12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.
This verse has a couple of significant points. First is the joy Lehi felt after partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life. The whole purpose of man, or at the main purpose of man, is to have joy (2 Nephi 2:25). We gain that joy by coming to Christ and partaking of His love. Lehi found that joy was the most desirable thing, “above all other fruit.” It seems that a person’s main objective in life is to find joy or true happiness. Realizing this, Satan provides many activities that provide a false or counterfeit form of happiness, but as Alma says, “Wickedness never was happiness.” (Alma 41:10) The more fully we keep the commandments, the more we are encircled in God’s love, and the more joy we feel, even to a fullness of joy.
The next point in this verse is that once you fully partake, you want to share with your loved ones. If you love someone, you want him or her to feel the same joy and happiness you feel. Not so much with Satan’s counterfeit. The person pursuing Satan’s version of “happiness” may want others to be in the same situation they are in, but the feeling is pretty selfish. The cliché, “Misery loves company,” applies here. They may want to drag others in, but it’s not so the others can feel happy, it’s more so the one doing the dragging can feel like they aren’t the only one messing up. You can plug in any kind of vice (i.e. Satan’s addictions) here, and see that the motivation is different from Lehi’s motivation to share the fruit with his family.
- 2 Nephi 2:25
- Psalm 16:11
- John 15:7–11
- Alma 41:10
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