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 [recognize] 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 [decayed] tree bringeth forth [spoiled] 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. 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.
[2]
The Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Maxwell Institute.
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