15 And it came to pass
that a long time passed away, and the Lord of the vineyard said unto his
servant: Come, let us go down into the vineyard, that we may labor in the
vineyard.
16 And it came to pass
that the Lord of the vineyard, and also the servant, went down into the
vineyard to labor. And it came to pass
that the servant said unto his master: Behold, look here; behold the tree.
17 And it came to pass
that the Lord of the vineyard looked and beheld the tree in the which the wild
olive branches had been grafted; and it had sprung forth and begun to bear fruit. And he beheld that it was good; and the fruit
thereof was like unto the natural fruit.
18 And he said unto
the servant: Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the
moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much
strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof the wild
branches have brought forth tame fruit.
Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the tree thereof would
have perished. And now, behold, I shall
lay up much fruit, which the tree thereof hath brought forth; and the fruit
thereof I shall lay up against the season, unto mine own self.
Jacob 5:15-18
Completing the work, the Lord left the vineyard and did not
visit it for a long period of time. This
is not unusual when caring for an olive vineyard.
Zenos depicts the Lord of the
vineyard typically going away for a season and returning after a relatively
long time (Jacob 5:15, 29). While it is important to give olive trees
consistent care, they do not require constant attention … The olive
requires only a little seasonal attention, and it can be cultivated in areas
where cereals and pulses will not grow.99 If
properly managed, olive groves only need to be worked twice or three times in
the winter and usually "one (occasionally two)" cultivations in the
summer, in addition to the usual pruning and fertilizing.100 However,
seasonal pruning is time consuming and is a very important component in maintaining
a productive olive grove.[1]
The Lord and his servant went to the vineyard to work. When they arrived, the servant told the
master to look at the tame olive tree.
They noticed that not only had fruit began growing on the wild
branches, the fruit was as good as the natural fruit. Remember, a wild branch grated on a tame tree
would produce wild fruit. “The
unexpected change of wild olive branches to tame ones (Jacob 5:17–18) would
have seemed a divine portent to our ancient authorities.”[2]
The Savior used the fruit of a tree as an example during His
ministry. “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree
corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit” (Matthew
12:33). He told His apostles, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your
fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it you” (John 15:16).
Orson Pratt looked at this scripture. “This latter idea that the Gentiles had
failed to bring forth ‘fruit’ points to the Saints' understanding of what
resulted from the ingrafting of the ‘wild branches.’ Zenos mentioned that initially
they had begun ‘to bear fruit’ (Jacob 5:17), which [Orson] Pratt explained as ‘the
Gentiles in the Apostles' day.’"[3]
Why did the wild branches bring forth good fruit? The Lord attributes this to the root being
strong and giving moisture.
On one occasion Zenos states that
the wild branches began to produce good fruit. But the Lord of the vineyard
attributes this solely to the strength of the roots, not to any constitutional
change: "Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the
moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much
strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof, the wild
branches have brought forth tame fruit" (Jacob 5:18).[4]
M. Catherine Thomas writes:
Perhaps the ultimate definition of
oil in scripture, that which draws together all those mentioned above, appears
in the Savior's parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13), which he
explicates in D&C 45, identifying the oil as the Holy Ghost (D&C 45:56–57).
The Lord Jesus is the agent of the Atonement, but the medium of the at-one-ment
is the Holy Ghost—that sap or moisture that flows from the trunk through the
branches. Perhaps something of this idea suggests itself in Jacob 5:18:
"The branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the moisture of
the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much . . . tame
fruit." Jacob makes a similar metaphorical connection when he exhorts
Israel not to "quench the Holy Spirit" (Jacob 6:8).[5]
The Lord tells the servant that, had they not grafted in the
branches, the tree would have died. Now,
the tree will produce fruit, “and the
fruit thereof, I shall lay up against the seasons unto mine own self.”
John Tvedtnes writes:
In a passage reminiscent of the
parable of Zenos, Christ identified himself as the plant of which his disciples
are branches (see John 15:1-2, 4-6, 8) … As in the parable of Zenos, the
branches take strength from the main plant (in this case a vine) and bear good
fruit (cf. Jacob 5:18), while the unfruitful branches are removed and
burned in the fire (Jacob 5:7, 26, 37, 42, 45–47, 49). Another feature shared
by the two passages is that God is the husbandman (cf. Jacob 6:2, 4).[6]
[1]
Botanical
Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5, Wilford M. Hess, Daniel
Fairbanks, John W. Welch, and Jonathan K. Driggs, Maxwell Institute, accessed April
4, 2014.
[2]
Graft
and Corruption: On Olives and Olive Culture in the Pre-Modern Mediterranean, John Gee and Daniel C. Peterson, Maxwell
Institute, accessed April 6, 2014.
[4]
Botanical
Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5, Wilford M. Hess, Daniel
Fairbanks, John W. Welch, and Jonathan K. Driggs, Maxwell Institute, accessed April
4, 2014.
[5]
Jacob's
Allegory: The Mystery of Christ, M. Catherine Thomas, Maxwell Institute,
accessed April 6, 2014.
[6]
Borrowings
from the Parable of Zenos, John Tvedtnes, Maxwell Institute, accessed April
6, 2014.
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