Religion 121-122 - Book of Mormon Student Manual's interpretation of Jacob 5

Statements from the seminary manual will be in black. Some notable ones will be underlined. My comments will be in blue.

Chapter 16, Jacob 5-7

Introduction

Zenos’s allegory of the olive trees reveals God's personal involvement in the history and destiny of the house of Israel. Jacob also wrote of his confrontation with Sherem, an anti-Christ. Notice the depth of Jacob's testimony as he confounded Sherem (see Jacob 7).

"For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, and behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry" (2 Nephi 15:7). See also Isaiah 5:7 and Matthew 21:33-46.

Note the attempts of some people not to confirm the historical events of this allegory. Instead, they try to spiritualize the events. Has there been any consensus yet as to whether this is the physical house of Israel or the spiritual house of Israel?

Notes and Commentary

Jacob 5 - The Allegory of the Olive Tree

An allegory uses symbolic representations to convey moral or spiritual ideas. These symbols provide far more significant meaning to the story than appears on the surface. Almost everything in an allegory represents something else. In Zenos's allegory, for example, the vineyard, the trees, the branches, the master, and the servants all represent realities of greater significance. The value of the allegory lies in understanding what is represented.

"The parable of Zenos, recorded by Jacob in chapter five of his book, is one of the greatest parables ever recorded. This parable in and of itself stamps the Book of Mormon with convincing truth. No mortal man, without the inspiration of the Lord, could have written such a parable. It is a pity that too many of those who read the Book of Mormon pass over and slight the truths which it conveys in relation to the history, scattering, and final gathering of Israel. Such members of the Church unto whom attention has been called to the great significance of this parable have said they fail to comprehend it. It is simple and very clear to the minds of those who earnestly seek to know the truth" (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel
Questions, 4:141).

Has there been any consensus yet as to whether this is the physical house or the spiritual house of Israel? Besides, it you study all the 4 commentaries thus far, this parable is not simple nor clear to Latter-day Saints.

Jacob 5:1. Zenos

"Zenos [was a] Hebrew prophet, often quoted by the Nephite servants of God. All we are told of his personal history is that he was slain because he testified boldly of what God revealed to him. That he was a man greatly blessed of the Lord with the spirit of prophecy is shown by that wonderful and almost incomparable parable of the vineyard given at length by Jacob (Jacob 5). His prophecies are also quoted by Nephi (I Nephi 19:10, 12, 16), Alma (Alma 33:3, 13, 15), Amulek (Alma 34:7), Samuel, the Lamanite (Helaman 15:11), and Mormon (III Nephi 10:16)" (George Reynolds, in Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 4:139).

Jacob 5:3. The Symbol of the Olive Tree

The use of the olive tree as a symbol for the house of Israel is an excellent example of how God uses symbolism to teach his children gospel laws and principles. For centuries the olive tree has been associated with peace. War and its grim attendants of destruction—rape of the land, siege, and death—were hardly conducive to the cultivation of olive orchards, that require many years of careful husbandry to bring into full production. When the dove returned to the ark, it carried an olive leaf in its beak, as though to symbolize that God was again at peace with the earth (see Genesis 8:11). The olive branch was used in ancient Greece and Rome to signify peace, and it is still used in that sense in the great seal of the United States where the American eagle is shown grasping an olive branch in its talons. The only true source of peace is Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. His peace comes through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. These laws and ordinances are given to the world through the house of Israel, symbolized by the olive tree. Someone once said that Israel was not chosen to be an uplifted people, but an uplifting people.

No one can truly obey all of God's laws, thus by this definition of peace, no one can have peace in their mortal life.

There is further symbolic significance in the cultivation of an olive tree. If the green slip of an olive tree is merely planted and allowed to grow, it develops into the wild olive, a bush that grows without control into a tangle of limbs and branches producing only a small, worthless fruit (see Harold N. and Alma L. Moldenke, Plants of the Bible, p. 159). To become the productive "tame" olive tree, the main stem of the wild tree must be cut back completely and a branch from a tame olive tree grafted into the stem of the wild one. With careful pruning and cultivating the tree will begin to produce its first fruit in about seven years, but it will not become fully productive for nearly fifteen years. In other words, the olive tree cannot become productive by itself; it requires grafting by the husbandman to bring it into production. Throughout its history Israel has demonstrated the remarkable aptness characterized by the symbol of the olive tree. When they gave themselves to their God for pruning and grafting the Israelites prospered and bore much fruit, but when they turned from Christ, the Master of the vineyard, and sought to become their own source of life and sustenance they became wild and unfruitful.

Odd. The tame olive tree (Israel) was already producing fruit and it was not grafted into the stem of a wild tree.

Two other characteristics of the olive tree further illustrate how it is an appropriate symbol for Israel. First, though requiring nearly fifteen years to come into full production, an olive tree may produce fruit for centuries. Some trees now growing in the Holy Land have been producing fruit abundantly for at least four hundred years. The second amazing quality of the tree is that as it finally grows old and begins to die, the roots send up a number of new green shoots that, if grafted and pruned, will mature into full-grown olive trees. The root of the tree will also send up shoots after the tree is cut down. Thus, while the tree itself may produce fruit for centuries, the root of the tree may go on producing fruit and new trees for millennia. It is believed that some of the ancient olive trees located in Israel today have come from trees that were ancient during Christ's mortal ministry. How can Israel be compared to an olive tree, which time and again seems to have been cut down and destroyed, yet, each time a new tree springs forth from the roots?

Zenos was not the only prophet to use the olive tree as a symbol for the chosen people of God. Jeremiah, foreseeing the coming destruction of the Jews by Babylonia, compared the covenant people to a green olive tree consumed by fire (see Jeremiah 11:16). The apostle Paul used a brief allegory almost identical to that of Zenos to warn the Roman Christians against pride as they compared their favored position to that of the Jews (see Romans 11:16-24). In modern revelation, the Lord uses the parable of a vineyard and olive trees to show his will concerning the redemption of Zion (see D&C 101:43-58).

Jacob 5:4-77. Elements of Zenos's Allegory

An allegory or a parable should not be pushed too far in an attempt to correlate every item precisely with some outside reality. However, certain major elements need to be defined if the allegory itself is to be understood.

The following items seem important in Zenos's allegory:

 
3] The servant = the Lord's Prophets.

Wrong. Only the servant is working with the Master in the vineyard for most of the time.

7] The roots of the tame olive tree = the gospel covenant and promises made by God that constantly give life and sustenance to the tree.

Look at 5:35 ; "And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: The tree profiteth me nothing, and the roots thereof profit me nothing so long as it shall bring forth evil fruit." The gospel covenant and promise made by God does not profit God?

Look at 5:37 - "But behold, the wild branches have grown and have overrun the roots thereof; and because that the wild branches have overcome the roots thereof it hath brought forth much evil fruit; and because that it hath brought forth so much evil fruit thou beholdest that it beginneth to perish; and it will soon become ripened, that it may be cast into the fire, except we should do something for it to preserve it."

The wild branches can overcome the roots?

Look at 5:48 - "And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard—have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves. Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted?"

The wild branches can overcome the roots?

Look at 5:59 - "And this I do that, perhaps, the roots thereof may take strength because of their goodness; and because of the change of the branches, that the good may overcome the evil."

Evil is able to overcome the roots?

Look at 5:65 - "And as they begin to grow ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit, according to the strength of the good and the size thereof; and ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once, lest the roots thereof should be too strong for the graft, and the graft thereof shall perish, and I lose the trees of my vineyard."

The trees should contain a balance of good and evil so the strength of the roots does not cause the graft to fail and the trees to perish?