The Olive Tree Allegory

In reading Jacob 5 the other day I was amazed at how plain this passage of scripture is. I can't help sharing what I've learned...

In verse 3 we learn that the House of Israel (the Lord's chosen people) is likened unto an olive tree. This allegory starts off speaking about the Old Testament church that has waxed old and is beginning to decay about the time of Christ. Thus, the master of the vineyard (Christ) goes to work on it. As he begins to nourish the tree, in verse 6, it puts forth young and tender branches (representing the Apostles and followers of Christ). However regardless of these new converts the main part of the tree perishes (the tribe of Judah). 

To compensate for the losing the majority of the tree, the master instructs his servants to pluck off the main parts of the tree and graft in their place branches from the wild olive trees (gentiles). As a further precaution to save the original roots and natural branches of the tree, the master has the young and tender branches scattered throughout the vineyard (The scattering of the House of Israel) so that they can grow and flourish while the original tree recovers.

After a long period of time has passed the Lord comes to see how the vineyard is doing. In verse 17, the wild branches (the gentiles) have begun to bear fruit on the mother tree. The fruit is good and is like unto the natural fruit of the tree. The master also notices that the wild branches have significantly strengthened the tree itself.

The Lord in his visit to the vineyard travels to each of the natural branches scattered throughout the vineyard to see how they are faring. These scattered tribes are represented by 4 natural branches that the Lord refers to. The first 3 branches are all doing really well, regardless of where they have been planted. The second branch was placed in the poorest part of the entire vineyard, yet it was able to bring forth much fruit. The first was also placed in a poor spot of ground but brought forth much fruit regardless. I believe these statements are significant for several reasons. The most obvious one is that we don't have to be victims of circumstance. We can blossom wherever we are planted, even if it is the most infertile place on the whole planet. (I shared these passages of scripture with the elders in my district when they felt that they had been placed in the worst part of the mission and there was no hope for their area.) The other significant factor of these scriptures is that we learn that the scattered tribes of Israel were doing really well in the gospel, and were actually bringing forth more fruit than Nephites and Lamanites in the Americas. For in attending the 4th scattered branch, the Lord goes to the best part of ground in whole vineyard and finds that only a part of the tree has brought forth tame fruit, while the other part has brought forth wild fruit. At first the Lord wants to pluck off the branches that are bringing forth wild fruit, but the servants persuade him to save the tree a little longer in hopes that the whole tree may bring forth good fruit.

Another long period of time passes, and the Lord again comes to the vineyard to see how it is doing. As he comes to the original tree he finds that it is cumbered with all sorts of fruit. In verse 31-32, he tastes all of the fruit and declares none of it to be good. This is about the time of Joseph Smith, and so it makes sense when the Lord tells Joseph that all of the churches that profess to be Christ's are an abomination in his sight and are all wrong because he has tasted of all of their fruit and knows that none of it is good. The roots are there, but the tree has been overrun. The Lord finds the same sad thing to have happened to all of the scattered branches. Even the 4th branch in the Americas, a land choice above all others (see vs. 43), had been overrun by the wild fruit, the Lamanites. The whole vineyard had become corrupt. 

In verse 48 we learn that it was the loftiness of the vineyard that caused its corruption, (another term could be pride). The wild branches grew faster than the good branches and overcame the whole tree. Thus the saying, wickedness prevails when good men do nothing.

The Lord is distraught upon seeing the condition his vineyard has fallen into and desires to hew down and destroy all of the trees that have become corrupt. Again his servants persuade him to be patient with the vineyard. He agrees to spare it a little longer, and decides that the time has come to graft back in the scattered branches into the mother tree. The Lord then calls for a missionary force to labor in the vineyard with him in bringing in the scattered branches, and bringing forth good fruit again into the vineyard. In verse 70, we learn that the laborers were few, yet they were promised joy with Christ, in the fruit that he should lay up unto himself. (The fruit is Christ's, not the laboring servant. This is important for missionaries to realize as they seek to bring in new converts. Many missionaries feel that baptisms, reactivations and other numerical figures are theirs and they are entitled to them for their labors. The truth is though, the fruit is the Lord's, and so it doesn't matter who is instrumental in bringing in the fruit, whether it's one person or several over the years.). 

The Lord has declares that the first branches should be gathered in last (the Jews) and the last branches should be gathered in first (the gentiles). Eventually as the branches are gathered in, the Lord sees the fruit that it is good, and that it becomes one body and that the fruits are equal. The Lord's chosen people become Zion as are all gathered in, and the vineyard becomes like it was in the beginning.

In referencing the day of Judgment the Lord declares that the good he will cause to be gathered in, while the bad will be cast into its own place according to the fruit.