Jacob 5-6

Jacob 5

This chapter is the “Allegory of the Olive Tree.” To help explain this chapter and its abundant symbolism, I am drawing primarily upon the Book of Mormon Student Manual.

“An allegory is a story that uses symbols to explain important truths. The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5 teaches us about the Lord’s purposes in the scattering and gathering of the house of Israel. In chapter 6, the prophet Jacob summarized the major points of the allegory.”

Jacob 5:1—Who Was the Prophet Zenos?

Zenos, along with Zenock and Neum, were prophets during Old Testament times whose writings are not found in the Bible but were found on the plates of brass (see 1 Nephi 19:10).

Jacob 5—Understanding Zenos’s Allegory

Every item in an allegory is not necessarily meant as a symbol for something else, but certain major symbols must be understood in order to understand the allegory. The following symbols are important in understanding the allegory of the olive tree:

Symbol	What It Might Represent
The vineyard	The world
Master of the vineyard; Lord of the vineyard	God
Servants	The Lord’s prophets
Tame olive tree	The house of Israel, the Lord’s covenant people
Wild olive tree	Gentiles, or non-Israelites (later in the allegory the wild branches are the people of Israel who have forsaken God)
Branches	Groups of people
The roots of the tame olive tree	The covenants the Lord makes with His children, a constant source of strength and life to the faithful
The fruit	The lives or works of men
Digging, pruning, fertilizing	The work the Lord does for His children to help them be obedient and fruitful
Transplanting the branches	Scattering groups of people throughout the world, or restoring them to where they came from
Grafting	The joining of one group of people to another; referring to scattered Israel, it also means to “come to the knowledge of the true Messiah” (see 1 Nephi 10:14)
Decaying branches	People dying spiritually from sin and apostasy
Casting branches into the fire	God’s judgments

Jacob 5:8–10—What Does It Mean to “Graft” Branches?

To graft branches, healthy, living branches are cut from a tree or plant and inserted into another place (see accompanying illustration). The branches in this allegory represent groups of people that the Lord takes from one place and plants them in another. In the scriptural sense, grafting means to “come to the knowledge of the true Messiah” (1 Nephi 10:14).

Jacob 5:8, 13–14, 19–25—The “Young and Tender” Branches of the House of Israel

The “young and tender branches” seem to be those people who responded to the “pruning and fertilizing” by God and His prophets. They were more teachable than the old established branches, or the groups of Israelites who had to be removed and destroyed.

President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: “In that parable the olive tree is the House of Israel. … In its native land it began to die. So the Lord took branches like the Nephites, like the lost tribes, and like others that the Lord led off that we do not know anything about, to other parts of the earth. He planted them all over his vineyard, which is the world” (Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., 5 vols. [1957–66], 4:204).

Zenos’s allegory helps us understand that the scattering of branches of Israel all over the world was a blessing both to Israel and to the rest of Heavenly Father’s children, the Gentiles.

And last but not least, I think vs. 46-48 are the most important verses of the allegory. The Lord asks why the trees are not bringing forth good fruit, despite his every effort to nourish them and help them. The answer is PRIDE. Pride is the universal sin, and leads to the downfall of so many.

46 And now, behold, notwithstanding all the care which we have taken of my vineyard, the trees thereof have become corrupted, that they bring forth no good fruit…

47 But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned. Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard?

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?

Jacob 6

 "O be wise; what can I say more?"

The moral of the story of the Olive Tree:

 5 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.

 7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?

 8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?