Sweet Fruit and Bitter Fruit
We were talking about Isaiah proclaiming woe for those who call sweet bitter and bitter sweet and somehow the conversation revealed that we had opposite interpretations of this passage from Lehi
15 And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/2?lang=eng
I interpreted the tree of life as sweet and the tree of knowledge as bitter. She interpreted them the opposite.
I because of this passage in Lehi’s dream
And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng
She because of how the tree of knowledge is described in certain places, and because Christ to give us life had to drink a bitter cup. And also because of the word order in Lehi’s construction.
Huh.
E.C.
June 26, 2023
Honestly, while one of them was sweet and the other bitter, I have always wondered if that was simply stages of ripeness, which would explain the incongruity in certain passages. But also I tend to believe Lehi, who made it pretty clear that the tree of life’s fruit is incredibly sweet. But in the end, I do not actually know.
Cameron
June 27, 2023
E.C., I think most people make this mental connection between the dream and the actual garden events (which like most scripture are both literal and symbolic), but I’m not sure the scriptures do. So it’s possible both are true (sweet vision tree of life fruit and bitter garden tree of life fruit).
Jacob G.
June 28, 2023
I would assume the word order to be Chiasmatic:
1-2, 2-1 not parallel 1-2, 1-2 as our modern default.
JRL in AZ
June 30, 2023
I thought that Alma 12:21-26 explained why the tree of knowledge of good and evil was sweet but the tree of life was bitter. Also, I am pretty sure that the tree of life in the garden was an actual tree, while the tree of life in Lehi’s dream was a symbol. That’s what I’ve always thought.
JRL in AZ
June 30, 2023
But I also really like E.C.’s suggestion about ripeness. That’s a great insight.