E47 Mary, the Burning Bush, and the Tree of Life

In this episode, I share insights into shared patterns of Moses' burning bush and Lehi's Tree of Life. Listen as the core Feminine Divine is revealed in at least two prophets' dreams and visions.

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I am a nonfiction and fiction writer who absolutely loves research! I have 3 published books that you can get on Amazon, the latest is "We Are Adam: the Partnership of Adam and Eve in the Garden and what it means for you."

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Transcript

A satisfying aspect of scripture study is finding the Divine Feminine and recognizing God’s patterns across both scriptural text and time.

Both Moses’ burning bush and Lehi’s Tree of Life exhibit intriguing patterns, highlighting the similarities in their prophetic experiences.

In Exodus 3:2,4 we read:

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

In Deuteronomy 33:16

16 And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.

There are some interesting patterns here as we look at the original Hebrew.

First: “bush” as is translated here, especially in Deuteronomy, comes from a rare Hebrew word snh, pronounced as samekh nun heh that is difficult to translate. While the translators settled on “bush”, it is possible that it is a “tree” rather than a bush.

Second: this word also has an archaic feminine ending. In its original form, this verse would read as “she dwells in the bush.”

Some orthodox catholic churches still have medieval murals of a burning bush, and they are always associated with Mary.

So what does that mean?

Let’s combine these elements:

a female presence…

in a tree …

that looks like it is burning or shining very bright.

Does another such tree come to mind? One that we have studied extensively?

It is important to review this other account in the Book of Mormon, and by the end (if not before), you will recognize the imagery and pattern.

1 Ne 8:10–11

Lehi sees a tree shining (we learn it was from the shining fruit) after praying for hours in the dark and the wilderness. He tells his family — and us — in verse 10 that it is the fruit that did shine, and was “desirable to make one happy”. The Hebrew word for “happy” is ashre, and the root similarity to the name Asherah is not lost on scholars.

In 1 Ne 11, Nephi and Nephi’s spiritual guide teach us more about the meaning of this dream.

Vs 2–3 The guide asks, what do you desire?

Nephi responds that he desires to see what his father saw.

He wants to visit the same dream/vision.

Vs 4 here, at the beginning, notice the guide focuses on the tree

He asks, do you believe that your father saw the tree?

Nephi replied in the affirmative, and then the spirit responded in verse 6 with:

Because you believe IN the son of the most high god, thou shalt behold these things.

We must notice and remember that for all things, especially the interpretation of this dream, belief in the Son gives us incredible power.

The guide is teaching Nephi, and us, that no matter what he (the guide) shares about the tree, the fruit, any of it, the Son and belief in Him is imperative.

Imust reiterate here that I never focus on the Mother or the Father without bringing it back to Jesus Christ, to THE SON. Nothing on this earth or in our mortal experience, not even our worship, is done outside of or instead of Jesus Christ. So, in research about and discussion of the Mother, I will always involve Her Son. She is now and has been (in the OT scriptures) inextricably connected to the Son.

But for the sake of this article, we are centering our discussion on the tree, of which will mean very little nor will it yield what it must without knowledge of or belief in the Son, in Jesus Christ.

The spiritual guide prefaces his lesson with Nephi on the TREE that bears FRUIT, which is the SON OF GOD. These three aspects of this vision are very important, and we should slow down despite our eagerness to get to the Iron Rod.

Remember, the people clamoring to get to the rod ultimately want to get to the shining fruit, to partake of this fruit which people instinctively recognize as good and delightsome.

Let’s look at the TREE:

Vs 8 the guide shows that the TREE is whiter than the fresh, new-driven snow. It is beautiful. The TREE is precious.

Vs 10 what desirest thou?

Vs 11 Nephi wants an interpretation of the TREE. This is his first quest. Super interesting. Of all the images his father reported of his vision, it was the tree that Nephi wanted to center on. And from what we know of the timing of the family’s escape from Jerusalem, and the purges (think vast temple changes and corruption, smashing sacred temple items, and murder) by King Josiah and his elite, it makes sense as to why his father was receiving a vision of a tree when it was a tree that seemed to be the center of the purge, a TREE that was drug out of the temple and violently destroyed.

Vs 13 The guide then shows Nephi the VIRGIN in the city of Nazareth and uses similar language to describe her as he did the TREE: fair and white.

At this point, the VIRGIN is not pregnant nor married.

Vs 14 the guide asks Nephi to share what he sees, and Nephi describes in verse 15:

a VIRGIN beautiful and fair

Vs 16 the guide switches to talking about the love of god, asking if Nephi understands the condescension of god.

Vs 17 Nephi replies that he understands about love

Vs 18 the guide responds that this VIRGIN is “the mother of god after the manner of the flesh”

Very specific.

Most likely, based upon the events Lehi’s family had escaped from (the purges of the temple — both doctrinal and physical) the central purge was the tree that represented the Divine Mother, the Divine Feminine.

The VIRGIN, whom we know as Mary, was an archetype, a similitude of the Heavenly Mother.

The menorah, of which we know from the book of Revelation and other visions, used to be in the Holy of Holies along with the ark and the cherubim, was also removed and placed outside of the sanctuary.

Vs 20 After all of this — describing the VIRGIN, comparing her to the TREEin position and descriptive language — we now turn to this VIRGIN holding her son, the Messiah, the lamb of god, son of the eternal father.

Vs 21 the guide asks: now do you know the meaning of the TREE? Nephi has been shown all of this imagery and by coupling it with the temple he understands the core tenant of the vision.

Vs 22 Nephi labels it “the love of God”, using the imagery of the tree “sheddeth itself in the hearts”. I was not familiar with this term he used, and I suspect if we had the original reformed Egyptian we might have a better clue. When I think of shed I think of fur, or some animal shedding its skin. But how does shedding or “sheddeth” correlate with a tree?

I found something interesting that may or may not have anything to do with Nephi’s “tree that sheddeth.” I researched what shed might have meant in the original Eqyptian, and I was directed to the name Shed, an Egyptian deity, the name that means “one who saves” or “the savior”. It may have nothing to do with the original Book of Nephi, but it is an amazing coincidence.

Let’s examine these two trees — the burning bush or tree (depending on the translation) and the tree of life in Lehi and Nephi’s dreams:

1) There is a female element to both.

Personally, I feel that the female “dwelling “ in the burning bush or tree is unique to Hebrew imagery, and not to infer that it was the Mother speaking to Moses.

The tree of life in Lehi’s dream has a strong female/feminine core, and we should allow the spirit to teach us how the Divine Feminine presence works in this vision and in our lives. At this point, it is only the spirit that can teach us how she is intertwined, and connected with the Son, the Messiah. But her presence is there, we have it in the scriptures, and most profoundly in these verses.

2) it is the shining or burning that represents the son, just as the shining fruit represents Jesus Christ. We are drawn to the fruit, of which is not possible without the tree.

I think we are just scratching the surface with this dream.

As a woman, it is comforting to know that there is a Divine Presence — both male and female — always at work in my life. Women need a powerful female role model from the scriptures. We ARE different from men, and our discipleship is often unique to our sex. Looking to Mary, her sacrifices and support of her son even at the foot of the cross (when all but one apostle fled) speaks volumes about her strength, loyalty, and love.