One may wonder: Did Nephi go up to an actual mountain or was he just taken there in spirit? Perhaps both. It may well be that as he pondered on his father’s visions and dreams, Nephi wanted to get away from the group’s base camp, and so he went into a nearby mountain or high place. It was common for Jesus to go to the mountains and there to pray and receive transfiguring manifestations.
Back in chapter 2, the Lord told Nephi that he would be a ruler and a teacher over his brothers (1 Nephi 2:22), and that word from the Lord was confirmed by the angel speaking to Nephi and his three brothers (1 Nephi 3:29). That calling would have weighed heavily on Nephi’s mind. So when he wanted to see what his father saw in vision, it was likely because Nephi knew that the Lord had called him to do something meaningful. Nephi testified, "I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7). How could Nephi accomplish the task of correctly ruling over his elder brothers without seeing what his father saw—without understanding that vision and prophetic perspective?
Nephi puts his account of this vision at the very center of his first book written on his small plates. There are twenty-two chapters in 1 Nephi, and the entire book appears to have been arranged as a chiasm, where elements in the first part of the book are reversed and then repeated in the second part (See Figure).
A | Lehi prophesies warnings of destruction to the Jews and foresees the mercy of God (Chapter 1) | ||||||||||
| B | Lehi’s group departs from Jerusalem (2:2–15) | |||||||||
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| C | Nephi establishes himself over his brothers by obtaining the Plates of Brass (2:16–4:38) | ||||||||
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| D | The sword of fine steel (4:9) | |||||||
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| E | Sariah’s concern (5:1–9) | ||||||
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| F | The Plates of Brass as a guide (5:10–6:6) | |||||
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| G | The sons of Lehi get the daughters of Ishmael and Ishmael joins the group (7:1–5, 22) | ||||
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| H | Nephi bound with cords in the wilderness (7:6–21) | |||
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| I | Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life (8:1–38) | ||
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| J | Lehi prophesies about the Old World and about the coming of the Lamb (10:1–22) | |
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| K | Nephi and the Spirit of the Lord (11:1–36) |
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| J | Nephi prophesies about the New World and the coming of the Lamb (12:1–14:30) | |
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| I | Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life interpreted (15:1–36) | ||
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| G | The sons of Lehi marry the daughters of Ishmael and Ishmael dies (16:1–8, 34–35) | ||||
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| F | The Brass Ball as a guide (16:9–17, 26–33) | |||||
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| D | The bow of fine steel (16:18) | |||||||
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| C | Nephi establishes himself over his brothers by building a ship (17:1–18:4) (3:7; cf. 17:3) | ||||||||
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| H | Nephi bound with cords on the ship (18:11–16, 20–21) | |||
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| E | Sariah’s afflictions (18:17–19) | ||||||
| B | Lehi’s group arrives at the Promised Land (18:23–25) | |||||||||
A | Nephi prophesies concerning the fate of the Jews and concerning the mercy of the Lord unto the afflicted (chapters 19–22) | ||||||||||
Figure Chiastic Structure of 1 Nephi.
The central point of a chiasm usually contains its most important or pivotal concept. It is thus significant that chapter 11—the center point of First Nephi and its chiastic structure—contains Nephi’s vision of the coming of the Lord, of the tree of life, of the iron rod, and the relation of various groups to the Tree of Life, which Nephi understands is a representation of the love of God as manifested by Jesus.
For Nephi, this was likely the most critical vision he ever received, and it proved foundational for him. It can be seen as a kind of Sacred Grove or Sacred Mountain experience for him. That kind of magnitude, allowing Nephi to understand things of the Spirit more fully and in a way that he had never experienced before, made this vision the focus of his first book.