Book of Mormon Lesson # 13—Jacob 5–7
“The Allegory of
the Olive Trees”
Ponderize
Scripture: Jacob 6:11–12. “O then, my beloved brethren,
repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is
narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life. O be wise; what can I say more?”
Introduction
As President Eyring testified at the beginning of General Conference
last Saturday, the Lord taught in parables, often to do with the miracle of
seeds growing into fruitful plants. The parable of the sower that Pres. Nelson
expounded on a few conferences ago, although simple in concept, is profound in
meaning. Likewise Zenos’s Allegory of the Olive Trees deals with something
basic to human existence—growing our own food—but expands to describe the
history of God’s dealing with His children on this earth.
For those of you who
were there when I issued the challenge to read the whole of Jacob 5, I will
have candy. Hopefully, more important than actually reading the whole chapter,
you will have gained some insights into why the Lord inspired Jacob to include
this allegory in its entirety and thereby restore some obviously well-known but
lost scripture. It is perhaps ironic that Christ, the Messiah is the master of
the vineyard, when His sacrifice has been aptly compared to the process of
extracting olive oil.
Here’s Truman Madsen, “To produce olive oil, the refined
olives had to be crushed in a press. The mellowed and seasoned olives were
placed in strong bags and flattened on a furrowed stone. Then a huge crushing
circular rock was rolled around on top, paced by a mule or an ox and a stinging
whip. Another method used heavy wooden levers or screws twisting beams downward
like a winch upon the stone with the same effect: pressure, pressure,
pressure—until the oil flowed. . . . He who never took a backward step from the
will of the Father, he who was supersensitive, could and did feel. For us. With
us. The pressure worked upon him; as the olive press worked upon the olive. . .
.In glorifying the Father, Jesus suffered with a suffering so great that drops
of blood came from his pores. (See D&C
19:18; compare Luke 22:44.)
. . At the last, a spear was thrust into his side. Out of it flowed water and
blood, as oil flows from the purged and pressed olive. . . . And as we stand
before the ancient olive press, the heart is invaded with a “never again”:
“Never again in indifference will I speak or hear the words, ‘I anoint
you with this oil which has been consecrated.’”[1]
1. Jacob quotes Zenos’s allegory of the olive trees.
I am attaching a couple of graphics that see the allegory from different
viewpoints. Hopefully these will help visualize the stages of the different
visits by the Master to the Olive Grove.
Symbol
|
Meaning
|
Vineyard
|
The world
|
Master of the vineyard
|
|
Tame olive tree
|
The house of Israel, the Lord’s covenant people
|
Wild olive tree
|
Gentiles (people not born into the house of Israel)
|
Branches
|
Groups of people
|
Servants
|
Prophets and others called to serve
|
Fruit
|
Lives or works of people
|
Important is how it can be applied to our own lives. Orson Pratt
interpreted this allegory as referring to unity in the Church, “Thus you see
our Heavenly Father has been at work among this people, and with this people,
for almost one half of a century, bringing together, gathering the branches of
the wild olive tree from the distant nations of the earth and grafting them in
and making them, as it were, one body, on this great western hemisphere. . . . This
oneness among the people of God must be attained in this world, Matt. 6:10 in order that
His purposes may be brought about, respecting man and the earth on which he
lives. . . . The servants labored in the vineyard with their mights. Jacob 5:61-62; Jacob 5:71
What for? To prune up the trees, to graft them into their proper place, that
they may bring forth that fruit which was most precious to the Lord from the
beginning and the fruit become like unto one body. Jacob
5:74 And the roots and the top thereof were equal. Jacob 5:66,73 And the
blessings of the Most High began to be made manifest upon the fruits of the
vineyard, and they began to grow and extend themselves, their branches
spreading upon the face of the whole earth.”[2]
He had some interesting things to say about the political process which I won’t
go into here, but you can follow the link in the footnote if you are
interested.
Elder Holland gives us an analysis of the allegory:
“This allegory as recounted by Jacob is from the outset intended to be
about Christ. …
“Even as the Lord of the vineyard and his workers strive to bolster,
prune, purify, and otherwise make productive their trees in what amounts to a
one-chapter historical sketch of the scattering and gathering of Israel, the
deeper meaning of the Atonement undergirds and overarches their labors. In
spite of cuttings and graftings and nourishings that mix and mingle trees in
virtually all parts of the vineyard, it is bringing them back to their source
that is the principal theme of this allegory. Returning, repenting,
reuniting—at-one-ment—this is the message throughout.
“… At least fifteen times the Lord of the vineyard expresses a
desire to bring the vineyard and its harvest to his ‘own self,’ and he laments
no less than eight times, ‘It grieveth me that I should lose this tree.’ One
student of the allegory says it should take its place beside the parable of the
prodigal son, inasmuch as both stories ‘make the Lord’s mercy so movingly
memorable.’
“Clearly this at-one-ment is hard, demanding, and, at times, deeply
painful work, as the work of redemption always is. There is digging and
dunging. There is watering and nourishing and pruning. And there is always the
endless approaches to grafting—all to one saving end, that the trees of the
vineyard would ‘thrive exceedingly’ and become ‘one body; … the fruits [being]
equal,’ with the Lord of the vineyard having ‘preserved unto himself the …
fruit.’ From all the distant places of sin and alienation in which the children
of the Father find themselves, it has always been the work of Christ (and his
disciples) in every dispensation to gather them, heal them, and unite them with
their Master” (Christ and the New
Covenant [1997], 165–66).
Jacob 5:3–18.
What was the cause for this first visit to
the vineyard? And what was the remedy?
Jacob 5:19–25
What was the significance of the different
“spots of ground” and what were the results?
Jacob 5: 29–48
In this third visit, what did the Master
find? What do you think “loftiness of the vineyard” means to you in your life? When we hear the pleas of the servant, doesn’t it make us think of
Abraham and his plea to the Lord to save the lives of those righteous people
yet living in Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16–33)? Who pleads for us today?
Did you hear that in Conference last weekend?
Elder Holland said, “After digging and dunging, watering and weeding,
trimming, pruning, transplanting, and grafting, the great Lord of the vineyard
throws down his spade and his pruning shears and weeps, crying out to any who
would listen, ‘What could I have done more for my vineyard?’ What an indelible
image of God’s engagement in our lives! What anguish in a parent when His
children do not choose Him nor ‘the gospel of God’ [Romans 1:1] He
sent!” (Ensign, Nov. 2003, 72).
The process of extricating
that which causes the bad or bitter fruit was wonderfully illustrated by Elder
Kevin Duncan last week, “Many years ago, while I was mending a fence, a small
sliver of wood entered into my finger. I made a meager attempt to remove the
sliver and thought I had done so, but apparently I had not. As time went on,
skin grew over the sliver, creating a lump on my finger. It was annoying and
sometimes painful. Years later I decided to finally take action. All I did was
simply apply ointment to the lump and cover it with a bandage. I repeated this
process frequently. You cannot imagine my surprise when one day, as I removed
the bandage, the sliver had emerged from my finger. The ointment had softened
the skin and created an escape for the very thing that had caused pain for so
many years. Once the sliver was removed, the finger quickly healed, and to this
day, there remains no evidence of any injury. In a similar way, an unforgiving
heart harbors so much needless pain. When we apply the healing ointment of the
Savior’s Atonement, He will soften our heart and help us to change. He can heal
the wounded soul (see Jacob
2:8).”[1]
Quite probably that “ointment” contained oil.
Jacob 50:77
In this final phase, does reading it fill you
with hope or dread? Elder Dean A. Larsen, “[Now] is the period
during which the Lord and his servants will make the final great effort to take
the message of truth to all the peoples of the earth and to reclaim the
descendants of ancient Israel who have lost their true identity. . . . You have
come to the earth when the foundation has been laid for this great work. The
gospel has been restored for the last time. The Church has been established in
almost every part of the world. The stage is set for the final dramatic scenes
to be enacted. You will be the principal players. You are among the last
laborers in the vineyard. This is the yoke that is set upon your necks. This is
the service for which you are chosen” (Ensign,
May 1983, 33).
Jacob 6
Although Jacob doesn’t
offer a great deal of commentary, his “final words” are poignant, “O then, my
beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in
the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life. O be wise; what
can I say more?” (vss. 11–12). Choose the right way, as President Monson said,
“Although it is imperative that we choose wisely, there are times when we will
make foolish choices. The gift of repentance, provided by our Savior, enables
us to correct our course settings, that we might return to the path which will
lead us to that celestial glory we seek.
May we maintain the courage to defy the consensus. May we ever choose
the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”[1]
Jacob 7
The whole focus of Jacob 5 is to teach of Christ coming as the promised
Messiah. After finishing his record, he thinks, he is then confronted with
Sherem who challenges everything Jacob has taught.
For commentary on the confrontation between Jacob and Sherem, see John
W. Welch’s Legal Cases in the Book of
Mormon online here (choose page 134). https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/node/313
Vineyard vs Olive Grove
According to Hugh Nibley, the word kerem is the word for olive
grove in its oldest occurrence when it appears in the book of Judges 15:5.
But in the rest of the bible it means a vineyard. Palestine is the home
of the vine, as well as the olive; they go together. There's the very famous
poem by Ovid about the olive and the vine--how the vine clings to the olive and
grows up around it, etc. The wedding of the olive and the vine is a classic
theme. Thus here in chapter 5 of the book of Jacob, the word actually means
either one. It means a vineyard or it means an olive grove, and
they grew together. So when you see the word kerem in the Old Testament,
you can translate it as either one. That's exactly what Jacob has done here. The
karst of the Dalmatian Coast is absolutely bare rock where the soil has been
washed away. It was timbered once upon a time. Anciently, the timber was all
cut down, and the soil was all washed away. That happens when you cut them
down; you lose them forever. But the whole coast of Dalmatia is olive groves,
and between the olive trees are the vines growing. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon,
Semester 1, p. 398]
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