"And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly."
As a group we are curious about the symbolism represented in this event.
We believe that Lehi saw the Lord at this time but we are curious as to why this symbolism is used.
Why doesn't the record simple state that the Lord appeared to Lehi?
What is the importance of the symbolism?
This event is reminiscent of the experience with Moses.
"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the presence of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.(JST Exodus 3: 1-3)
The Lord appeared unto Moses in a bush, giving a sign. Consider the lighted branches of the bush stretching out like a menorah with it's several lit branches representing the tree of life or the family of God.
The original menorahs had six branches and a center candle. John referred to it as a symbol of Christ in the book Revelation.
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches...And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,..." (Revelation 1:10 - 13)
When the children of Israel left Egypt they had a pillar of fire before them representing the Lord.
Lehi, being a devout man, would have knowledge of Moses' and the children of Israel's experiences and therefore would recognize the presence of the divine before him.
Hugh Nibley described the symbol of the pillar of fire resting on a rock.
"The stone of Truth (Maat) in our text is necessarily a shining stone, for "Maat seems to signify 'reality' on one hand, and 'light' on the other...Light created all reality. Maat... is this reality" (Moret, Culte, p. 150). The prehistoric symbol of Maat is the Maat-stone, shaped like a chisel, that being the hieroglyph with which her name is written; the stone was cut in a special way and mounted in the walls of the oldest temples to direct the rays of the sun for ritual purposes. Thus as Prof. Westendorf now informs us, Maat is before all else the conveyer of light, especially the sun's light, to men in holy places (W Westendorf, ZA, 97:143ff). Theophrastus tells us that the King of Egypt received a huge smaragon from the King of Babylon,and that such a gem was set "in the obelisk of Zeus," i.e., the Sun-stone or Benben at Heliopolis, the prehistoric center of solar worship in Egypt (De Lapid., 4, III, 29). The Egyptians who saw in luminosity the very essence of divinity strove to achieve miraculous lighting effects in ritual, covering sacred images with "efflourescent salt of unusual composition" to make them shine (Lucas, in An. Serv., 17:86-88), and making use of luminescent stones that would shine for a while in the dark after being exposed to sunlight (Pliny, Nat. Hist.., XXXVI, 7, 58). (Nibley, Hugh. The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1975, p.122)
Is the symbol meant to draw our minds to an understanding that the Lord is the Light and the Reality of the world; meaning that all things were created by Him and all things are upheld by Him?
Lehi would have understood this symbolism as representing the divine because of his exposure to Egyptian culture which we discussed in a previous post.
We also have the Lord Himself declaring that He is the rock.
"I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity; whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall;..." (Moses 7: 53)
We believe that it is because of Lehi crying unto the Lord for his people that the Lord showed Himself to Lehi precisely because Lehi through his own actions came to the point where he was able to see the Lord as He is because Lehi was now like Him, a "type" of the Lord. He possessed the charity that Mormon was talking about and he was acting as a "type" by seeking to intercede for his people. He is entering in at the gate.
"...the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name." (2 Nephi 9:41)
The record draws a curtain over the details of what Lehi saw at this time . All that we are told is that he, "saw and heard much."
Why are we left not knowing what was communicated?
Are we not allowed to know what went on?
Can we find out what was communicated?
Is it possible that verses like this in the scriptures are an invitation to us to look into things further?
This is reminiscent of what the Prophet Joseph stated concerning heavenly things that both he and Sidney Rigdon had seen in vision.
"But great and marvelous are the works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom which he showed unto us, which surpass all understanding in glory, and in might, and in dominion; which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not lawful for man to utter; Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him; To whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves;..." (D&C 76:114 - 117)
We found this similar to what Paul taught to the Corinthians.
"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. but god hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:7 - 14)
From what both the Apostle Paul and the Prophet Joseph taught we believe that when we see events described in the Book of Mormon like this one with Lehi, where a lot is left untold, that it is an invitation to us to purify ourselves before God and ask to be taught those things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have yet entered into our hearts.
If God is both unchangeable and is no respecter of persons, which we believe both attributes to be true, then if we qualify, like Lehi or Paul or Joseph or anyone else, God will manifest the same mysteries of His kingdom which surpass all understanding in glory, and in might and in dominion to us.
We believe that these things cannot be taught one mortal to another. Joseph declared that these things, "are not lawful for man to utter; Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit,..."
And Paul declared, "...the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."
According to the Prophet Joseph it is necessary for us to come to an understanding of these things here and now if we are going to be able to dwell in the presence of God.
"That through the power and manifestation of the Spirit, while in the flesh, (here and now) they may be able to bear his presence in the world of glory." (D&C 76: 118)
So, in our minds, we have in verse 6 of the first chapter in the Book of Mormon the presentation of a symbol of the Lord, letting us know that it is Him (light and reality) here with Lehi, immediately followed by His invitation to "come and see" (John 1:39) for ourselves what is going on.
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