nephi's Vision pt. 1

Today's reading encompassed 1 Nephi 10 - 12. For those not familiar with the Book of Mormon, these are the chapters where Nephi desires to see the same vision his father had and is caught up by the Spirit who shows him the vision and an angel who helps him understand it.

1 Nephi 10 is the chapter where Nephi speaks more about the prophecies of his father and about the coming of the Messiah. Chapters 11 - 12 are the first part of his vision. I was struck this morning by the fact that when Nephi said he wanted to know the interpretation of the dream neither the Spirit nor later the angel told him what he wanted to know. Instead they showed him things and allowed him to come to his own conclusions.

For example, when Nephi wanted to know what the tree meant he was first shown Mary, the mother of Jesus, and later Mary holding the infant Jesus. From this he was able to discern that the tree was a representation of the love of God, much as the Savior himself was a gift of love from our Father in Heaven. I was reminded of Mahonri Moriancumr, more commonly known as the brother of Jared, in Ether chapter 2 where he asks the Lord how they will see while they are on their journey across the ocean and the Lord asks him what he thinks should be done. It also brings to mind D&C 9:8 where we are told to not just ask, but make a choice/decision and then ask the Lord if we have chosen right or not.

It is also interesting to note that at the end of chapter 12 the angel does offer up to Nephi the interpretation of 3 things in the vision: the river of filthy waters, the mists of darkness and the great and spacious building. All 3 were the items that had to do with unrighteousness and the devil. I wonder if maybe the angel didn't want Nephi dwelling too much on these items and thus, unlike the other aspects of the dream/vision of allowing him to think on it and come to his own conclusions, just told him the answers so that Nephi would not dwell on it and move on to other more wholesome aspects of his vision. I don't have the answer to my own question but to me, my thought has the ring of truth to it. Until next time.