1 Nephi 8:24 - 8:28

1 Nephi 8:24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.

Here we are told that holding on the rod is what brought people through the mist of darkness to the tree. This is like unto living the Gospel as close as we can so that we recognize false philosophies and false leaders who say they have all the answers. Some people come forth with what seem to be good ideas for solving society ills and many begin to follow them. But only the Gospel has the right answers and the correct doctrines that will bring real and everlasting happiness.

1 Nephi 8:25 And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed.

Now when some had made their way to the tree, even through the mist of darkness, they become ashamed of what they had done. For some reason when they partook of the fruit, they felt that it was not what they perhaps really wanted and became disappointed. When one is disappointed at your efforts, one is now open to effected by ridicule and being made fun of. If you like what you did, ridicule will not deter you from wanting even more of what you accomplished.

1 Nephi 8:26 And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.

Lehi notices that on the other side of the river is a large building and that it stood high in the air. This refers, to me at least, to pride. Pride lifts people to a false sense of their superiority and that they are better than anyone else. Pride is often referred to being lifted up or being better than everyone else and should be listened to and followed. However this is not the ‘lifted up’ that Lord wants us to be aware of. It is being lifted up to eternal life that was obtained when Jesus was ‘lifted up’ on the cross. For us to be lifted up, we too must recognize our sins, repented of them and then be open to the Holy Ghost to teach us the way to be lifted up to eternal life.

1 Nephi 8:27 And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.

The building, symbolic of mortality, contains people of all ages and sex. The main characteristic is their dress. The dress represents their pride and their self sufficiency. They don’t need any help in their efforts to be happy from anyone. They look upon others who are appealing to a god or other spiritual help as silly. And since they cannot prove them wrong and actually know that they are really on the right path to happiness, they can only make fun of them. Mocking is the one of the tools he has to get us to turn away from the gospel. The person who has conviction that he is doing right is unaffected by mocking and feels sorry for the mockers.

1 Nephi 8:28 And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.

After some had tasted of the fruit they began to notice those who were mocking them from the building. The mocking worked and these people began to be ashamed of what they had done. In other words, they were concern what others thought of them and started to doubt their feelings gotten from eating the fruit. How others looked upon them was now more important than the spiritual experience they had just had. As a result they started looking for what the people in the building were holding up as ways to be happy and went after their gods.