Redaction: The 1879 addition of a chapter break increases our difficulty in reading this text. While 10:22 closed the preceding text (Nephi’s claim of authority from the Holy Ghost), it also introduces what comes next (“For it came to pass… ”). Thus, 11:1 is the evidence of the assertion Nephi makes in 10:22.
Nephi receives a vision of the future. In these chapters he reports that vision using his father’s vision of the tree of life as the structural frame on which he organizes the vision. However, it appears that the vision was of much wider import than simply explaining the tree of life symbolism. Near the end of his life, Nephi will again visit the themes of this vision, but will use passages from Isaiah as the framework to explain them (2 Ne. 25–30). The similarity of the specific prophetic elements is so close to those that will be discussed here that it is certain that both writings are different recountings of the very same vision.
Scripture: Nephi begins to relate a tremendous spiritual experience which begins after Nephi “sat pondering in mine heart.… ” The message underscores the need for initial effort to seek the things of the Spirit.
Symbolism: Nephi is caught away in spirit to an exceedingly high mountain. Lehi’s vision had occurred in a wilderness and a field. So why does Nephi’s vision begin on a mountain? The reason is that mountains are sacred places in Hebrew cosmology. They form a symbolic world axis and therefore serve the same function as the world tree symbol. Mountaintops reach (apparently) into the heavens and are therefore logical places for meetings with Yahweh. Every Israelite understood the significance of Moses’s meeting with Yahweh on Mount Sinai. Thus, in Nephi’s vision being taken to the mountain reinforced Nephi’s understanding that he was having a mystical experience in the company of a divine messenger. Symbolically, Nephi has entered sacred space, a fit place for the presence for the Spirit of the Lord.
Text: Nephi begins to include his own vision of what his father had already seen. Because this vision is triggered by Nephi’s desire to understand his father’s vision, it is structured around the symbols of Lehi’s tree of life dream. In spite of this structuring, it is obvious that the vision includes much more than an explanation of the symbols. Nephi will see a vision of the future of the world, including the birth of the Messiah and the future history of his own people (chapters 11–14).