For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me. (Jarom 1:2)
Scripture, as we know, can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. Individuals, cultures, and religious traditions can and do read scripture literally, historically, theologically, metaphorically, culturally, etc. While the post-Enlightenment Western Christian world (especially conservative Protestantism) developed an affinity for literalism and historicity, it is important to keep in mind that this is a fairly recent development. For most of Christian history, it was taken as a given that Bible was to be read and interpreted metaphorically or theologically, certainly not literally (see here, here, and here, e.g.).
These past two months the LDS adult Sunday School curriculum has focused on 1 Nephi in the Book the Mormon. This chapter tells the familiar story of how Lehi and his family left Jerusalem, tarried in the wilderness, crossed the ocean, and arrived in the American continent (the “Promised Land”). While most Mormons read this narrative with a literal/historical frame of mind, what might be gained by looking at this narrative through a more metaphorical or theological lens?
Here’s one way that the “Nephi story”’ might be interpreted in a non-literal fashion: as a “type and a shadow” of the Josephine Plan of Salvation. After all, Mormons often argue that scriptural prophets are a “type of Christ.” What might the traditional Nephi story look like when we read Nephi as Jesus and then carry the analogy even further?
One possible interpretation might look something like this:
NEPHI: Jesus
LAMAN AND LEMUEL: Those of us who “kick against the pricks.” Laman and Lemuel were also “born of goodly parents” but ultimately chose not to follow their brother Nephi.
SAM AND OTHER SIBLINGS: Those of us why try our best to follow Jesus. Sam and other siblings were faithful to Nephi and followed his lead.
JERUSALEM: The premortal existence. After all, ancient Hebrews believed that Yahweh dwelt in the temple in Jerusalem. Just as Lehi and his family left the city with the temple where God dwelt, so do we as spirits leave the premortal sphere were our Heavenly Parents dwell.
WILDERNESS: The “lone and dreary world,” our second estate mortal earth existence.
LIAHONA: The words of Christ / Holy Spirit. (This interpretation is explicitly given in the Book of Mormon.)
BOUNTIFUL: The spirit world. (A brief place of rest before the final leg of the journey.)
OCEAN: Sin and death. (Obstacles on the path to the Promised Land that we’re not able to overcome on our own.)
BOAT: The Atonement. (The vehicle that enables us to overcome the obstacle separating us from the Promised Land.)
THE STORM: The Passion of Christ, or potentially also a foreshadowing of the storm that would hit the New World at the time of Christ’s death according to the Book of Mormon.
PROMISED LAND: The Celestial Kingdom / ultimate reconciliation with our Heavenly Parents.
With this in mind, what if we read Nephi story like this: Lehi and his family (all of us / the human family) leave the place where God dwelt (Jerusalem / preexistence) to travel in the wilderness (earth life / “lone and dreary world”) for a number of years. The Liahona (Holy Spirit) guides them in their journey. At the end of their journey, they reach a place where they are able to rest for a time (Bountiful / spirit world). They are unable to get across the ocean (sin and death) by their own efforts, though, so Nephi (Jesus) builds them a boat (works out the Atonement and Resurrection) to carry them over the ocean (overcome sin and death) to the Promised Land (Celestial Kingdom).
Consider also these passages:
1 Nephi 18:11 And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness; nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he might show forth his power, unto the fulfilling of his word which he had spoken concerning the wicked.
“Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords” – when was Jesus bound with cords? Or at least, when were types of Jesus bound with cords in the Old Testament narratives? (Some examples: here, here.)
1 Nephi 18:15 And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me, and loosed the bands which were upon my wrists, and behold they had swollen exceedingly; and also mine ankles were much swollen, and great was the soreness thereof.
Interesting that Nephi was “swollen exceedingly” after being bound by his brothers specifically at his wrists and ankles during the time they were on the boat overcoming the obstacle of the ocean… What analogy might we readily read into this?
2 Nephi 2:24 Rebel no more against your brother, whose views have been glorious, and who hath kept the commandments from the time that we left Jerusalem; and who hath been an instrument in the hands of God, in bringing us forth into the land of promise; for were it not for him, we must have perished with hunger in the wilderness; nevertheless, ye sought to take away his life; yea, and he hath suffered much sorrow because of you.
This is Lehi speaking to Laman and Lemuel. How might this passage be interpreted using the narrative framework outlined above?
2 Nephi 4:11 And after he had made an end of speaking unto them, he spake unto Sam, saying: Blessed art thou, and thy seed; for thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother Nephi. And thy seed shall be numbered with his seed; and thou shalt be even like unto thy brother, and thy seed like unto his seed; and thou shalt be blessed in all thy days.
This is Lehi’s final blessing to Sam. How might this be interpreted using the framework outlined above? Sam is (hopefully) us, Nephi is Jesus. What particular Mormon theological belief may be represented with the phrase “thou shalt be even like unto thy brother”? Or “thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother Nephi”?
Now, the skeptic/agnostic in me must candidly admit that this all may simply be a coincidence. Or that the similarity between the two narratives may be indicative of larger arch-typical structures underlying most epic narratives that gifted story-tellers (like Joseph Smith) have a keen ability to channel.
Or perhaps Joseph the Seer was tapping into something a little more profound as he dictated this portion of the text of the Book of Mormon.
Try pulling that out of your hat.[1]
[FN1] Get it?
Benjamin Knoll
Benjamin Knoll was an active PermaBlogger at Rational Faiths from 2015-2020. At the time, he was a political science professor at a liberal arts college in central Kentucky. He's since changed careers and now works in the private sector, running business survey research projects. Born and raised a seventh-generation Mormon (on his mother's side), he is now an active Episcopalian who earned a Diploma in Anglican Studies from Bexley-Seabury Seminary in 2022. Indeed, we may say that he follows that admonition of Joseph Smith—that we should "embrace all, and every item of truth, without limitation or without being circumscribed or prohibited by the creeds or superstitious notions of men, or by the dominations of one another, when that truth is clearly demonstrated to our minds, and we have the highest degree of evidence of the same."
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I really liked this extended metaphor. I never thought of it this way. Thanks Benjamin
This has been noted before. It’s called the Exodus Cycle, and various actors, both corporate and individual, re-enact it throughout history as orchestrated by God. Basically, you first start out in a wicked place (Egypt, Babylon, etc.), leave it, cross a water barrier (for example, see 1 Cor 10:1-4), and are led through a wilderness (and fed there) by the Spirit to the Promised Land. Moses and Israel initiated this, and the same cycle applies to Lehi, Christ (who was sent to Egypt to fulfill a prophecy that God would “call my Son out of Egypt” as recorded in Matt 2:15 and Hosea 11:1), the Latter-day Saints (who crossed a frozen Mississippi and later had quail report en masse for dinner) – and to each of us individually.
I bring it up when I teach when applicable. It is one key to understanding history and the Gospel and the scriptures. There is no contradiction or tension between the “big” salvation picture and its historical occurrences as recorded in scripture or experienced in our lives. It is not either/or; both the theology and the historical actors and their experiences are real. God orchestrates this.
You can read more in the April 1987 Ensign, under “Research and Perspectives”, wherein it is noted:
“Nephi’s familiarity with the Exodus story is paralleled by his apparent familiarity with the exodus cycle as a literary pattern. The exodus cycle is the pattern of enslavement and divine rescue used often in the Bible and in other Jewish writings. The Exodus from Egypt becomes a type for other episodes in Israelite history. . .The final testimony of the exodus of the last days is the same as the testimony of the exodus from Egypt and the exodus from Jerusalem: “All flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” (1 Ne. 21:26; Isa. 49:26.). . . Nephi’s use of the Exodus shows that he freely used Hebrew literary methods. His writing in 1 Nephi is full of Hebrew substructures, Hebrew forms of prophetic speech, Hebrew typologies, Hebrew rhetoric, and Hebrew literary motifs. It is truly a record that ‘consists of the learning of the Jews.’”
Joseph Smith didn’t make this stuff up; he translated it.
A fuller, extended scholarly discussion is also given in BYU Studies 30:3 (Summer 1990) by S. Kent Brown, “The Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon.” It was later reprinted by the Religious Studies Center.