“The Fruit of the Tree of Life the Bread and the Waters of Life”

Alan C. Miner

In Alma 5:34 we find a parallelism drawn between “the fruit of the tree of life” and “the bread and the waters of life: ”Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;

According to McConkie and Parry, the bread and the waters of life signify the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In other words, those who partake of this fruit [of the tree of life] are those who have been baptized into the Lord’s true Church (Alma 5:62) and are making Jesus’ atoning sacrifice effective in their lives. This fruit is “most precious and most desirable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (1 Nephi 15:36; Alma 12:21). [Joseph Fielding McConkie & Donald W. Parry, A Guide to Scriptural Symbols, pp. 56-57] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 11:25]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

References