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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. The narrative describes the parable as one of the teachings of Zenos found in the brass plates, a lost record. Latter Day Saints sometimes suggest that Paul in his Epistle to the Romans might be referencing a similar parable. [1]
In Jacob 5, Jacob quotes the prophet Zenos, who says he is quoting the Lord. [2] Zenos is believed by members of the Latter-day Saint movement to be a prophet from Israel or Judah who lived sometime after Abraham and before Lehi, and had writings included in the brass plates but not the Hebrew Bible, which became the Old Testament. [3] [4] Jacob shares this allegory following his statement in the previous chapter (Jacob 4) that he will explain how the Jews can be saved despite rejecting a "sure foundation." [2]
The House of Israel is compared with a tame olive tree that grows old and begins to decay. The master of the vineyard has his servants care for the tree with the hope that it will grow new branches, and then has the young branches grafted elsewhere, where they grow good fruit. Branches from a wild olive tree are grafted into the original tree, and they also grow good fruit. The wild branches, over time, take over and the tree begins to grow bad fruit. The master is "grieved" and wonders what more he could have done. Next, the master has the natural branches and the wild branches grafted back into the original tree to save its roots, and the tree begins to grow good fruit again. The fruit of both kinds of branches becomes equally good. A final gathering of all the fruit will happen before the vineyard is burned. Jacob prophecies that the events described in the allegory will happen, saying that both the roots and the branches will be remembered. He pleads with the people to repent. [5]
Comparing Romans 11 and Jacob 5, Head of the School of Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen Seth Kunin writes that the difference between the two metaphors is that the Book of Mormon includes grafting in of other branches to an olive tree. [6] Paul Hoskisson, Brigham Young University professor of ancient scripture, explains the allegory by associating tame olive tree with the House of Israel and the wild olive trees as non-Israelites, the vineyard is the world. The decay of the original, tame tree is connected with apostasy from the teachings of Jesus Christ. He associates the roots with several different ideas, including progenitors of Christ, covenants of the house of Israel, or the general gospel of Jesus Christ. Hoskisson also splits the parable into seven periods of time, comparing each with scriptural and historical events. [7]
The olive, botanical name Olea europaea, meaning 'European olive', is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as Olea europaea'Montra', dwarf olive, or little olive. The species is cultivated in all the countries of the Mediterranean, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and South Africa. It is the type species for its genus, Olea. The tree and its fruit give their name to the Oleaceae plant family, which also includes species such as lilac, jasmine, forsythia, and the true ash tree.
The Book of Jacob: The Brother of Nephi, usually referred to as the Book of Jacob, is the third of fifteen books that make up the Book of Mormon, a sacred text within the Latter Day Saint movement.
The First Book of Nephi: His Reign and Ministry, usually referred to as First Nephi or 1 Nephi, is the first book of the Book of Mormon, the sacred text of churches within the Latter Day Saint Movement, and one of four books with the name Nephi. First Nephi tells the story of his family's escape from Jerusalem prior to the exile to Babylon, struggle to survive in the wilderness, build a ship and sail to the "promised land," commonly interpreted by Mormons as the Americas. The book is composed of two intermingled genres; one a historical narrative describing the events and conversations that occurred and the other a recounting of visions, sermons, poetry, and doctrinal discourses as shared by either Nephi or Lehi to members of the family.
The Second Book of Nephi, usually referred to as Second Nephi or 2 Nephi, is the second book of the Book of Mormon, the primary religious text of the Latter-day Saint Movement. Narrated by Nephi, son of Lehi, unlike the first Book of Nephi, 2 Nephi contains little history of the Nephite people and focuses predominately on visions and prophecies of Nephi himself and other prophets, particularly Isaiah.
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable is a type of metaphorical analogy.
In the Book of Mormon, Jacob is a younger brother of the prophet Nephi, the keeper of the small plates of Nephi after Nephi's death, and narrates the Book of Jacob, which in the frame narrative of the overall Book of Mormon he authors.
A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a rhizome or underground stem. In grafting, it refers to a plant, sometimes just a stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, onto which a cutting or a bud from another plant is grafted. In some cases, such as vines of grapes and other berries, cuttings may be used for rootstocks, the roots being established in nursery conditions before planting them out. The plant part grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion. The scion is the plant that has the properties that propagator desires above ground, including the photosynthetic activity and the fruit or decorative properties. The rootstock is selected for its interaction with the soil, providing the roots and the stem to support the new plant, obtaining the necessary soil water and minerals, and resisting the relevant pests and diseases. After a few weeks, the tissues of the two parts will have grown together, eventually forming a single plant. After some years, it may be difficult to detect the site of the graft although the product always contains the components of two genetically different plants.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed is one of the shorter parables of Jesus. It appears in Matthew (13:31–32), Mark (4:30–32), and Luke (13:18–19). In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it is immediately followed by the Parable of the Leaven, which shares this parable's theme of the Kingdom of Heaven growing from small beginnings. It also appears in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.
The Good Shepherd is an image used in the pericope of John 10:1–21, in which Jesus Christ is depicted as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Similar imagery is used in Psalm 23 and Ezekiel 34:11–16. The Good Shepherd is also discussed in the other gospels, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the First Epistle of Peter and the Book of Revelation.
Figs in the Bible include references to both the tree and its fruit in the Tanakh and the New Testament, which are sometimes symbolic.
The True Vine is an allegory or parable given by Jesus in the New Testament. Found in John 15:1–17, it describes Jesus' disciples as branches of himself, who is described as the "true vine", and God the Father the "husbandman".
The parable of the barren fig tree is a parable of Jesus which appears in Luke 13:6–9. It is about a fig tree which does not produce fruit.
Kil'ayim is the fourth tractate of Seder Zeraim of the Mishnah, dealing with several biblical prohibitions of mixed species, namely, planting certain mixtures of seeds, grafting different species of trees together, growing plants other than grapevines in vineyards, crossbreeding animals, working a team of different kinds of animals together, and mixing wool and linen in garments.
According to the Book of Mormon, Zenos was an old world prophet whose pre-Christian era writings were recorded upon the plates of brass. Zenos is quoted or paraphrased a number of times by writers in the Book of Mormon, including Nephi, Jacob, Alma, son of Alma, Nephi, son of Helaman, Samuel the Lamanite, and Mormon.
Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion while the lower part is called the rootstock. The success of this joining requires that the vascular tissues grow together. The natural equivalent of this process is inosculation. The technique is most commonly used in asexual propagation of commercially grown plants for the horticultural and agricultural trades. The scion is typically joined to the rootstock at the soil line; however, top work grafting may occur far above this line, leaving an understock consisting of the lower part of the trunk and the root system.
The tree of life vision is, according to the Book of Mormon, a vision received in a dream by the prophet Lehi, and later in vision by his son Nephi, who wrote about it in the First Book of Nephi. The vision includes a path leading to a tree symbolizing salvation, with an iron rod along the path whereby followers of Jesus may hold to the rod and avoid wandering off the path into pits or waters, symbolizing the ways of sin. The vision also includes a large building where the wicked look down on the righteous and mock them.
Paul Y. Hoskisson is an American professor of Ancient scripture and former associate dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU). In 2008, he was appointed director of the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Research.
Kil'ayim are the prohibitions in Jewish law which proscribe the planting of certain mixtures of seeds, grafting, the mixing of plants in vineyards, the crossbreeding of animals, the formation of a team in which different kinds of animals work together, and the mixing of wool with linen in garments.
Olea oleaster, the wild-olive, has been considered by various botanists a valid species and a subspecies of the cultivated olive tree, Olea europea, which is a tree of multiple origins that was domesticated, it now appears, at various places during the fourth and third millennia BCE, in selections drawn from varying local populations. The wild-olive, which ancient Greeks distinguished from the cultivated olive tree, was used to fashion the olive wreath awarded victors at the ancient Olympic games. The ancient and sacred wild-olive tree of Olympia stood near the Temple of Zeus, patron of the games.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Book of Mormon: