29 And it came to pass that a long time had passed away,
and the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: Come, let us go down into
the vineyard, that we may labor again in the vineyard. For behold, the time draweth near, and the
end soon cometh; wherefore, I must lay up fruit against the season, unto mine
own self.
30 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard and
the servant went down into the vineyard; and they came to the tree whose
natural branches had been broken off, and the wild branches had been grafted
in; and behold all sorts of fruit did cumber the tree.
31 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard did
taste of the fruit, every sort according to its number. And the Lord of the vineyard said: Behold,
this long time have we nourished this tree, and I have laid up unto myself
against the season much fruit.
32 But behold, this time it hath brought forth much
fruit, and there is none of it which is good.
And behold, there are all kinds of bad fruit; and it profiteth me
nothing, notwithstanding all our labor; and now it grieveth me that I should
lose this tree.
33 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant:
What shall we do unto the tree, that I may preserve again good fruit thereof
unto mine own self?
34 And the servant said unto his master: Behold, because
thou didst graft in the branches of the wild olive-tree they have nourished the
roots, that they are alive and they have not perished; wherefore thou beholdest
that they are yet good.
35 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said
unto his servant: The tree profiteth me nothing, and the roots thereof profit
me nothing so long as it shall bring forth evil fruit.
36 Nevertheless, I know that the roots are good, and for
mine own purpose I have preserved them; and because of their much strength they
have hitherto brought forth, from the wild branches, good fruit.
37 But behold, the wild branches have grown and have
overrun the roots thereof; and because that the wild branches have overcome the
roots thereof it hath brought forth much evil fruit; and because that it hath
brought forth so much evil fruit thou beholdest that it beginneth to perish;
and it will soon become ripened, that it may be cast into the fire, except we
should do something for it to preserve it.
Jacob 5:29-37
The Lord of the vineyard finished his work caring for his
trees and went home. After “a long time
had passed away,” the Lord and his servant returned to work in his
vineyard. The time was coming, he told
the servant, and that he must harvest his fruit.
Nephi wrote about this time.
“For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great
division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare
his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire” (2
Nephi 30:10). Commenting on this
passage, Jacob would say, “And the day that he shall set his hand again the
second time to recover his people, is the day, yea, even the last time, that
the servants of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to nourish and prune his
vineyard; and after that the end soon cometh” (Jacob 6:2).
Paul Hoskisson writes:
When the Lord arrived again after “a long time” (Jacob 5:29)
to inspect his vineyard, he found that the mother tree had “brought forth much fruit,
and there is none of it which is good. And behold there are all kinds of bad
fruit” (Jacob 5:32). This is *precisely the situation of the (Christian) world
as described by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph in the Sacred Grove (Joseph
Smith-History 1:19). The mother tree in Israel that had borne much good fruit
in the early Christian era had become entirely corrupt. As for the first
transplanted branches, they also carried nothing but bad fruit. The good
section of the last tree, the righteous Lehites, had been entirely destroyed by
the evil branch, the apostate Lehites, so that nothing but wild fruit remained
on it also. The apostasy had been complete and universal in all the trees
representing Israel. Yet the roots remained good (Jacob 5:34).[1]
The Lord and the servant went to the vineyard. They came to the tree with the grafts and
found it full of fruit. The Lord tasted
of the fruits. Even though he had spent
much time nourishing and caring for it, it brought forth bad fruit.
“Grafting can be used to change the variety of fruit a plant
produces. As an example, several kinds of apple stocks can be grafted onto the
same rootstock so the same tree bears several kinds of apples. An important
point is that grafting cannot be used to create new kinds of fruit or flowers,
even when the scion and stock belong to different species. If a Bartlett pear
scion is grafted onto a quince stock the tree will produce Bartlett pears.
Bringing forth good, bad, and all sorts of fruit on one tree would require grafting;
it would not happen naturally. Thus, it is not surprising that the tame tree
with its wild grafts would produce all kinds of fruits (Jacob 5:30), but the
branch planted in the nethermost part of the vineyard would not naturally bring
forth good fruit on some branches and bad fruit on others, unless someone had
come in and grafted wild material onto that scion. Perhaps this is why the Lord
of the vineyard asks, ‘Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard’ (Jacob 5:47).”[2]
Describing this situation, Paul Hoskisson writes:
“When the Lord of the vineyard came to look at the earth
near the end of the Apostasy, he found that none of the various trees of the
house of Israel, with or without Gentiles grafted in, were bearing good
fruit. Jacob 5:31-32 describes this condition of apostasy, ‘The Lord of
the vineyard did taste of the fruit, every sort according to its number. And
the Lord of the vineyard said: Behold, this long time have we nourished this
tree, and I have laid up unto myself against the season much fruit. But behold,
this time it hath brought forth much fruit, and there is none of it which is
good. And behold, there are all kinds of bad fruit; and it profiteth me
nothing.’ (What an apt description of the Apostasy.) This was the condition of
the world in 1820.”[3]
Seeing the tree brought forth bad fruit, the Lord asked the
servant, “What shall we do unto the tree, that I may preserve again good fruit
thereof?”
The servant replied the branches grafted onto the tree nourished
the roots. Not only have they not
perished, they are alive and good.
The Lord told the servant the tree was worthless. The roots “profit me nothing so long as it
shall bring forth evil fruit.” Still,
the roots are good, and he preserved them for his own purposes.
“At first, the Lord of the vineyard appears unsure of the
cause of decay in his beloved olive tree. He grafts wild branches into the tame
rootstock hoping to revitalize it, and he grafts tame shoots onto other trees
in case the tame root dies (Jacob 5:7-8). After seeing how the wild grafts
flourish, he knows that the roots of his beloved tree are good (Jacob 5:36) and
thus resolves to keep trying, eventually deciding to clear out the wild
branches that had been grafted in and to graft back in the original stock from
the trees in the nethermost parts of the vineyard (Jacob 5:52).”[i]
The wild branches on the tree had overrun the roots. This is why it was producing bad fruit. It produces so much bad fruit, “it beginneth
to perish.” Unless a way is found to
preserve it, it must be burned.
“As trees age it becomes more difficult for the roots to
continue to grow and obtain nourishment for the tree, while the foliage is
still very active. The equilibrium is broken when mineral substances from the
roots become less available. When this happens rejuvenation pruning is
necessary to reduce the aerial portions of the tree. Accordingly, when the
older rootstock of the main tree in Jacob 5 is rejuvenated by extensive
grafting, it cannot keep up with the vigorous new growth of the wild stock
(Jacob 5:37), and pruning and grafting are necessary as a corrective measure.”[4]
[1]
The Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Maxwell Institute.
[2]
Botanical Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5, Wilford M. Hess, Daniel
Fairbanks, John W. Welch, and Jonathan K. Driggs, Maxwell Institute.
[3]
The Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Maxwell Institute.
[4]
ibid.
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