In the latter days, when the Lord of the vineyard sets his hand for the last time to rid this world of apostasy and evil, he will begin by grafting natural branches into the tame olive trees and by pruning out the more corrupt parts of Israel. When the earth no longer produces evil, the sixth or penultimate epoch of the allegory will commence. Zenos's allegory uses olive trees to summarize Israel's history and foretell its destiny. Come, Follow Me: Book of Mormon (Jacob 57). 15. "And it came to pass that when the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he called up his servants, and said unto them: Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard; and thou beholdest that I have done according to my will; and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning. No known Old World source mentions him, though he is mentioned elsewhere in the Book of Mormon: 1Nephi 19:10, 12, 16; Alma 33:3, 13, 15; 34:7; Helaman 8:19; 15:11; and 3Nephi 10:16. Sketch a branch of an olive tree on each of several other posters. Allegories are stories that teach spiritual truths through symbols. The apostasy had been complete and universal in all the trees representing Israel. The completed chart will look something like this: The house of Israel, the Lords covenant people, Gentiles (people not born into the house of Israel). Encourage class members to share appropriate experiences that relate to the scriptural principles. A well-known type of allegory is A. Norse legends. If the trees were named for the great lawgivers mentioned in endnotes 3 and 4, and if they were of the correct lineage as was Lehi the lawgiver, then the second tree might be named Lycurgus, the third tree named Tages, and the fourth, Antiochus. "go down" (left for the reader to discover) into the vineyard again to check on progress. (Wilson, 3839, also notes this apparent inconsistency.) The founding years of the house of Israel, the starting point of the allegory, date to the first half of the second millenniumB.C., the most likely setting for the Patriarchal Age. Although these servants are few, what are the results of their efforts? The lord responded that he knew what he was doing, and that the second place was even worse than the first. Pruning removes dead branches and bad fruit from a tree. For this and other reasons, the Northern Kingdom deportees could not return to their homeland, but the Jews of the Babylonian captivity could. (See Jacob 7:822.) Jacob quotes Zenoss allegory of the tame and wild olive trees, which describes the history and destiny of the house of Israel. Finally, the lord and the servant were pleased that this last effort was totally successful. The Interpretation 3. The lord and the servant saw that in the case of the tree planted in the choice part of the vineyard, which had had one good and one wild branch on the second visit, the good branch had all withered away, having been overcome by the wild branch. In the last days, the servants of the Lord will work hard to gather Israel ( Jacob 6:1-3 ). It is at this point that the Lord proposed a total destruction of the trees in his vineyard: Let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my vineyard, for I have done all. It is therefore suggested here that the other three trees which were planted in the lowlands were also patrilineal descendants of Jacob (Israel).[7]. Jacob quotes Zenos's allegory of the olive trees. The deportation of people from Israel and Judah was part of this process, as was the departure of the Lehites, alluded to in the allegory. The parable ends with a warning from the master of the vineyard that the next time the vineyard grows poor fruit, he will gather the good and bad fruit and separate them, preserving only the good and casting away the bad. Unlike the long passages of time between these previous periods, the allegory makes it clear that no significant time transpired between the acknowledgment of the Great Apostasy and the beginnings of the gathering of Israel (vv. And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves (v.48). If it was a mortal man, then the most likely is James the Just, the brother of Christ, who was the head of the Church. Traditional LDS study of this allegory involves merely trying to keep track of all of the trees, rather than proposing any detailed interpretation. Italian wine, which is so famous, came from the Etruscans. Question that prompted the allegory. (See Jacob 5:41, 47.) Time? In the Book of Mormon, the allegory of the olive treewritten by a prophet named Zenos and later quoted by the prophet Jacob to his peoplestands out as a unique literary creation worthy of close analysis and greater appreciation. A well-known type of allegory is Aesop's fables. . What Can We Learn from the Allegory of the Olive Tree? If you were fabricating The Sealed Book as a fraud, and if you were going make up answers to these questions as an interpretation supposedly from the sealed Plates of Mormon, would you be bold enough to claim that they were the answers from Jesus himself, knowing that your fraud would surely be exposed? Though Zenos is not mentioned, in 1Nephi 10:1214 Nephi records in summary form teachings of Lehi that seem to be based on a knowledge of the allegory. How can we protect ourselves from the deceptions of anti-Christs? and of parts of Judah within the next twenty years, and through the Babylonians the final destruction of Judah in approximately 586B.C. To the servant's surprise, all three branches were doing well! All of the trees now produced good fruit! . In spite of the above statement, this treatment of the allegory does assign several of the episodes to historical periods. Draw an olive tree on the chalkboard, and ask class members to tell as many things about an olive tree as they can think of in one minute. The Savior also identifies where the three branches were planted in the lowest part of the vineyard as being in Greece, Rome, and Antioch. What shall we do unto the tree, that I may preserve again good fruit thereof unto mine own self? (Jacob 5:33). Here are the answers to these questions from The Sealed Book. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. See also Nyman, Ensign to the People, 24, for placing the beginning of the allegory at about 1800B.C., when the twelve sons of Jacob were living in Canaan.. PDF Understanding the Allegory of the Olive Tree - the love(d)welling On the other hand, the reason actually given in the allegory, that the lofty branches had overcome the roots on all of the trees, fits perfectly in the fourth visit in our day, because the lofty LDS Church leadership has overpowered its roots, and the Reorganized Church also, until it withered into the Community of Christ, those being the religions of two main branches of the new tree. What caused the apostasy? 6263). Yet the Lords servant counseled him to spare the world for a little time, and the Lord accepted the advice. As a tree grows old and begins to die, its roots send up new shoots, which, if grafted and pruned, will mature to full-grown olive trees. . (For this same interpretation, see Jackson, 192.) Living Truths, 123. The olive branch is traditionally a symbol of peace. The prophet Jacob, one of the early writers in the Book of Mormon, quotes an extensive allegory known as the allegory of the olive tree, [1] which was originally penned by Zenos, an ancient Hebrew prophet. The views expressed by individual users are the responsibility of those users and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. It's pretty clear that the Republic doesn't much care about brutal infighting on Mandalore, they hadn't for a good while; however, bring up a certain renegade . During the ultimate stage of the earths existence, when the world will have degenerated from its Millennial state, the good and the bad will be separated. And all of this interpretation came from just one chapter in The Sealed Book! (See Jacob 6:1.) Bruce R. McConkie, 3vols. There are six tame trees which were planted in this allegory: (1) The original tree, representing the House of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, (2) the tree planted in the poor spot, (3) the tree in the worse spot, (4) the tree in another spot in the lowlands, (5) the first tree planted in the choice spot, and (6) another tree planted between visits 2 and 3, also in the choice area of vineyard, to replace the tree there which had one wild branch and one withered branch. What obstacles keep us from growing spiritually? What application might these situations have for us today? The location of the last (sixth) tree, which was to augment Lehi's decayed tree, was also in the Americas because it was in the same land of Lehi (apparently the whole western hemisphere). Again the servant begged for clemency, and the master was persuaded, being reluctant to lose the vineyard he loved so much. Those two places, however, don't match the criterion that the lord and servant can return there throughout history to monitor progress, but at least he attempted an interpretation. And behold, there are all kinds of bad fruit (v.32). They require help, or grafting, to bear the best/tame fruit. In addition to this explanation of how the grace of Christ can purge mens souls of evil, the allegory holds a specific message for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nephi said that his father, Lehi, spoke about an olive tree that represented the house of Israel from which branches would be broken off and should be scattered upon all the face of the earth (1Ne. The time of the second visit was a long time later, during the meridian of time when the Savior came down to earth (A3N 14:21). Note that About the Book of Mormon, pages15051, uses the generic God, and Jackson, on page190, uses Lord for the Lord of the vineyard, thus avoiding the issue. 78). The organization of the Church of Christ is that the job of apostles is to go into all the world and preach (Mat. They are the ones who raised the standard of living with their artwork, craftsmanship, and especially wine culture. "Okay, so in the story, some trees needed extra help. Nourishing keeps a tree healthy by providing minerals and other nutrients. Another article (Swiss, Ralph E., "The Tame and Wild Olive Trees", The Ensign August, 1988) does offer an interpretation of where the three branches may have been planted in the nethermost parts of the vineyard, in Assyria and Babylon: "he carries some of the young and tender branches to the nethermost parts of the vineyard and grafts them onto other trees. Those carried off by Assyria to the north and those carried off to Babylon might be some of these branches." The main olive tree mentioned at the beginning of Jacob 5 represents his covenant people, Israel. This allegory is much more than a story about trees and fruit. by John P. Pratt An allegory is a literary device in which one object or event is used to describe or represent another. Nevertheless, though Jacob did comment tangentially on the allegory, no satisfactory explanation of the historical significance and the temporal referents in the allegory exists.3 One treatise on the subject even states that it is impossible to ascribe a timetable to the various allegorical scenes described by Zenos.4 Iwill demonstrate that many of the historical metaphors in the allegory can be placed in time with relative precision, that some can be located in space, and that much can be said about their significance. The master of the vineyard instructed his servant to cut off the branches of this tree that gave poor fruit, and burn them. All rights reserved. What did Jacob prophesy after relating Zenoss allegory? The master determined to burn all the trees in the vineyard, since all had given only evil fruit. Gospel Doctrine Prep - Jacob 5-7 "The Allegory of the Olive Trees The master hoped that by bringing the branches and roots of the original tree back together, they would grow good fruit. The answer, according to the allegory, is simple. The Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt and the bad [was] cast away (v.75). The interpretation of being grafted given by Jesus was they could "mingle" (A3N 14:20) or "mix" (A3N 14:24) with the various cultures without standing out much. 6465). Lesson 13: The Allegory of the Olive Trees - The Church of Jesus Christ President Joseph Fielding Smith said: There is not anything in this world of as great importance to us as obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. PDF Quinoa and Olive Trees: Strengthening the Lord's Vineyard - BYU Speeches God has patiently nourished you. (See Jacob 5:37, 40, 48.) We certainly do not know the full extent or all of the means the Lord used to scatter Israel. (Book 1, lines 2-3) This is an allusion to the Trojan War, which the Greeks waged against the Trojans following Paris of Troy's abduction of Helen. Which person claimed that Matthew had a Hebrew "dialect" or "Hebraic style"? Consequently, for individuals who are still in the Church, that is, who have not been cut off yet, there is hope, for only the worst cases of unregeneracy are pruned out of the tree. . (See Jacob 6:313.) Accordingly, ground was cleared (Lamanites in eastern United States, being part of the remaining branch of the Lehi tree, were killed), and a new tree (Joseph Smith Sr, a shoot from the Israel tree, from Ephraim) was planted there with hopes of it producing good fruit. 49 through 52). In at least two stages after 720B.C., the Assyrians helped fulfill the second set of instructions by moving other peoples into the territorial vacuum created when they substantially depopulated Israel.17 These imported peoples, at least to some extent, intermarried with the remaining Israelites, producing a new cultural melding. To be sure, the aggregate of the first decade was minuscule, but the gathering had commenced. The only historical period when Israel with Gentile grafts produced good fruit came at the time of Christs mortal ministry and in the decades following. Discuss Jacob 5. So, essentially, because of his love for us, the door is always open for us to return. The servant is surprised that the lord even tried to plant branches in the poor soil of the lowest part of the garden, noting that the place of the first branch was bad indeed. Is there DNA evidence between Native Americans and the Lamanites? See also the summary in Jackson, Nourished, 190; and Book of Mormon Student Manual, 2d ed. That four to six hundred years is plausible and even probable seems likely from personal observation of olive trees in present-day Palestine. The time sequences represented in the allegory from the first cultivation of the tame olive tree to the destruction of the vineyard can be conveniently divided into seven periods:12 (1)verse3, the founding of the house of Israel (the taking and nourishing of the tame olive tree) sometime in the first half of the second millenniumB.C. The Lord names the servant in the first visit as having been Daniel. Paul R. Cheesman and C.Wilfred Griggs (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1984), 11320. Flashcards. Jacob states the allegory was one of the teachings of Zenos found in the brass plates, a lost record. For example, this lack of consensus allows the fruit to be called good works (The Book of Mormon Student Manual, 140), or, as I would suggest and Jackson has written (190), people.. 143-57 143 representation of communal Israel) and the Lord of the vineyard. As with many other stories and parables, the parable of the olive tree can be interpreted as a commentary on life in general. The main point of the allegory is to show the great love that the Lord has for His people Israel, and in particular, how He has worked with a servant all through history to encourage them to bring forth righteous fruit. As for Antioch, Syria, that was a city founded by the Greeks. While many articles have been written about it, very few have proposed precise interpretations of times and places, with none being consistent with a historical fulfillment.[1]. Click here to see an excellent illustration of the usual understanding of five trees and four visits, rather than six trees and five visits. In The Sealed Book, the Savior tells us that the first branch (second tree) was planted in Greece,[3] a country known at that time for its worship of pagan gods. The religions of the three threes in the lowlands are (2) the Greek Orthodox Church, (3) The Roman Catholic Church, (4) The Syriac Orthodox Church. What does this final nourishing, pruning, and grafting represent? Because we have been nourished by the Lord, we are obligated to help others receive this nourishment. Accordingly, ground was cleared and a new tree was planted there with hopes of it producing good fruit. To do away with the parallel in verse24 and combine it with verse25 would do violence to the poetic structure of the allegory. Discuss the account of Sherem, found in Jacob 7:123. Match. This third visit has been overlooked until the coming forth of The Sealed Book. Here is a brief summary of the allegory, which ignores the more complicated elements. Looking for examples of historical allegory in Star Wars - Reddit One 600-page scholarly work devoted entirely to the allegory includes 21 articles which focus on technicalities but contains almost no interpretation! How many of these questions have you ever heard discussed before, let alone answered? Grafting is a violent process (see the Greek videos above), but it is necessary to keep olive trees producing as much good fruit as possible. . Tame olive tree = House of Israel 2. Who Were The Gentiles Christ Should Manifest Unto? And so the master and his servant worked diligently at nourishing all the trees. Through the missionary program individuals are brought into the Church. Pratt, John P., "Is The Sealed Book of Mormon Genuine?" This discrepancy exists only because, with the advantage of hindsight, we want to impose on the Near Eastern allegory our occidental training that insists on logical, consistent, and chronological interpretations. Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust Questions and Answers (See 1Nephi 10:1213.) They created the first great civilization on the peninsula, whose influence on the Romans as well as on present-day culture is increasingly recognized. . The third measure the Lord of the vineyard proposed involved transporting puerile groups of Israelites to other lands away from Palestine. The text states explicitly that between the Scattering of Israel and the Day of the Gentiles and again between the Day of the Gentiles and the Lords acknowledgment of the Great Apostasy, along time passed away (v.15). (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 210, 251; the references there to Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. A complete discussion here of this issue would require too much space; therefore, suffice it to say that the servant appears to be the same person, not a series of persons, throughout the allegory. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parable_of_the_Olive_Tree&oldid=1143662170, This page was last edited on 9 March 2023, at 03:40. In this allegory in Jacob 5, the prophet Zenos likens the house of Israel to an olive tree. The decay in the tame tree represents apostasy from the gospel of Jesus Christ. As appropriate, use the following activity or one of your own to begin the lesson. (The latter days.) Those natural branches of the original tree that were transplanted into poor soil also grew to give good fruit. In general, pride, arrogance, and vanityall synonyms of loftinessallowed branches of the house of Israel to usurp the authority of the gospel of Jesus Christ, nullifying any restraints the gospel might have exerted to stem the spread of the apostasy. As part of their foreign policy, the Assyrians deported rebellious subjects to areas within their empire that had previously been partially depopulated because those inhabitants had been rebellious. When the Lord arrived again after along time (v.29) to inspect his vineyard, he found that the mother tree had brought forth much fruit, and there is none of it which is good. Jacob 6. And just as a gardener doesnt give up on a big tree because of one bad season, the Lord doesnt give up on us because we had a period in our lives where we rejected him. An example of the adoption of new cultural elements is seen in the fact that the Babylonian calendar is still used today by Jewish people. A long time after the second visit, both the lord and his servant again descended into the vineyard to check on the trees. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Tame Olive Trees, Wild Olive Trees, Question that prompted Zenos' allegory and more. For example, we can invite our nonmember friends to talk with the missionaries, we can serve diligently as home teachers and visiting teachers, and couples can serve full-time missions together.). What does the fruit, good or bad, symbolize? What gospel principles did Jacob emphasize after testifying that the events in Zenoss allegory would all come to pass? [8] The religions of the two trees in the choice land are: (5) the remnant tree of Lehi was no longer a tree to be examined, having been replaced by (6) the tree of Joseph Smith, which now has two main branches, the LDS Church and the Community of Christ Church, with both having gone bad. If class members need help, suggest a few of the answers shown below or listed in the second additional teaching idea. Write their answers on the chalkboard around the illustration. Parable of the Olive Tree. (See 1Nephi 10:14; 2Nephi 29:14; D&C 33:36. BruceR. McConkie, 3 vols. Two examples of this apostasy suffice. 13. "The Allegory of the Olive Trees" - BYU Studies These practices were taken over in total by the Romans. Although notice that the bad fruits are burned in the end, which might correspond to the destruction of the Nephite nation. This aspect of the Allegory of the Olive Tree is applicable for both a people and for each individual. Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust. What are some specific ways we can fulfill these responsibilities? Or you could set up the classroom as if it were the vineyard (the world) and have class members walk through the allegory as you discuss it, as shown below: Sketch an olive tree on a poster and label it Jerusalem (the House of Israel). It shows us by allegory how much he cares for his children. Invite class members to read selected verses aloud. Supporting that possible meaning is that the servant gathered some of the good fruit produced (Jacob 5:23). What evidence do you see that some people today use similar methods to lead others away from Christ? To identify the symbols, I have consulted the above commentaries. Certainly other groups were led away also. The fourth visit, a long time after the second but not long after the third, is in our current era, in the last part of the fulness of times. 7. The Israelites that were carried into captivity by the Assyrians as well as the Judahite captives of the Babylonians probably intermarried with their non-Israelite neighbors and accepted new cultural elements.18. In the allegory of the olive trees, for example, a vineyard represents the world, a tame olive tree represents Israel (those who have made covenants with God), and wild olive trees represent the gentile nations (those who have not made covenants with God). By the identification of a few consistent symbols most verses can be rendered in a form that makes interpretation a simple matter. Also many of the great scientists and artists such as Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci came from the area of Tuscany in Italy. It will survive, but it won't produce tame . Explicating the Mystery of the Rejected Foundation Stone View of Christ not seen in other scattering/ gathering scriptures -he helps -his love for us Okay, time's up! Invite class members to read selected verses aloud. were pleased that this last effort was totally successful. That is how those who have rejected Christ can come to know of his goodness. After a long time (600 years), both the lord (Jesus) and his servant (James the Just?) In other words, that is what makes a good tree good, which tree can produce only good works.