67 And the branches of
the natural tree will I graft in again into the natural tree;
68 And the branches of
the natural tree will I graft into the natural branches of the tree; and thus
will I bring them together again, that they shall bring forth the natural
fruit, and they shall be one.
69 And the bad shall
be cast away, yea, even out of all the land of my vineyard; for behold, only
this once will I prune my vineyard.
70 And it came to pass
that the Lord of the vineyard sent his servant; and the servant went and did as
the Lord had commanded him, and brought other servants; and they were few.
71 And the Lord of the
vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your
might. For behold, this is the last time
that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season
speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in
the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon
come.
72 And it came to pass
that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the
vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord
of the vineyard in all things.
Jacob 5:67-72
Having decided to make one last attempt to save the
vineyard, the Lord decides to graft the natural tree branches on the natural
tree once again. This will bring them
together and they will bring forth good fruit once again.
The trees that are bad will be cast out of the
vineyard. For only one more time, the
Lord will prune his vineyard.
After quoting the words of Isaiah, Nephi observed:
“For behold, saith the prophet, the time cometh speedily
that Satan shall have no more power over the hearts of the children of men; for
the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as
stubble; and the day cometh that they must be burned.
“For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the wrath of
God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer
that the wicked shall destroy the righteous.
“Wherefore, he will preserve the righteous by his power,
even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be
preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for
thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire…
“For the time speedily shall come that all churches which
are built up to get gain, and all those who are built up to get power over the
flesh, and those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world,
and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world, and to
do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of
the devil are they who need fear, and tremble, and quake; they are those who must
be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be consumed as stubble; and
this is according to the words of the prophet” (1 Nephi 22:15–17, 23).
Towards the end of his life, Nephi would refer to this
subject again.
“And with righteousness shall the Lord God judge the poor,
and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of
his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
“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 30:9-10).
So, the Lord sent his servant to bring other servants to
help him fulfill the desire of the Lord; however, the servants were few. The Lord would refer to this allegory in a
revelation given Joseph Smith. “And the
lord of the vineyard said unto one of his servants: Go and gather together the
residue of my servants, and take all the strength of mine house, which are my
warriors, my young men, and they that are of middle age also among all my
servants, who are the strength of mine house, save those only whom I have
appointed to tarry” (D&C 101:55). “But when he saw the multitudes, he was
moved with compassion on them, because they fainted [GR they were harassed],
and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his
disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his
harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38).
This would be referred to by the angel during Nephi’s great
vision. “And it came to pass that I
beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the
wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters;
nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God,
were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of
the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw”
(1 Nephi 14:12).
Paul Y. Hoskisson comments on these verses.
“Rather than raze the unprofitable, apostate earth, God
decided to try one more time to establish the gospel on the earth to see if the
trees of the vineyard would produce good fruit. He began by having the branches
from the mother tree ‘grafted into the natural trees’ and branches from the
natural trees ‘grafted into their mother tree’ (Jacob 5:55 and 56). He
instructed the servant to ‘dig about them, and prune them, and dung them once
more, for the last time’ (Jacob 5:64). From the beginning of the gathering of
the house of Israel until the Millennium, from the Restoration until the Second
Coming, there is an unbroken effort by the main servant and ‘other servants’
(Jacob 5:70) to ‘labor in the vineyard’ with all their might for ‘the last time’
(Jacob 5:71). The servant and his co-workers ‘did obey the commandments of the
Lord of the vineyard in all things’ (Jacob 5:72).”[1]
The servants were commanded to work in the vineyard “with
your might.” The Lord again emphasizes
that this is the final time he will nourish his vineyard. Then end is near. If they labor with all their might, they will
be able to enjoy the fruit which he gathers “against the time which will soon
come.”
Again, the Lord would use the vineyard in revelations given
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) and “Wherefore, labor ye, labor ye in my
vineyard for the last time—for the last time call upon the inhabitants of the
earth. For in mine own due time will I
come upon the earth in judgment, and my people shall be redeemed and shall
reign with me on earth. For the great
Millennium, of which I have spoken by the mouth of my servants, shall come”
(D&C 43:28-30).
After receiving their command from the Lord, they went out
and worked with all their might. Not
only did the servants labor, but the Lord labored as well.
“In order to accomplish the necessary pruning, the Lord
instructed the servant to ‘go to, and call servants’ (Jacob 5:61). The servant
organized a small pruning team (Jacob 5:70), and the Lord encouraged them to
work hard (Jacob 5:71). They then went to work, taking instructions from the
Lord and working together with him (Jacob 5:72).”[2]
[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.
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