For example, we can invite our nonmember friends to talk with the missionaries, we can serve diligently as home teachers and visiting teachers, and couples can serve full-time missions together.). The following material supplements the suggested lesson outline. As I demonstrate below, verses75 and76 refer to the Millennium. After the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided among his four generals. And he that liveth in righteousness shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and the earth shall pass away so as by fire. Some exegetes of this allegory have found only three transplanted branches, taking for their reason verse39, where the first, second, and the last natural branches are mentioned. See also the summary in Jackson, Nourished, 190; and Book of Mormon Student Manual, 2d ed. Where does the quote I can not read a sealed book come from? This is precisely the situation of the (Christian) world as described by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph in the Sacred Grove (JSH 1:19). The next branch was planted in Rome,[4] a place of even more wicked practices, even until today. Why does the Mormon church spend so much money on temples. An example of the adoption of new cultural elements is seen in the fact that the Babylonian calendar is still used today by Jewish people. So the lord of the vineyard asked the servants helped them grow! When the earth no longer produces evil, the sixth or penultimate epoch of the allegory will commence. Why was Israel scattered? The deportation of people from Israel and Judah was part of this process, as was the departure of the Lehites, alluded to in the allegory. This practice made it possible for the deportees eventually to return when the Babylonian Empire collapsed. What does this decay represent? The fourth visit, a long time after the second but not long after the third, is in our current era, in the last part of the fulness of times. For a wild olive tree to become tame and productive, its main stem must be cut back completely, and a branch from a tame olive tree must be grafted into the stem of the wild one. (The latter days.) The telescoping of time and the less-than-sharp depth of field of received versions of prophecies should certainly allow us to view these episodes as accurate, general characterizations of the historical periods discussed. How can our own loftiness, or pride, prevent us from bearing good fruit? One did well (Nephites) but the other (Lamanites) produced only wild (evil) fruit. It is well known that when Jews live in various nations, they tend to marry with other Jews, but they can be assimilated well into most gentile nations. 28:19), opening new branches, but the job of the president is to preside at church headquarters, at that time in Jerusalem. This explanation disregards the four branches clearly set off with Behold these in verse20, Look hither in verse23, Look hither in verse24, and Look hither in verse25, and ignores the possibility of an extended merism in verse39. If the trees were named for the great lawgivers mentioned in endnotes 3 and 4, and if they were of the correct lineage as was Lehi the lawgiver, then the second tree might be named Lycurgus, the third tree named Tages, and the fourth, Antiochus. How can we nourish our spirits? (Book 1, lines 9-10) Some olive blossoms have both male and female parts while other blossoms are sterile, having no reproductive parts. Allowing class members to contribute as much as possible, identify the main symbols from the allegory and their meanings. Though McConkie and Millet warn in reference to Jacob 5:3 that the exact historical time period to which Zenos is making reference is unclear (50), they do suggest correlations. Is there DNA evidence between Native Americans and the Lamanites? Match. The answer, according to the allegory, is simple. . Jacob 5-6. The allegory in Jacob 5 is a lengthy answer to the question posed in Jacob 4:17 which is, if the Jews reject the Messiah, how will he ever become their sure foundation ? 6 terms aash3 Jacob 5-6 The allegory of the olive trees STUDY PLAY meaning of the tame and wild olive trees -Tame trees = house of Israel -Wild trees = gentiles Question that prompted the allegory What hope do the Jews have having rejected Christ? Perhaps the most likely candidate to have been this branch is the Etruscans, who migrated to Italy about that time, apparently from the eastern Mediterranean Sea area: "The 5th-century BC historians Thucydides and Herodotus, and the 1st-century BC historian Strabo, did seem to suggest that the Tyrrhenians [Etruscans] were originally Pelasgians who migrated to Italy from Lydia by way of the Greek island of Lemnos." 20. The Savior also identifies where the three branches were planted in the lowest part of the vineyard as being in Greece, Rome, and Antioch. See also Arthur Wallace, The Allegory of the Tame and Wild Olive Trees Horticulturally Considered, in Scriptures for the Modern World, ed. In particular, the wild branches which were grafted into the original tree in the first visit were from Babylon (A3N 14:16). The Allegory 2. The Sealed Book, a translation of some of the now unsealed Plates of Mormon, provides an interpretation of the Olive Tree Allegory summarized in the Book of Mormon. And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard." Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Question and answer. It is stated that it was planted in the last days, and that it split into two main branches, one good and one bad, but then both of its branches went bad by the time of the fourth visit (now). Discuss Jacob 5. Tame olive tree = House of Israel 2. Moses. For example, have some class members represent the house of Israel (tame, or natural, branches) and have some represent Gentiles (wild branches). And just as a gardener doesnt give up on a big tree because of one bad season, the Lord doesnt give up on us because we had a period in our lives where we rejected him. Jacob 6. Why do you think Jacob dedicated such a large part of his own record to the words of another prophet. That fits well with them all being major branches stemming from early Christianity: The Greek Orthodox, Catholic, and Syriac Orthodox Churches, which could be monitored throughout history. The wild olive branches grafted in to the original tree represent the preaching of the Gospel of Christ to Gentile nations and their conversion or baptism into the Church of Christ. One of them, Seleucus I, named Antioch for his father Antiochus, or possibly for his son with the same name. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), 2:4682; Ariel Crowley, About the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1961), 15052; and Living Truths from the Book of Mormon [no author listed] (Salt Lake City: Deseret Sunday School Union, 1970), 11926. What did the master find when he visited the natural (tame) branches he had planted in various places around the vineyard? Moses. Thus, the setting is not before the Assyrian captivity (about 723 BC) as some have suggested. Let us put our lives in harmony with his truth. That process slowly transitions all of the remaining trees from bad to good fruit! If the members are to be purged of evil and thus remain in the Church, pride (the loftiness of the vineyard), the cause of the Great Apostasy, can have no place. The only historical period when Israel with Gentile grafts produced good fruit came at the time of Christs mortal ministry and in the decades following. What do the many kinds of corrupt fruit symbolize? In the Book of Mormon, the allegory of the olive treewritten by a prophet named Zenos and later quoted by the prophet Jacob to his peoplestands out as a unique literary creation worthy of close analysis and greater appreciation. Or you could set up the classroom as if it were the vineyard (the world) and have class members walk through the allegory as you discuss it, as shown below: Sketch an olive tree on a poster and label it Jerusalem (the House of Israel). to A.D.400, the division of this transplanted branch of the house of Israel into the righteous and the apostate cultures. This newly revealed scripture truly sheds a bright light on this detailed allegory of the great love, patience, and works of the Lord! Granted, it may have just been meant as a larger allegory towards the general attitude of the United States to overseas war (not engaging unless there's something in it for them). But in time it grew old and began to decay. First, the apostate branches of Israel were not scattered but destroyed: We will pluck them off and cast them into the fire (v.7). PDF The Allegory of the Olive Tree an Instructional Model for Leaders The Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. As for the first transplanted branches, they also carried nothing but bad fruit. Book 1. At the fifth visit, all of the trees produced evil fruit, perhaps because their religions were off track. PDF BM Lesson #13 THE ALLEGORY OF THE OLIVE TREE This dating is confirmed by the third bit of information in this section. Olive Tree Allegory Explained 24. Now all of the branches produce only bad fruit, including both branches of the tree recently planted at the beginning of the fulness of times, which for a while had one good branch and one wild branch (A3N 14:40). Although these servants are few, what are the results of their efforts? Catherine Thomas treated this particular aspect of the allegory in Jacobs Allegory: The Mystery of Christ, read at the 1988 Brigham Young University Annual Book of Mormon Symposium, unpublished manuscript. To see how Jeroboam influenced subsequent Israelite history, see 2Kings 10:2931. That four to six hundred years is plausible and even probable seems likely from personal observation of olive trees in present-day Palestine. (26 May 2019), Section 6: Olive Tree Allegory argues that the book's interpretation is indeed logically plausible. 2224; see also 2Chr. Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust. 7:17-18), which again sounds like works. When the Lord of the vineyard asked his servant what caused the corruption of his vineyard, the servant answered, Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyardhave not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? by John P. Pratt ), What is represented by transplanting the tame branches into distant parts of the vineyard? For this same conclusion see Jackson, Nourished, 19394. Certainly other groups were led away also. It is by far the most detailed interpretation in the nearly two centuries since the publication of that book of scripture. The parable ends with a warning from the master of the vineyard that the next time the vineyard grows poor fruit, he will gather the good and bad fruit and separate them, preserving only the good and casting away the bad. Click the card to flip . We need to figure out the meaning of the story. An allegory is a literary device in which one object or event is used to describe or represent another. Point out that the branches planted in poor ground brought forth good fruit, while the branches planted in good ground yielded both good and wild fruit.) The bringing of the branches and roots back together represent the gathering of all the scattered tribes of Israel back into fellowship in Israel or Christ's church. There is a slight discrepancy in the time here if the allegory is seen as strictly consistent and chronologically exacting. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. Evidence suggests that it was the Etruscans who taught the Romans the alphabet and numerals, along with many elements of architecture, art, religion, and dress." What does the bearing of good fruit symbolize? The Parable of the Olive Tree is an extended allegory recounted in Chapter 5 of the Book of Jacob, the third book of the Book of Mormon. As part of the discourse (Jacob 46) of which the allegory is an integral part, Jacob does build on the allegory in chapter6, applying it to his audience. Unlike the long passages of time between these previous periods, the allegory makes it clear that no significant time transpired between the acknowledgment of the Great Apostasy and the beginnings of the gathering of Israel (vv. See "The Etruscans" at brittanica.com: "The Etruscans formed the most powerful nation in pre-Roman Italy. . Jacob told us at the end of Jacob 4 that the. The tree and its branches represent His people. You may want to point out other verses that illustrate the Lords love for us. Note that the Reborn LDS Church is actually the same tree as the tree of Joseph Smith, having been reborn by removing from authority the most lofty branches of the LDS Church (leaders), replacing them with new ones grafted in. These practices were taken over in total by the Romans. If this was the mindset of the reader, then the Savior's interpretation may indeed be a surprise. 10:12). Their fruit might well be what those branches produce, that is, their works. Why did the master ask the servant to graft in some wild branches? The period in the Old World when the mother tree (with Gentiles grafted in) bore nothing but good fruit must be placed between A.D.35 and A.D.100. For the house of Israel beginning with Abraham and continuing with Isaac and Jacob, see Bruce R. McConkie, ANew Witness for the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), 503: Israelite history begins not with father Jacob, who is Israel, nor with his tribal descendants who adopted his name as theirs, but with Abraham, their father. You may want to have class members illustrate the allegory on the chalkboard as you discuss it. Encourage class members to share appropriate experiences that relate to the scriptural principles. Moreover, one of his most important epistles is that to the Romans. Finally, the lord and the servant (One Mighty and Strong?) 12:2533; 15:30).15 Manasseh, a king of the Southern Kingdom, ushered in one of the most condemned reigns in Biblical history, summarized in one verse, But they [the Kingdom of Judah] hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel (2Kgs. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., 5 vols. If it was a mortal man, then the most likely is James the Just, the brother of Christ, who was the head of the Church. . These three steps entailed cutting out those parts of Israel in apostasy (mainly the upper classes) and destroying them, grafting into Israel other peoples, and placing some of the young and tender natural branches of the house of Israel in other parts of the vineyard. (See Jacob 5:414. This website is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). It requires constant nourishment to survive. What does this final nourishing, pruning, and grafting represent? The last transplanted tree, placed in agood spot of ground; yea, even that which was choice unto [the Lord] above all other parts of the land of [his] vineyard (v.43), produced at this time part good and part evil branches.20 The choicest spot of land on the whole earth in which the transplanted branch of Israel produced both a good and an evil culture can refer only to the righteous and unrighteous Lehites in the Americas,21 and the historical setting can only have been before the Great Apostasy.22 The date for this part of the allegory must also be the first Christian century.
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