24 And it came to pass
that the Lord of the vineyard said again unto his servant: Look hither, and
behold another branch also, which I have planted; behold that I have nourished
it also, and it hath brought forth fruit.
25 And he said unto
the servant: Look hither and behold the last.
Behold, this have I planted in a good spot of ground; and I have
nourished it this long time, and only a part of the tree hath brought forth
tame fruit, and the other part of the tree hath brought forth wild fruit;
behold, I have nourished this tree like unto the others.
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 5:24-28
The Lord and the servant went to another branch of the tame
tree that had been planted in another part of the vineyard. It had been nourished and well taken care of
by the Lord of the vineyard. It now
brought forth good fruit. An example of
a “branch” developing “good fruit” was the work of Alma2 and
Amulek. “That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not
be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word
with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter
into the rest of the Lord their God” (Alma 16:17).
This branch had been planted in good ground. It had been nourished for a long time but
only a part of the tree had tame fruit.
The rest had wild fruit.
John L. Sorenson and Matthew Robert explain:
Branches broken off the tame tree,
which represented historical Israel (see Jacob 5:3), were to be grafted onto
the roots of "wild" olive trees, meaning non-Israelite groups. That
is, there was to be a demographic union between two groups, "young and
tender branches" from the original tree, Israel, represented as being
grafted onto wild rootstock in various parts of the vineyard or earth (see
Jacob 5:8–9). Jacob 5:25 and 43 clearly speak of Lehi's people being
represented by such a broken-off branch.[1]
Seeing the branches that brought forth wild fruit, the Lord
told the servant to cut off them off and burn them.
The Savior used the image of burning trees that bring forth
bad fruit.
Ye
shall know [GR recognize, detect] them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles?
Even
so every good tree bringeth forth good [The Greek wording carries the meaning
of beautiful, precious fruit without blemish] fruit; but a corrupt [GR decayed,
rotten, stale] tree bringeth forth evil [GR bad, spoiled, degenerate] fruit.
A
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit.
Every
tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
Matthew 7:16-20
Alma2 used the image of fruit that is not good
when preaching to the people of Zarahemla.
“For behold, the time is at hand
that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works
of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn” (Alma 5:36).
The Lord told Joseph Smith, “The ax is laid at the root of the trees; and every tree that bringeth
not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire. I, the Lord, have spoken it” (D&C 97:7).
The servant made a suggestion to the Lord. Prune the tree and dig around it. Nourish it a little long and it might bring
froth good fruit.
The Lord took the servant’s advice and nourished the tree
along with all the fruit in his vineyard
Paul Hoskisson writes:
God is not a partial God (Moroni
8:18); he cares for all parts of his vineyard equally (Jacob 5:28). We may not
be able to understand from our finite perspective in what way the seeming
inequities of this world can be reconciled with God's statement that he
"maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on
the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). But our omniscient God has
assured us that "all are alike unto God" (2 Nephi 26:33). This
impartiality of God is illustrated in the allegory when the Lord of the
vineyard declares that he has not slackened his hand, but has
"nourished" the world, "digged about it, and pruned it . . .
almost all the day long" (Jacob 5:47). There is no part of the vineyard
that his hand has not touched.30 Indeed,
no part of the earth and no inhabitants of the earth can ever justifiably make
the claim that God has treated them unjustly. If they have not produced good
fruit they cannot blame it on the lack of care God gave to their part of the
vineyard.[2]
[1]
Before
DNA, John L. Sorenson and Matthew Roper, Maxwell Institute, accessed April
10, 2014.
[2]
The
Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Maxwell Institute,
accessed April 10, 2014.
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