38 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said
unto his servant: Let us go down into the nethermost parts of the vineyard, and
behold if the natural branches have also brought forth evil fruit.
39 And it came to pass that they went down into the
nethermost parts of the vineyard. And it
came to pass that they beheld that the fruit of the natural branches had become
corrupt also; yea, the first and the second and also the last; and they had all
become corrupt.
40 And the wild fruit of the last had overcome that part of
the tree which brought forth good fruit, even that the branch had withered away
and died.
41 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard wept,
and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?
42 Behold, I knew that all the fruit of the vineyard, save
it were these, had become corrupted. And
now these which have once brought forth good fruit have also become corrupted;
and now all the trees of my vineyard are good for nothing save it be to be hewn
down and cast into the fire.
43 And behold this last, whose branch hath withered away, I
did plant in a good spot of ground; yea, even that which was choice unto me
above all other parts of the land of my vineyard.
Jacob 5:38-43
The Lord of the vineyard wants to check the farthest part of
the vineyard where he had grafted natural branches. He wanted to check to see if they also have
wild fruit growing on the natural branches.
When the Lord and his servant arrived, he found the natural
branches had all become corrupt. Wild
fruit was now growing on parts of the tree, which had brought forth good
fruit. One of the branches had died.
Seeing the corruption of the fruit, the Lord of the vineyard
wept. He turned to his servant and
asked, “What could I have done more for
my vineyard?”
It takes time and effort to care for an olive tree.
The Lord of the vineyard often
remarks: "It grieveth me that I should lose this tree" (Jacob 5:7,
11, 13, 32, 46, 47, 51, 66), and he weeps at the thought of losing his tree (Jacob
5:41). Zenos represents the tree as a precious commodity and a substantial
asset. It takes about two years to grow and graft scions to rootstocks, and the
plants remain in the nursery for another three to four years. After the trees
are planted it will take at least six years to start production and about forty
years for it to come into full production.101 White
states that "a tree of such slow growth represents a heavy investment of
time and labor."102
[1]
Remembering the Lord of the vineyard represents Christ, we
know that He works for the good of all of us.
Lehi said, “Wherefore, men are free
according to the flesh; and call things are given them which are
expedient unto man. And they are free to
choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to
choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil;
for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2:27).
Nephi wrote, “He doeth not anything save
it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he
layeth down his own life that he may draw call men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall
not partake of his salvation” (2 Nephi 26:24). Ammon taught, “Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people,
whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of
mercy are over all the earth. Now this
is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God
forever” (Alma 26:37).
John Tanner emphasizes Christ’s love for us all.
A key phrase in the allegory is
"it grieveth me that I should lose this tree," repeated eight times.
By means of such repetition, the allegory celebrates the Lord's long-suffering
love. The frequent repetition of the line describes the quality of that divine
love—it is unfailing, persistent, tenacious. This message of the Lord's love
matters as much as, if not more than, the historical details of his plan to
redeem Israel. Yes, the allegory tells how the Lord of the vineyard will work
out his grand design in history. But more than this, it shows that he weeps
over the loss of his trees: "It came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard
wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my
vineyard" (Jacob 5:41; see also Moses 7:28-41). The Lord of the universe
grieves that he should lose any tree of the vineyard. What a
remarkable witness! I find this allegory one of the most eloquent scriptural
testimonies of God's love anywhere. Surely Jacob did too.[2]
The fruit had become corrupted. What is meant by “corrupted?”
The word "corrupted" is
not a botanical term. One can interpret the term to mean generally unsound. If
this is correct it likely means that the branches were literally of no more
use. In verse 40, "the branch hath withered away and died" and verse
43 refers to a tree "whose branch had withered away." This suggests
that the branches were no longer functional. The life had gone out of them or
perhaps they were decayed. If the wood is dead the best option may be for them
to be "hewn down and cast into the fire" (Jacob 5:42). Dead wood is
also likely to have parasites and pathogens, and one of the best ways to reduce
the inoculum potential is to burn the infested plant materials. Olive wood
contains resin and oil, so it burns quite readily.[3]
The Lord was concerned that all the trees in the vineyard
had become corrupt. The only thing they
are good for is being cast into a fire. “And now also the axe is laid unto the root
of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).
The Lord lamented he had planted the branch in good, choice
ground in his vineyard.
Accordingly, the main factor
mentioned in the allegory as the cause of fruit loss was cultural rather than
genetic, leading to the withering of good branches. Good branches were grafted
onto trees in the nethermost part of the vineyard (Jacob 5:8), but the wild
parts of those trees eventually overran them, "even that the [grafted
natural] branch had withered away and died" (Jacob 5:40; see also Jacob
5:43), "because I plucked not the [wild] branches thereof and cast them
into the fire" (Jacob 5:45).[4]
[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]
Jacob
and His Descendants as Authors, John S. Tanner, Maxwell Institute, accessed
April 14, 2014.
[3]
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.
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