1 Nephi 11:8 - 11:12

1 Nephi 11:8 And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow.

So the first thing Nephi sees is the tree. It is as his father had described it. The whiteness of it was above that of driven snow. I am going to assume that the whiteness referred to the glow and not the actual color of the leaves, limbs, or the trunk, but I could be wrong. The tree is described as ‘beautiful. I have seen trees that did look beautiful to me while others had no such appeal.

1 Nephi 11:9 And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is precious above all.

Nephi tells the Spirit what he has seen. The tree being so beautiful that it made it of great value as does all beautiful things do.

1 Nephi 11:10 And he said unto me: What desirest thou?

Now another curious teaching technique, the Spirit asks him what he wants to know now? I wonder if Nephi is again a little frustrated because the Spirit does know, indeed, what Nephi wants to know. I assume that one of the questions Nephi had or that he was pondering on before he was taken to the mountain was what the tree represented.

Anyway there is the idea that one must voice what he is searching for so that when the answer is presented that he will know what question was answered and not wonder if the Spirit has misinterpreted what Nephi was looking for. The Spirit will only tell him what he asked for and nothing else unless he tells him what to be on the lookout for.

1 Nephi 11:11 And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof—for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.

Nephi asks what the tree presented, what concept it stood for. Nephi further tells us about the Spirit he is speaking to. He is in the form of a man. He is not a whisk of smoke or a form not known to Nephi but a man. In addition, Nephi is talking to him like two people do when conversing. Nephi knew he was speaking to the Spirit of the Lord.

1 Nephi 11:12 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look! And I looked as if to look upon him, and I saw him not; for he had gone from before my presence.

Nephi was looking at the Spirit of the Lord when he asked the question, but now disappears to show him another vision. I assume that he does not want Nephi to concentration of him but the new vision that is now before Nephi.