Book of Mormon, D & C, Pearl of Great Price

In a previous article I summarized the allegory of the Olive Tree, which the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob retold. It was first told by a prophet named Zenos, whose writings we no longer have. In another article, I explained the meaning of the tree. Today, I’d like to help you understand who the Lord and Servant are in the story.

There are two possible interpretations for this. One is that the Lord of the Vineyard is the Savior, and the servant is his prophets. The other, less commonly offered, is that the Lord of the Vineyard is God, and the servant is Jesus Christ, due to the Savior’s role as the Intercessory. The servant, you may recall, was always the one pleading for just a little more time. This role could suit either interpretation.

However, you view it, the Lord of the Vineyard is a member of the Godhead (the Godhead consists of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost) and the story is one of love. We see, as we study the story carefully, how very much the Lord loves his vineyard, and particularly the tree at the center of the story. He has enjoyed it for many years, loving it and caring for it. When He sees He is about to lose His tree, He devotes great time and effort to save it.

If we view the servant as the prophets, we can look back through the history of the world, whenever prophets were on the earth, and see how they often pleaded for their people and labored, under God’s guidance, to save the people. They struggled to humble their people so the top wouldn’t steal strength from the roots. If we view him as Jesus, we see Him working, also under God’s direction, to build the kingdom.

When the master transplants branches of the parent tree in far-flung corners of the vineyard, which represents the world, he doesn’t simply forget them. He gives them the same attention and love the parent tree receives. He sends his servant to nurture those young branches. In this same vein, God has not forgotten the scattered tribes of Israel. The world declares some are lost, but God always knows where they are, and we know He has had communication with at least some of them in times since their scattering. God doesn’t misplace the children He loves.

Just as the Lord of the Vineyard gathered the far-flung branches he had transplanted and made a final, mighty effort to save the vineyard, God will bring about a restoration of Israel with the help of His prophets. Yes, He has restored prophets to the earth to prepare His children for the last days. It will take the work of all those who are dedicated enough to participate however difficult it will be—and that includes all of us, who are invited to hear the words of the prophet and to assist God in His glorious work at closing down our time on earth.

In the previous article, I summarized for you the allegory of the Olive Tree, found in Jacob 5. Since the entire story revolves around this tree, it’s important to understand what it represents. In allegories, many things represent something else, and we must learn the meaning of the symbolism before we can learn the meaning of the story.

There are actually a number of olive trees in the story. The representations are taken from the Institute of Religion Manual for the Book of Mormon.

The tame tree represents Israel, the chosen people. The wild trees represent those who are not of Israel in the early story, and later the branches that are wild represent apostate Israel. The branches are various groups of people.

Olive trees can grow wild, but pruning and care gives the most reliable results. We see in the allegory how hard the Lord worked to care for his trees. We saw in one part of the allegory that the top of the tree was dying. This is due to the tree outgrowing its roots (Research and Perspectives: Recent Studies on the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Jul 1989, 62) According to the article I’ve linked to here, the servant had to remove branches before grafting new ones to prevent this particular problem.

The Book of Mormon student manual explains that the olive tree is a very appropriate symbol for a story that represents God’s love for His children. The trees require extensive care and nurturing, as we’ve seen in the story. If left alone, the trees fruit will be inedible. A wild tree can be made tame, but this requires a great deal of effort, cutting back the trunk and grafting branches of a tame tree onto it. Even then, it’s not fully developed for fifteen years. Olive trees are the product of patience and direct, hands-on nurturing and assistance. The manual explains: “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.”

As we study the story, we see that Israel was a wonderful tree that served God well for many years. Being a favored nation, the Lord of the vineyard (God) is reluctant to let it simply die, and does everything in His power to save the tree, or Israel. Again and again, Israel struggles and seems to be in great trouble, but we see it is still here, having survived centuries of trials and war. The olive tree in the allegory produced many new trees from its transplanted branches, and is like Israel in that way. It keeps coming back to life, surviving all threats to its survival.

We know from prophecy that Israel will be gathered together and restored someday. The planting of the tree branches taken from the parent tree in various corners can be interpreted as the scattering of Israel, and the grafting of those scattered trees’ branches back on to the original tree can represent the gathering of Israel in the last days. Isaiah prophesied that Israel would learn from its mistakes, fulfill its part in the covenants made with God, and make the gathering possible. It is already happening in this day.

Jacob, the third prophet of the Book of Mormon, related an allegory first told by an ancient prophet named Zenos. We no longer have his writings and we know only that he was a great prophet much loved by the Nephites, who quoted him frequently, and that he was killed for his powerful teachings. We know the Bible was not written as a single unit, that it was written as separate pieces later gathered, and that there were many writings lost or not canonized. The Book of Mormon gives us a glimpse into some of these lost writings, including the work of Zenos.

This allegory was considered by Joseph Fielding Smith, an early church prophet, one of the greatest parables of the Book of Mormon, one that could only have come through prophecy, and not through the imagination of any mortal man, much less one with as little education as the young Joseph Smith had received when he translated the Book of Mormon. Many consider it powerful evidence, if evidence were required, that the Book of Mormon is true.
You can read the allegory yourself in the Book of Jacob, in chapter five.

Following is the basic story contained in the parable. In my next articles, I’ll help guide you through an understanding of this parable.

This is the story of a master who is upset because his prize olive tree is growing old and decaying. He doesn’t want to lose it, but hopes to preserve it so he can preserve the fruit for the future. He and his servant work constantly to do what is needed to save it—pruning it, working the ground around it, and nourishing it.

Initially, this seems to help. Some young new branches begin to appear. However, the top of the tree began to decay, upsetting the master. He sends his servant to pluck some branches from a wild olive tree. They then pluck off the dead branches, burning them, and graft branches from the wild tree onto the tame tree. They again work the ground and nurture the tree, hoping to preserve the roots. Natural young branches of the tame tree were hidden in various parts of the vineyard in hopes they would grow well.

When they return to evaluate the results, the tree has again begun to bear fruit, and the fruit is good. The master instructs the servant to preserve the fruit for his own purposes.

The servant, however, is puzzled. He asks why the master planted a tree in the poorest spot in the vineyard. The master agrees the spot was poor, but points out it has given good fruit for many years. He demonstrates that he had planted a branch in a spot that was even worse, and it too had given good fruit. In fact, the branches planted in bad spots generally grew well, but the ones they planted in good spots often produced bitter fruit and had to have the bad portions removed.

26 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Pluck off the branches that have not brought forth good fruit, and cast them into the fire.

27 But behold, the servant said unto him: Let us prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it a little longer, that perhaps it may bring forth good fruit unto thee, that thou canst lay it up against the season.

28 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard and the servant of the Lord of the vineyard did nourish all the fruit of the vineyard. (Jacob 5)

After a long season of careful care, they again went to inspect the initial tree they wanted to save. It was filled with fruit of all kinds, but none of it was good. The master was frustrated. He had worked so hard to save the tree, but the wild branches had overtaken the roots and were destroying the tree.

They then went to check on the other natural branches they had planted. These too had been destroyed, so that even the parts that had borne good fruit were now corrupted. The master grieved:

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?

Again the master decides the trees must be destroyed, and again, it is the servant who pleads for them to be saved and given a bit longer. The master agrees, hating the thought of losing his trees.

This time, the master decides to take branches from the new trees, which, you recall, came from the original tree. These he will graft onto the original tree, removing branches that are the most bitter. With the most bitter branches gone, and new branches grafted from trees created from that same tree, he hoped the roots would grow strong again.

This was the last chance. A small number of servants were called to assist in the preparations for this important last time. The effort was successful and the master rejoiced, calling his servants to him.

75 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. And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard.

Jacob was the third prophet of the Book of Mormon. He called his people together in the temple to chastise them for their wickedness, and their failure to live the gospel that had once defined them. To help them see the risks they faced, he also prophesied of the future challenges faced by the Jews in Jerusalem, which is where his people had come from themselves. He warned them some of the Jewish people would reject the Savior when He came because they were looking for someone different from the person they saw and for a gospel more complex than what He was offering.

Instead, the Savior would offer a gospel that was filled with plain and simple truths. The complexities of the Law of Moses would be removed. The intellectualism some craved would not be a part of the gospel. Those who wanted a gospel too hard to understand would be disappointed, because the truth is not complex. However, we can see from Jacob’s warning that God would give them what they wanted, if they insisted on it, but to their own detriment.

“14 But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble. (Jacob 4)
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/jacob/4

While God glories in our intelligence, which He gave us, we must not allow intellectualism or a desire for the complex and fancy to overshadow our need for the very basic, very beautiful in their simplicity, gospel truths. Sometimes people who wish to attack the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will focus on small fringe ideas, ideas which were never canonized, but only speculated on by early leaders and others, as intelligent people sometimes do. They entirely miss the heart of the gospel, which begins when a young boy kneels in the woods and God appears, introducing young Joseph Smith to His Son, Jesus Christ. This simple moment in unpretentious, God-made surroundings, teaches the heart of the restored gospel. God lives. Jesus is His literal Son.

From this other simple truths were taught over time. God loves us with all His heart. Jesus redeemed us out of love. God sends prophets to teach us even today because He loves us. He has given us the Holy Ghost, if we choose it, to allow us to communicate directly with God anytime we choose, and this too, because He loves us.

The plain and simple truths of the gospel are the ones centered in love, and they are the heart of the gospel that is truly taught by the restored gospel. Don’t look beyond the mark, as the early Jewish people sometimes did, and miss what is right in front of you: The truth, in all its simplistic glory.