Symbolism in the Book of Mormon

One of the differences between the Savior’s teachings at Bountiful among the Nephites in 3 Nephi 12-14 and the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5:29/3 Nephi 12:29-30.  To the people at Jerusalem the Savior said, “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”  The Book of Mormon account reads this way: “Behold, I give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart; For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell.”  Why would they be different when so much of the two sermons are the same? 

One possible explanation is that the Savior was conscious of the fact that the Nephite society was not as used to symbolic language.  When He told the Jews at Jerusalem to pluck out their right eye, He obviously didn’t mean for that to be taken literally.  The Jews who were very used to symbolism would have understood what He meant.  But the Nephite society was not as used to symbolism, and perhaps the Lord didn’t use the same language as at Jerusalem because He didn’t want there to be any question about what He meant.  The Book of Mormon account in general contains much less symbolism than the Bible.  We have symbolic language in the Bible such as the Savior’s parables, John’s book of Revelation, much of the gospel of John (e.g. Bread of Life, Good Shepherd), and a lot of the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament such as Isaiah and Ezekiel.  It seems that the reason the Book of Mormon has so much less is a result of a choice that Nephi made.  He emphasized that his soul delighted in plainness to his people and that “I, Nephi, have not taught my children after the manner of the Jews” (2 Nephi 25:6).  For the most part the writers and prophets after Nephi did not use symbolism to teach the people.  There are, however, several sections that are highly symbolic like many passages in the Bible.  These include Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, Nephi’s vision of great and abominable church, Jacob’s quotation of the allegory of the olive tree, Alma’s discussion on faith in Alma 32, and Alma’s teachings about what the Liahona represented in Alma 37.  There are perhaps a few others that I’m not thinking about, but for the most part the stories and teachings of the Nephi prophets were “plain” and typically not couched in symbolism.  What’s interesting to me, though, is how the literal events of the book have become very symbolic to us as we read and seek to apply the book to our lives.  For example, it’s easy to see the Lehite and Jaredite voyages across the sea as representing our own journeys through mortality.  As we read of Moroni’s incredible fortifications that he prepared in the war between the Nephites and Lamanites, we are naturally led to think of the need we have to prepare ourselves spiritually for the future.  The brother of Jared’s story about the 16 stones is full of symbolism waiting to be seen and applied to our own lives.  The Nephite history of Helaman and 3 Nephi is representative of the kinds of events that we should expect in the last days.  Even those of us who have never been to war, we can easily see the symbolism of the story of the stripling warriors and how we need to stay obedient in the fight against sin.  There are certainly many other examples that could be cited in the Book of Mormon, and I think that its plain language and stories make the book fertile ground for those looking for symbolic stories that teach gospel principles.  So though Nephi did not pass on his knowledge or the ways of the Jewish culture, following his teaching to “liken all scriptures” to ourselves as we read the literal stories of the Book of Mormon allows us to find powerful symbolism and application of the text for our own lives.