HCS Book of Mormon Blog Post Week of June 18-25th Pages: 126 – 140

This week’s readings are taken from the Book of Jacob. Up till now, all that we have read in the Book of Mormon was recorded by Nephi. Now he challenges his younger brother, Jacob, to take over the record-keeping of his people.

Jacob is the older of Lehi’s two sons born during the eight years of journeying in the wilderness. He has personally not “seen” the former lands or life his family led. What he has seen is his brother Nephi’s dedication to and testimony of Jesus Christ. At this point he is about 45-50 years old and he now “takes up the mantle” of recording on the Small Plates of Nephi and continuing to testify of Jesus Christ to all people.

Jacob is probably best-known for his writings in Chapter 5, “The Allegory of the Olive Tree”. An “allegory” is a story or parable which symbolizes things in real life. The allegory Jacob relates comes from the writings of Zenos (see vs. 1 of Ch. 5), a prophet whose writings are not found in the Bible.

The Allegory of the Olive Tree is simple yet very complex. Much can be gained by reading and re-reading Chapters 5 and 6 of Jacob. While many of our Church leaders have expounded on these prophetic words, it is still up to each of us to gain wisdom and knowledge as we “ponder and pray” about the words of the Lord through his Prophets.

David J. Ridges, the famed Church teacher and scholar, gave this guiding background: “The use of the olive tree as a symbol of the house of Israel is an excellent example of how God uses symbolism to teach his children gospel laws and principles. For centuries the olive tree has been associated with peace. When the dove returned to the ark, it carried an olive leaf in its beak, as to symbolize that God was again at peace with the earth. The olive branch was used in ancient Greece and Rome to signify peace, and it is still used in that sense today in the great seal of the United States where the American eagle is shown grasping an olive branch in its talons. The ONLY true source of peace is Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.”

There is also much symbolism as Jacob relates Zenos’ allegory of the “cultivation” that must take place with the olive tree. If the green slip of an olive tree is merely planted and allowed to grow, it develops into the wild olive tree, a bush that grow without control, tangled and producing only small, worthless fruit. To become a productive “tame” olive tree, the main stem must be cut back completely and a branch from a tame olive tree grafted into the stem. With careful pruning and cultivating the tree will grow healthy and over time produce “good” fruit. In other words, the tree cannot become productive just by itself…it requires grafting and care by the “husbandman” to bring it to its full potential.

This story was and is true of Israel…and more importantly, it is true of you and I. We CANNOT do it alone. While we may have the best of intentions, we are mortal and we sin. Only the “husbandman”, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, can prune and cultivate us to be ALL that we can BE! May we each constantly strive to this end!