So I know this sounds a bit "grasping", but what an interesting way to start the chapter. I had never caught this verse before, and frankly, on it's own it seems to have neither place nor relevance to the topic of the chapter. Why in the world did Nephi think . . . or why did Mormon think, to place that scripture right there? It's like dropped in out of the sky. Unless you think Nephi is actually being clever, and setting our minds up for the conversation about the tree, and the seeds, and the deliciousness of fruit. After all, it's a chapter about the tree, the delicious fruit, etc. Very crafty, Nephi - well done.
Now, this is a thought I've had in the past but I think it bears writing. One of the interesting ideas to me in this chapter is the idea of the great and spacious building. After all, for most it really is an idea, not really an option. We read in this chapter that people were desirous to join the great and spacious building, but from what I can tell, for most that pursuit results, almost always, really didn't work out. Verse 23 says they did 'lose their way, and they wandered off, and were lost. It also teaches 32 that "many were drowned", and "many were lost, wandering in strange roads".
I really think this is deliberately trying to help us understand that in many ways, this "great and spacious building" is really not a thing that is accessible to most people. It looks awesome for those who are attracted, insecure, and the idea of accomplishing that feels like maybe it will fill the void. But the fact is that these are simply ideas that we see all over in media, in social groups, etc. THey are concepts that people portray as what you should do to be like the proverbial 'them', however it turns out that you can't be one of 'them' because they aren't actually real, or at a minimum they are nothing near what they purport to be. It's a satanic ruse to draw you from the path. for some reason I often think of celebrities and movie stars - the holllywood crowd - who are pushing an image and life as if people can go have that. Well that truth is 2 fold. One is simply that no, most people whatever they do, however hard they try, they can buy all the clothes, do the right things, wear the right Makeup, go to the right clubs, use the right cool jargon, but they will just be people in the end, completely lost in the pursuit of trying to be . . . The second is more obvious, but simply it is that wickedness indeed is not happiness. Hollywood romance and much more marriage itself, have a shelf life something akin to chickens hanging around a crocodile farm. Short, and with an ugly ending. Celebrity seems to be like a live facebook stream. People showing the part that is enviable, not disclosing the parts that are not as attractive.
In general, a lesson to take to heart is that we simply can't be chasing things that are empty but find a way of attracing our attention. We have to remember what is real is only the things we know to be real, things that we have felt and caused us to "sing the song of redeeming love". A pursuit of those things indeed can and will end as we pray they will. They are not empty promises, they have proved themselves time and time again to be the source of joy and happiness.
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