Culture: These two verses report the third communication that Lehi received from Yahweh. There is no indication how much time elapsed between the first two visions that formed Lehi’s calling to his prophetic mission and this one. Presumably, he did as commanded and preached to the people of Jerusalem for some time. This third communication, however, marks the end of Lehi’s mission to Jerusalem, and begins his mission to lead his family to the New World.
In 1 Nephi 2:11, Lehi states: “I have dreamed a dream; or in other words, I have seen a vision.” He thus identifies that he received at least these prophetic communications through the medium of dreams, a means that is well-known through the Old Testament. One of the most famous dreamers of the Old Testament is Joseph. Genesis 37:5–10 relates his dream of eventually ruling over his brothers (which led their selling him into Egypt and, eventually, fulfilling the prophetic dream). Joseph also served as Pharaoh’s dream interpreter. The dreams that Joseph interpreted were full of concrete but ambiguous symbolic images: bread, birds, wheat, fat and starving cattle, etc.
Other Old Testament dreamers similarly reported symbols—for example, a Midionite’s dream which his “fellow” correctly interpreted as promising Gideon victory in battle: “And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host” (Judg. 7:13–14).
The tradition of symbolic dreams continued into the New Testament, perhaps culminating with the heavily symbolic Apocalypse of John. The hallmark of the prophetic dream is not Yahweh’s voice uttering a quotable commandment but visual images that the prophet reports in his own words. Lehi apparently fits into this tradition, even though he is the only prophet in the Book of Mormon who is described as receiving dreams. Unfortunately, we do not have complete accounts of his visions and, furthermore, we have only Nephi’s version of what his father said—not a direct report. Nephi’s prophetic mode was quite different from his father’s, more direct and less symbolic.
The difficulty in interpreting symbolic dreams is probably one reason Lehi’s family could not give him full support during times of crisis. Laman, Lemuel, and Sariah all term Lehi a “visionary man” (1 Ne. 2:11, 5:2), and their tone is not one of approval. Even Nephi, who is trusting and believing, struggles to understand his father’s dreams, particularly the dream that commands them to depart. He confesses: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young,… and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers” (1 Ne. 2:16).
Nephi’s later discourse on his father’s dream of the tree of life further indicates that Nephi did not receive revelations through dreams. Thus, his accounts of Lehi’s dreams are typically quite abbreviated, focused on their purpose rather than on their precise content. Of course, his account of Lehi’s tree of life dream is very detailed, but for reasons discussed in the commentary accompanying that dream.