1 Nephi 8:21

21  And I saw numberless concourses of people, many of whom were ^apressing forward, that they might obtain the ^bpath which led unto the tree by which I stood.

            -numberless concourses of people = mortal mankind

            -the path leads to the rod of iron which leads to the tree, which bears fruit.  The fruit is the ends.  We must remember that the path and the rod are means to the end and not ends themselves.  They are precursors to our salvation, not salvation itself.

     “numberless”

            -here it means “many”, not “unknown” or “faceless”. Lehi was able to identify his family but not individuals in the greater whole.  To God however, they are all individually known and the pain for him must be like Lehi’s when his sons would not come to him.

     “pressing”

            -an action verb that denotes hard work, concentration and concerted effort!  A person so engaged might expect to get tired.

     “pressing forward”

     -looking for the truth, purposes of life, answers to questions.

            -why didn’t Lehi see the people earlier?  Why were Sariah, Nephi, Sam, Laman and Lemuel so easily seen when there were (as he now records) numberless concourses of people?  Surely so many people would have attracted attention earlier unless, for some reason,/purpose they were not meant to be seen until now.

     “that they might obtain the path”

            -the hearts of many are good and their goal is to pursue the proper way. Is our primary motivation for pressing forward (doing good, living right, serving, etc.) to obtain the path?  However, we cannot make our “obtainment of the path” an end in itself.. It is only a means!  A necessary means to the tree of life.

     “the path”

            -when you go hiking you want to travel on a path because it is smoother, easier to travel and contains fewer obstacles.