Come Follow Me Book of Mormon with Sam Jacob 5-7
Welcome to come follow me with Sam! We are finishing jacob's record this week! We will cover the allegory of the olive tree, Jacobs teachings about it, and his smack down with Sherem, the first anti-christ in the Book of Mormon.
The allegory of the olive tree is more chronological in its nature than many other teachings we have so far covered in the Book of Mormon, but the central nature is still a spiritual one. It is a mistake to merely dismiss the allegory as a simplified way of demonstrating future events. Jacob shows by his introduction in chapter 4 and in his commentary in Chapter 6 that he is primarily concerned with the redemptive theme, not simply chronological fortune-telling. That being said, it will help to understand the message if we cover the more chronological part first. The allegory can be split into 3 phases:
Phase 1: The master of the vineyard and his servant observe the tame olive tree that it is producing decayed branches. He nourishes it and sees that it begins to put forth some young tender branches. he burns the decayed branches, grafts the young branches into wild olive trees, and grafts wild branches into the tame trees.
This is likened to the Assyrian and Babylonian scattering of Israel, and the various lost tribes, family of Lehi, and other groups being scattered through the world
Phase 2: the master, after some time, goes to inspect the fruit of the trees and finds that all are bearing good fruit, with the exception of one which bears both good and evil fruit. This is thought to be the Nephites and the Lamanites.
Phase 3: the master, after more time, sees that the vineyard is corrupted and has brought forth evil fruit, both the wild branches in the tame olive tree, and the tame branches in the wild olive trees. He grafts the tame branches back into the tame tree, and the wild branches back into the wild trees. He does his final work, laying up fruit where he can, and taking out the dead wood to be burned. This is likened to the great apostasy and the great latter-day work.
Here are some lessons:
1. Sometimes we need to go into the nethermost parts of the vineyard to learn the lessons we need
2. Notice how much the master cares for the vineyard. he repeats over and over again 'What more could I have done for my vineyard?'
3. The servant says 'Is it not the loftiness of the vineyard?' that made it decay in Phase 3. In Phase 1, Zenos says the top of the tame tree was decayed.
Here are some of Jacobs lessons:
1. The people in Jerusalem went beyond the mark and rejected Christ, the stone upon which they could build, but He will eventually gather them through a great and marvelous work.
2. God is merciful and he remembers all the roots and branches and know where they are. I believe the Nephites were feeling forlorn and forgotten. Jacob was reminding them that there was a much greater plan in place, and that God was caring for them.
3. Come with full purpose of heart and cleave unto God as He cleaves to you.
Jacob finishes by saying 'O be wise; what can I say more?
Jacob tells of a man named Sherem who is the first recorded Anti-Christ who comes among the people. This is crazy because Sherem was attacking the very thing that Nephi and Jacob had worked so hard to do. Sherem said that the law of Moses was the right way and sufficient, and had nothing to do with Christ, and that no one could know that he would come. This is eerily similar to 1 Nephi 17, where Laman and Lemuel essentially say that the law of Moses is sufficient, and Nephi cites examples of God interacting with their ancestors in response. Jacob is filled with the spirit and God actually 'smites' Sherem. He confesses that he knew he was doing the wrong thing and was tempted by the devil to do what he was doing. Jacob says that 'peace and the love of God' was restored again.
Jacob's ending is one of the most fascinating endings of a prophet. He says 'our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, we did mourn out our days.
Jacob then ends his record, 'Brethren, Adieu.' Obviously Jacob did not speak french, but I am consistently struck by the beauty of the translation here. Larousse says that is is a salutation said to someone who you will not see for a long time, maybe forever. The literal translation is something along the lines of 'to God' or 'until God', meaning until we meet before the pleasing bar of God, something Jacob said earlier. In this one word, he captures all that meaning.
The allegory of the olive tree
The allegory of the olive tree is more chronological in its nature than many other teachings we have so far covered in the Book of Mormon, but the central nature is still a spiritual one. It is a mistake to merely dismiss the allegory as a simplified way of demonstrating future events. Jacob shows by his introduction in chapter 4 and in his commentary in Chapter 6 that he is primarily concerned with the redemptive theme, not simply chronological fortune-telling. That being said, it will help to understand the message if we cover the more chronological part first. The allegory can be split into 3 phases:
Phase 1: The master of the vineyard and his servant observe the tame olive tree that it is producing decayed branches. He nourishes it and sees that it begins to put forth some young tender branches. he burns the decayed branches, grafts the young branches into wild olive trees, and grafts wild branches into the tame trees.
This is likened to the Assyrian and Babylonian scattering of Israel, and the various lost tribes, family of Lehi, and other groups being scattered through the world
Phase 2: the master, after some time, goes to inspect the fruit of the trees and finds that all are bearing good fruit, with the exception of one which bears both good and evil fruit. This is thought to be the Nephites and the Lamanites.
Phase 3: the master, after more time, sees that the vineyard is corrupted and has brought forth evil fruit, both the wild branches in the tame olive tree, and the tame branches in the wild olive trees. He grafts the tame branches back into the tame tree, and the wild branches back into the wild trees. He does his final work, laying up fruit where he can, and taking out the dead wood to be burned. This is likened to the great apostasy and the great latter-day work.
Here are some lessons:
1. Sometimes we need to go into the nethermost parts of the vineyard to learn the lessons we need
2. Notice how much the master cares for the vineyard. he repeats over and over again 'What more could I have done for my vineyard?'
3. The servant says 'Is it not the loftiness of the vineyard?' that made it decay in Phase 3. In Phase 1, Zenos says the top of the tame tree was decayed.
Here are some of Jacobs lessons:
1. The people in Jerusalem went beyond the mark and rejected Christ, the stone upon which they could build, but He will eventually gather them through a great and marvelous work.
2. God is merciful and he remembers all the roots and branches and know where they are. I believe the Nephites were feeling forlorn and forgotten. Jacob was reminding them that there was a much greater plan in place, and that God was caring for them.
3. Come with full purpose of heart and cleave unto God as He cleaves to you.
Jacob finishes by saying 'O be wise; what can I say more?
The showdown with the First Anti-Christ
Jacob tells of a man named Sherem who is the first recorded Anti-Christ who comes among the people. This is crazy because Sherem was attacking the very thing that Nephi and Jacob had worked so hard to do. Sherem said that the law of Moses was the right way and sufficient, and had nothing to do with Christ, and that no one could know that he would come. This is eerily similar to 1 Nephi 17, where Laman and Lemuel essentially say that the law of Moses is sufficient, and Nephi cites examples of God interacting with their ancestors in response. Jacob is filled with the spirit and God actually 'smites' Sherem. He confesses that he knew he was doing the wrong thing and was tempted by the devil to do what he was doing. Jacob says that 'peace and the love of God' was restored again.
Brethren, Adieu
Jacob's ending is one of the most fascinating endings of a prophet. He says 'our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, we did mourn out our days.
Jacob then ends his record, 'Brethren, Adieu.' Obviously Jacob did not speak french, but I am consistently struck by the beauty of the translation here. Larousse says that is is a salutation said to someone who you will not see for a long time, maybe forever. The literal translation is something along the lines of 'to God' or 'until God', meaning until we meet before the pleasing bar of God, something Jacob said earlier. In this one word, he captures all that meaning.
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