1 Nephi 11:9-13

Brant Gardner

Nephi has two guides in his vision, where Lehi had only one. Lehi’s guide, described as a man in a white robe, took him on a journey. That guide is not mentioned after Lehi begins his vision. Nephi has a guide, identified as the Spirit of the Lord. As with Lehi’s initial guide, we hear no more about him when the vision unfolds.

Lehi had traveled through a wilderness, Nephi is taken to a mountain. Lehi’s dream is more about his family, hence the introduction of traveling in darkness through a wilderness would be similar to the experience his family would have traveling in a desert. Nephi is taken to a sacred mountain.

Lehi’s guide is no longer mentioned. Nephi specifically indicates that his initial guide “had gone from before my presence.”

For both, the vision unfolds. However, where Lehi sees the tree immediately, Nephi’s vision will introduce the tree only as an expression of the love of God, which love is demonstrated as the vision opens by showing Nephi familiar locations. In one location, he sees a virgin, who is “fair and white.” The discussion of what fair and white might mean in Nephi and Jacob is the subject of later comments, but it should be noted here that it is unlikely to refer to skin pigment, as the expectation would be that the pigmentation would be what Nephi expected of his countrymen and women.

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