Friday, June 26, 2020

Jacob 5:67-72


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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