57 And the Lord of the
vineyard said unto the servant: Pluck not the wild branches from the trees,
save it be those which are most bitter; and in them ye shall graft according to
that which I have said.
58 And we will nourish
again the trees of the vineyard, and we will trim up the branches thereof; and
we will pluck from the trees those branches which are ripened, that must
perish, and cast them into the fire.
59 And this I do that,
perhaps, the roots thereof may take strength because of their goodness; and
because of the change of the branches, that the good may overcome the evil.
60 And because that I
have preserved the natural branches and the roots thereof, and that I have
grafted in the natural branches again into their mother tree, and have preserved
the roots of their mother tree, that, perhaps, the trees of my vineyard may
bring forth again good fruit and that I may have joy again in the fruit of my
vineyard, and, perhaps, that I may rejoice exceedingly that I have preserved
the roots and the branches of the first fruit—
61 Wherefore, go to,
and call servants, that we may labor diligently with our might in the vineyard,
that we may prepare the way, that I may bring forth again the natural fruit,
which natural fruit is good and the most precious above all other fruit.
Jacob 5:57-61
After counseling with his servant, the Lord told him to remove
only the wild branches that were most bitter.
Otherwise, he was to graft branches as the Lord told him.
Natural trees do not change genetically to “become wild”
(see questions 3 and 4). In the instance of Jacob 5:57, the wild branches
are not plucked from the tree except those that are the most bitter. The only
reason for grafting wild branches on tame trees is that they may provide more
vigor for rejuvenation than tame branches. However, there are good reasons to
remove the branches with the bitterest fruit.[1]
Once that was done, they would continue to nourish the trees
and trim the branches. The Lord decides to pluck branches from the trees that
will be cast into the fire. These words
a reminiscent of the words of Isaiah.
“When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken
off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no
understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he
that formed them will shew them no favour” (Isaiah 27:11).
“To pluck means to pick out, cull or strip, cut or
remove. Zenos reflects a difference in the severity of pruning: ranging from “plucking
off” whole branches or sections (Jacob 5:7) to “trimming up” selected growth
(Jacob 5:58). White states that after several years trees should be pruned and
all unwanted branches should be lopped: “Remember the old proverb ‘He who
ploughs the olive‑grove, asks it for fruit; he who manures it, begs for fruit;
he who lops it, forces it to give fruit.’”[2]
The work the Lord does he does so that, “perhaps, the roots
thereof may take strength because of their goodness … that the good may
overcome the evil.” Paul Hoskisson
likens this process to the work of the Restoration.
“This grafting and pruning process is evident today in the
Restoration. Successful grafting consists of ‘coming to a knowledge of the true
Messiah’ (1 Nephi 10:14), Christ, through the word of God … In 1820, when the
Prophet Joseph went into the grove to pray (perhaps it was not coincidence that
the Restoration began in a grove of trees), the entire world was devoid of the
kind of fruit the Lord desired … From that beginning in nineteenth-century
frontier America, peoples and cultures have been exposed to the healing
influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the renewed scriptural heritage
of the house of Israel. The realization of this healing process can be seen in
the Restoration. As soon as the people who accept the gospel are able to
receive them, God reveals correct principles, doctrines, and eternal
ordinances. In this way the scriptural heritage of the house of Israel, the
roots, ‘may take strength’ (Jacob 5:59) and bless the peoples and cultures
nourished by them.[3]
So, how does a change in the branches affect the roots?
“Rootstocks have a direct bearing on the quality of the
fruit. Temperate fruit tree growers ‘often select a certain rootstock for a
particular fruiting cultivar because it will dwarf the tree’ to facilitate
fruit harvesting and, in most instances, will bring the tree into production
sooner. The tree is dwarfed, but not the roots nor the fruit. Hartmann et
al. point out that for ‘some species, particularly citrus, the type of
rootstock can . . . influence the quality of fruit produced by the scion
cultivar. . . .’”[4]
Because the Lord preserved natural branches and roots, he
grafted natural branches into the mother tree.
He has preserved the roots of the mother tree. And, he hopes, the trees in his vineyard will
bring forth good fruit that he might “have joy again in the fruit of my
vineyard and, perhaps, that I may rejoice exceedingly that I have preserved the
roots and the branches of the first fruits.”
Once again, these words echo Isaiah. “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to
take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with
fruit [IE the blessings of salvation]” (Isaiah 27:6).
This shows how Israel will be preserved.
“Paul uses the olive tree to show how Israel will be
preserved through an act of grace. The Lord will use Israel’s jealousy of the
Gentiles to entice Israel to return. Though Zenos too shows how Israel will be
preserved through grace, he uses the olive tree in a very different way than
does Paul. Zenos’s parable demonstrates the lengths to which the Lord of the
vineyard will go to preserve his fruit. As Jacob 5:60 makes clear,
Zenos allegorizes the olive tree to show how the Lord can preserve his fruit
(which remains undefined in the parable)…”[5]
The Lord told his servant to call all of his servants to
work “diligently with our might in the vineyard.” His desire was that he might again have
natural fruit. Calling servants is a
major part of the Gospel. The Lord told
Joseph Smith, “Wherefore lay to with your might and call faithful laborers into
my vineyard, that it may be pruned for the last time” (D&C 39:17).
We once again see similarities between the Tree of Life and
the vineyard. “[T]he description of the
fruit of the olive tree as ‘good and the most precious above all other fruit’
(Jacob 5:61) suggests an additional parallel, a parallel between the trees in
the vineyard and the tree of life.”[6] M. Catherine Thomas expands on this.
“When Jacob is about to introduce the allegory he exhorts
the reader to be the first-fruits of Christ (Jacob 4:11). Nephi says that
the fruit from Lehi’s dream tree is “most precious and most desirable
above all other fruits’ (1 Nephi 15:36). In identical language, the olive tree’s
natural fruit is ‘most precious above all other fruit’ (Jacob 5:61) and ‘most
precious unto him from the beginning’ (Jacob 5:74); that is, the fruit
from both trees is described as ‘most precious.” It would seem that the fruit
represents harvestable souls, or those that can be or have been sanctified by
the Savior’s atoning power.[7]
[1]
Botanical Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5, Wilford M. Hess, Daniel
Fairbanks, John W. Welch, and Jonathan K. Driggs, Maxwell Institute.
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
The Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Maxwell Institute.
[4]
Botanical Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5, Wilford M. Hess, Daniel
Fairbanks, John W. Welch, and Jonathan K. Driggs, Maxwell Institute.
[5]
The Olive Tree and the Work of God: Jacob 5 and Romans 11, James E. Faulconer,
Maxwell Institute.
[6]
Ibid.
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