•  In this section Nephi sees the church of the Lamb in the last days.  How would this knowledge be helpful to Nephi in his day.  How can these verses help you? 

• Why does the Lord use so much figurative imagery in the scriptures?
• Why does the Lord use so much symbolic language to teach His children?
• Why does He not just say clearly what He wants them to know?

(C-3) Why Does the Lord Use So Much Figurative Imagery in the Scriptures?

Why does the Lord use so much symbolic language to teach His children? Why does He not just say clearly what He wants them to know? While one probably cannot understand all of the Lord’s purposes for using symbolism to teach His children, the following reasons seem to be important:

(C-4) Symbolic language and imagery have the power to convey important truths through many languages and cultures with great power and impact. A figurative image can provide powerful teaching impact. For example, in the midst of lengthy prophecies of judgment upon Israel, Isaiah gave what at first seems to be a difficult and obscure passage: “Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

“Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

“When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

“For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

“For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

“Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

“This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” (Isaiah 28:23–29.)

The imagery Isaiah used unfolds a lesson with great teaching power. Isaiah used the symbol of a farmer and how he deals with his fields and crops to show the purposes of God. Israel is the field of Jehovah. Because of her wickedness and apostasy she has become hardened and incapable of producing much fruit. As the husbandman plows the soil, breaking up the hardness with the blade and turning over the soil in preparation for planting, so the judgments and punishments sent upon the covenant people are the plow and the harrow of God (compare Mormon’s commentary in Helaman 12:1–6 on the nature of God’s children). But note Isaiah’s question, “Does the plowman plow all day to sow?” The answer is no. The plowman does not plow the field over and over and over. He plows just enough to prepare the soil for planting the fitches, the cummin (two kinds of herbs) and the wheat.

Likewise, in the image of the farmer threshing his crops is illustrated the divine discretion of God. Different crops are threshed in different ways. Wheat is threshed with a threshing sled, a heavy instrument dragged behind an ox or a donkey. But other means are used to thresh the more tender fitches and cummin, which would be destroyed by that much weight. So it is with God. His punishments are not sent just to grind the people to destruction. If the wickedness of the people requires only the beating “with the staff,” then that is all the Lord sends. If a heavier form of threshing is required, then it is sent. In some extreme cases, such as those of the Flood or of Sodom and Gomorrah, the fields may have to be burned completely so that a new crop can be started.

The Lord could have explained in a more straightforward manner the way He deals with His rebellious children, listing point by point what He wanted all His children to know. But there is more power in imagery than there is in a list. And the power of that imagery carries through numerous translations and various cultures. As Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated:

“To crystallize in our minds the eternal verities which we must accept and believe to be saved, to dramatize their true meaning and import with an impact never to be forgotten, to center our attention on these saving truths, again and again and again, the Lord uses similitudes. Abstract principles may easily be forgotten or their deep meaning overlooked, but visual performances and actual experiences are registered on the mind in such a way as never to be lost.” (The Promised Messiah, p. 377.)

(C-5)Couching great truths in symbolic language helped preserve them from those who sought to take away the plain and precious parts of the scriptures.Unquestionably, many plain and precious things have been taken from the Bible (see 1 Nephi 13:26). The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.” (Teachings, p. 327.)

The Prophet suggested deliberate mutilation of the text. But those truths couched in symbolic imagery that require the “spirit of prophecy,” or the “testimony of Jesus,” to interpret (Alma 25:16; Revelation 19:10) were not understood by these “designing and corrupt priests” and thus were left basically intact.

(C-6) Figurative language can convey truth and meaning to all levels of spiritual maturity. After teaching the multitude the parable of the four kinds of soil, Jesus admonished them, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9). This statement signaled to His listeners that what the Savior had just said was more than just a nice story. The disciples later came to Him and asked, “Why speakest thou unto them [the multitude] in parables?” (Matthew 13:10). The Savior’s answer is at first puzzling. He explained that He taught that way because the multitude refused to see and hear spiritual truths. Elder Bruce R. McConkie pointed out the significance of the Savior’s use of parables:

“Our Lord used parables on frequent occasions during his ministry to teach gospel truths. His purpose, however, in telling these short stories was not to present the truths of his gospel in plainness so that all his hearers would understand. Rather it was so to phrase and hide the doctrine involved that only the spiritually literate would understand it, while those whose understandings were darkened would remain in darkness. (Matt. 13:10–17; [JST], Matt. 21:34.) It is never proper to teach any person more than his spiritual capacity qualifies him to assimilate.” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 553.)

To the spiritually illiterate the parable of the soils is a lovely little story. To one in tune with the Spirit and full of understanding of gospel truths, it is far more. Thus, symbolic language can both reveal and conceal truth, depending on the readiness of the individual who hears.

(C-7) Symbols deeply affect the emotions and attitudes of an individual. The national flag of a country is, in reality, nothing but a large piece of cloth with its colors arranged in a particular pattern. But for such a piece of cloth, people are moved to tears, go to war, risk persecution, or suffer death. It is not, of course, the specific piece of cloth that matters, for that could be easily replaced. What does matter is what the cloth symbolizes to the individual. This meaning can be very profound in its effect on the heart and mind. One need only ponder the effect on the emotions of such symbolic objects or acts as a wedding ring, the temple, baptism, the sacrament, and so on to understand one reason the Lord teaches through symbols.

(C-8) Spiritual power comes when one is forced to ponder and search out the meaning of symbolic imagery in an attitude of quest. When a price is paid in personal effort and sacrifice for something, it is appreciated far more than when it is received without effort. To unveil great spiritual truths clothed in figurative dress requires that the student of the scriptures search and ponder. A price must be paid, and when understanding does come, it is much more satisfying and appreciated than it otherwise would have been.

Occasionally some try to discourage others from seeking for figurative imagery in the scriptures. Of course, one must not seek to read in meaning that was not intended, but to ignore symbolic meaning where it was intended is to miss much. In The Promised Messiah Bruce R. McConkie encouraged people to seek for the symbolic meaning in the scriptures: “It is wholesome and proper to look for similitudes of Christ everywhere and to use them repeatedly in keeping him and his laws uppermost in our minds” (p. 453)."

• “Enrichment Section C: Symbolism and Typology in the Old Testament,” Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel, 3rd ed. (Church Educational System manual, 2003), 111–15.
• Why Symbols, Ensign, February 2007
• Holy Temples on Mount Zion, Hymns No. 289