According to Joseph Allen, the chiastic style of prophetic writing found in the Bible is also found in the Book of Mormon. What is interesting is that it also appears in Maya writings and engravings (see Illustrations: example 4,5). Although the chiasmus pattern is more immediately visible in picture form than in writing, it is easily apparent when the key words are placed in a picture-like structure. [Joseph L. Allen, “Hebrew Chiasmus,” in Book of Mormon Archaeological Digest, Vol. 1/1, Spring 1998, p. 3]
1 Nephi 8:2 I have seen a vision (Stela 5--Chiastic Structure) [Illustration]: Example 5: The Tree of Life Stone at Izapa (Stela 5) [Joseph L. Allen, “Hebrew Chiasmus,” in Book of Mormon Archaeological Digest, Vol. 1/1, Spring 1998, p. 3]
1 Nephi 8:2 I have seen a vision (Maya Tree of Life Chiastic Structure) [[Illustration] Example 4: The Tablet of the Cross [Joseph L. Allen, “Hebrew Chiasmus,” in Book of Mormon Archaeological Digest, Vol. 1/1, Spring 1998, p. 3]
“I Have Dreamed a Dream or in Other Words I Have Seen a Vision”
According to Daniel Peterson, when Lehi says, “I have dreamed a dream; or in other words I have seen a vision” (1 Nephi 8:2) not only is the first part of the sentence of Semitic construction (a perfect cognate accusative) but also the second part, “I have seen a vision” (though we lose something in English). You have to remember that English is based on two different languages. English is a hybrid of a sort of Latin or French with a Germanic language--the Anglo-Saxons and then the Norman Conquest, of course. So you have two different words for many things, a sort of low Germanic word and a high Latin-style word… . With the words “I have seen a vision”--what he’s really saying is “I have seen a seeing.” The Latin word seeing was related to the word for vision, and you have a related German word, sehen, or “I have seen a vision,” using the Latin word. But in the original it was probably something like: “Behold I have dreamed a dream; or in other words, I have seen a seeing.” so I use this verse in the Book of Mormon in my Arabic grammar class, just to make a point to the students. Now, I ask you how a nineteenth-century farm boy could have come up with something like that, which is a perfect illustration of an Arabic grammatical point. Probably he did a lot of his work in the graduate school there at Palmyra University--well, of course there wasn’t such a place. And there was no such Joseph Smith. This came to him via another route, not through academic study. [Daniel C. Peterson, “A Scholar Looks at Evidences for the Book of Mormon,” F.A.R.M.S., p. 30-31]
“My Father Lehi Spake Unto Us Saying I Have Seen a Vision”
In an article about Lehi’s vision, Alan Parrish explains that in the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ -is introduced in the twin visions of the Tree of Life given to the book’s leading characters, Lehi and Nephi. Following these visions, they taught their families about the life and ministry of Christ… . The two accounts extend over sixteen of the fifty-two pages of 1 Nephi (31 percent). [Alan Parrish, “Stela 5, Izapa: A Layman’s Consideration of the Tree of Life Stone,” in First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, p. 125]
This Tree of Life symbolism is extremely important for its doctrinal aspects (over 16 different references throughout the book). It is also the subject of a geographical and cultural correlation in Mesoamerica. Some years ago a monument was unearthed at the ancient ruins of Izapa, located on the Pacific coast between Mexico and Guatemala. Of the over 80 monuments, or stelas, in the area, this monument was to become the most prominent. Since Izapa was an important religious center between 600 B.C. and A.D. 400 (Book of Mormon years), there was added significance to the fact that on the face of this 15-ton stone was represented a very complex and detailed portrayal of what appeared to be a Tree of Life scene.
In 1951, Dr. Wells Jakeman, the chairman of the Archaeology Department at B.Y.U., proposed that this monument (Stela 5) was a representation of Lehi’s dream. Jakeman theorized that if people wanted to portray Lehi’s account of the Tree of Life, with its many persons and movements, in complex interrelationship, they would have encountered some real problems, especially if attempting to portray it on stone. How would their artists have gone about it? The best method, probably, would have been for them to select a point in that account when most of the features were stationary; i.e., not the vision itself in actual progress, but the occasion of its telling by Lehi to his family. In a publication entitled Stela 5, Izapa, Chiapas Mexico, A Major Archaeological Discovery of the New World, Jakeman thoroughly analyzed the stone, basing his approach on a quote of Dr. Alfred L. Kroeber, a leading authority on anthropological theory and method, which states: “a complex device used in two or more parts of the world suggests a connection between them in very proportion to its complexity. A combination of two or even three elements might conceivably have been repeated independently, [but] a combination of five or ten parts serving an identical purpose in an identical manner must necessarily appear as impossible of having been hit upon more than once. One thinks almost under compulsion, in such a case, of historical connection” (pp. 76-77).
Jakeman identified 114 points of agreement in the 23 correspondences between the Stela 5 scene and the culture from which Lehi would have come from according to the Book of Mormon account.
In 1958, Wells Jakeman published a much more detailed reanalysis of the carving, along with a more extensive interpretation, entitled The Complex “Tree-Of-Life” Carving on Izapa Stela 5. While Jakeman’s analysis was fascinating for its time, it lacked a more complete Mesoamerican perspective. However, because of its focus on links to the Near Eastern cultures of Lehi’s time, it is worth reading.
Between 1961 and 1965, the New World Archaeological Foundation of Brigham Young University carried out large-scale excavations at the ruins of Izapa. Many additional sculptures came to light, which prompted the Mexican government to make the ruins an archaeological park, and the site is now conveniently accessible, from the nearby town of Tapachula, to tourists.
Between 1973 and 1976, Garth Norman added to the archaeological literature on Izapa an important interpretive study entitled Izapa Sculpture. It contains a 75-page chapter called “The Supernarrative Stela 5.” With this work, and with subsequent research yet to be published, Norman has brought a much more detailed Mesoamerican perspective to the symbolism surrounding Stela 5.
According to Joseph Allen (Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 118), to this day, many consider Stela 5 to be the most significant discovery in relationship to the Book of Mormon.
1 Nephi 8:2 I have seen a vision ([Illustration] Features of the Izapa Tree-of-Life Scene. Drawing reproduction by the writer. For a brief correlation of some of the more important figures: (1) Lehi with the jawbone nameglyph, (2) Sariah with a symbolic headdress, (3) Nephi writing on a book with a stylus, (4) Sam holding an umbrella (11) over the figure of Nephi as a symbol of rulership, (5) Laman with his back to the tree of life and with smoke from the altar blinding him, (6) Lemuel with his back to the tree of life, (14) the rod of iron leading to the tree of life, (15) the Tree of Life with its white fruit, (17 & 18) Angels or cherubim guarding the tree, (19) the heavens, (23) filthy water with the head a little way off. [Wells Jakeman, Stela 5, Izapa, plate 5]