And when we had returned to the tent of my father, behold their joy was full, and my mother was comforted.

And she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them. And after this manner of language did she speak.

And it came to pass that they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel.

And after they had given thanks unto the God of Israel, my father, Lehi, took the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, and he did search them from the beginning.

And he beheld that they did contain the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents;

1 Nephi 5:7-11

Lehi and Sariah were like Adam and Eve in the sense that they left their original home to raise their children, offered sacrifice, and sought divine knowledge and the word of the Lord. I’m sure that they compared and likened themselves to Adam and Eve as well as all of the prophets and prophetesses that they read about in the scriptures for their edification and learning. (1 Nephi 19:23) Their son Nephi also loved to compare their situation to the story of Moses (1 Nephi 4:2) and to also see how the scriptures foreshadowed Jesus who would come (2 Nephi 11:4).

Adam and Eve are symbolic archetypes of Jesus who is the parent of our spiritual rebirth and resurrection. Paul taught in his epistles to the Corinthians and the Romans that there were parallels between Adam and Jesus. Building on Paul’s comparisons between Jesus and Adam, we can also observe strong parallels between Eve and Jesus. Like Eve, Jesus is our parent. He created all of humanity in his image. He birthed us on the cross. He will birth us again in the resurrection. The story and symbolism of Adam and Eve and Jesus is about Gods’ love. It is about being made truly alive as new beings of divine love. It is about becoming one, like the love between a mother and infant, or like a husband and wife. We are all of the same flesh and have the same origin in Jesus. We are all human and children of God. It is about all of humanity becoming one with Jesus, one with our Heavenly Parents, and one with each other.

Eve and the Feminine Divine	Jesus
Mother of all living, Mother of Humanity, Mother of life	Parent of our spiritual birth and resurrection, God who gave us life and breath
We are born from the body of our mother	We are spiritually reborn from the body of Jesus
Associated with wisdom and experiential knowledge.	Jesus is the source of all wisdom which is defined in feminine terms to be compared with a mother’s love, intuition, and wisdom (Mosiah 8:20, Isaiah 49:14-16, Isaiah 66:13)
The forbidden fruit that Eve ate is described as being bitter in 2 Nephi 2:15	Jesus states that he has drunk from the bitter cup in taking upon himself the sins of the world. 3 Nephi 11:11
Eve was hesitant to eat the fruit. When she saw that it would provide wisdom, she ate.	Jesus prayed, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” Luke 22:42
During mensuration the uterus contracts causing cramping pains and bleeding	Jesus bled from every pore in the garden of Gethsemane as he took on the sins of the world. He was symbolically pressed so that he bled from every pore similar to how fruit is pressed in a vice to produce juice and oil.
Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden so that humanity might be born	Jesus drank the bitter cup of evil in the garden of Gethsemane so that humanity might be spiritually reborn and know joy. Jesus descended to the greatest possible depths of suffering and was pressed with the sins of the world. Through his suffering, he saved the world and knows the greatest possible joy born of love. He is the manifestation of God’s divine love. He has the greatest knowledge of both good and evil.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17	By Jewish reckoning of time, a day begins and ends at sunset. Jesus died on the cross the same day that he took on the sins and sufferings of humanity in the garden of Gethsemane.
9 months of pregnancy until delivery	Jesus died at about the 9th hour in spiritual childbirth. The earth quaked and the temple veil was torn in the labor pains
Babies are birthed in blood and water from their mother’s womb	On the cross… “One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” John 19:34, We are born from the heart womb of Jesus.
“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” John 16:21	“So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” John 16:22 [Jesus speaking of his death, resurrection, and the spiritual rebirth of humanity]
After birth, mothers feed their babies with their own bodies providing nourishment. Mother’s milk is sweet with natural sugars and serves as both food and drink for infants.	After baptism and spiritual rebirth we symbolically feed on the memory of Jesus’ body and his sacrifice during communion or sacrament. Remembering his love that was so great that he died for us, nourishes our souls like milk and honey or like manna and wine.
Like Eve, we taste the bitter in this life that we might know to prize the good and value the sweet love of God. In this life we are to learn how to discern between good and evil so that we can then choose the good. Because of Eve we can discern and also know good from evil. Moses 6:55, D&C 29:39	For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every human, that they may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. …search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ… Moroni 7:16,19
If thou art called to pass through tribulation…all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? D&C 122:5, 7-8 (Also see 3 Nephi 12:10-12 where Jesus promises a reward in heaven to those who are persecuted in his name.)	Jesus is transformation. He is able to transform the evil that happens to us into our good and our reward in heaven if we have faith in him. He turned water into wine. He turns sinners into saints. Jesus is the answer to the problem of evil in the world. He is the good from evil. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28

Adam	Jesus
Jesus made Adam from the dust of the earth	Jesus will cause us to rise from the dust in the resurrection
Jesus made Adam in his image	Jesus offers to remake us in his spiritual image and also in his resurrected image
Adam was alone in the garden	Jesus was alone as the only person on the earth with true life within himself.
Jesus made Adam to sleep in the garden of Eden	Jesus suffered in the garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross. He was buried in a tomb.
From Adam’s rib, Jesus made a woman	From the spear that pierced Jesus’ heart, God made the church and community of saints. The church is the bride and Jesus is the bridegroom.
Adam awakened to find Eve. He was no longer alone in the Garden Paradise of Eden	Jesus was resurrected. Shortly thereafter many of the saints were also resurrected. Eventually all of humanity will be resurrected in the millennial garden of paradise after Christ returns.