LOVE, MERCY AND THE OLIVE TREE

There was a prophet in Israel by the name of Zenos who was martyred for his testimony (Helaman 8:19) of whom the Bible does not speak. We know of this prophet because of the brass plates which were taken to the land of the Americas with Lehi and his colony in 600 B.C. Nephi used the prophecies of Zenos extensively in his ministry among his people because Zenos testified largely concerning this broken off branch of the tribe of Joseph 'who were a remnant of his seed', meaning Zenos was of the tribe of Joseph himself (3 Nephi 10:15,16). The significance of this prophet was expressed by Bruce R. McConkie: "I do not think I overstate the matter when I say that next to Isaiah himself - who is the prototype, pattern, and model for all the prophets - there was not a greater prophet in all Israel than Zenos. And our knowledge of his inspired writings is limited to the quotations and paraphrasing summaries found in the Book of Mormon".

So important did Nephi and his brother Jacob consider the prophecies of Zenos that Jacob painstakingly engraved Zenos' allegory of the olive tree onto the small plates of Nephi which Mormon included in the Book of Mormon. Why is this parable with its' complexities and intricacies which makes readers skip Jacob 5 so important? Because not only is it the greatest parable ever recorded, it, in and of itself stamps the Book of Mormon with authenticity and truth for no mortal man, without the inspiration of God, could have written it. It not only proves that Zenos was a prophet but it is clear proof that Joseph Smith was a prophet too and that he translated the Book of Mormon through the power given him of God. Once you study this parable you become convinced that Joseph Smith could never have written the Book of Mormon.

One can get totally lost in Israel's captivating history and divine destiny studying the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob chapter 5. However, if studied carefully one cannot miss the central theme of this parable which is the Saviour's enduring mercy, long-suffering and loving care of His covenant people. Whilst it is not my wish to overshadow the importance of Israel's history contained within this allegory, it is my intention to focus on the Saviour and how he relates to us individually within this parable. Firstly, it is important to understand why Zenos used the olive tree as a powerful symbol of God's love and relationship with the house of Israel. The olive tree is an evergreen, meaning its' leaves do not seasonally fade or fall. They are continually rejuvenated through scorching heat or winter cold. This tree, however, needs constant cultivation or it becomes wild and unruly and easily corrupted. It requires long and patient cultivation for it to bear fruit, usually eight to ten years. It is however a sturdy tree which produces new shoots from apparently dead roots. Its' gnarled trunk gives an impression of travail, endurance and ancient life. Because of the unique quality of this tree Elder Jeffrey R. Holland affirmed that "no symbol could serve more powerfully and profoundly of God's expansive, constant, redeeming love - including especially the love represented in the gift of his Only Begotten Son- than does the olive tree." (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, p 163-64)

In the allegory of the olive tree, the Saviour is represented as the Lord of the vineyard. Unlike the "householder, which planted a vineyard" and then "let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country" (Matt 21:33), He labours in His vineyard Himself. He does not sit back and watch others do the plucking, pruning, digging and grafting. He also grieves, preserves, laboures, watches and tends to the vineyard constantly. His frantic efforts to ensure the divine destiny of the House of Israel, as represented by the olive trees in His vineyard, can be seen through repetitious declarations of His love and long-suffering: His desire to preserve the vineyard is mentioned in the parable 11 times; at least 15 times the Lord expresses His desire to bring the vineyard and its' harvest 'unto my own self'; 8 times He says 'it grieveth me to lose the trees of my vineyard'; and 3 times He asks with anguish, weeping, 'what could I have done more for my vineyard?' After he recounts the allegory of the olive tree to his people, Jacob exclaims: "....how merciful is our God unto us, for he remembereth the house of Israel, both roots and branches; and he stretches forth his hands unto them all the day long...O then, my beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life, O be wise; what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:4,11,12). What indeed?

We, like the olive tree, need constant cultivating so that we do not become wild and unruly and easily corrupted. To yield good fruit, a tree must have good roots. When the roots are weak, the branches grow faster than the strength of the roots can sustain them and the tree eventually becomes too weak to keep standing  and dies (Jacob 5:47-48). This is cleverly expressed in the following poem:

The tree

At the church next door to me 

Turned up its roots and died

They had tried 

To brace its leaning,

But it lowered

And lowered,

And then there it lay -

Leaves in grass

And matted root in air,

Like a loafer on a summer day.

"Look there",

Said the gardener,

"Short roots - all the growth went up -

Big branches - short roots".

"How come" I asked.

"Too much water.

This tree had it too good.

it never had to hunt for drink."

Especially in thirsty times,

My memory steps outside

And looks at the tree

At the church next door to me

That turned up its roots and died.

- Carol Lynn Pearson

Sometimes we think we need a life of ease, as the tree in this poem had, and that this kind of life will in the end magically produce bountiful fruit. But this is not the design of mortality. In His efforts to ready us for final judgment and make us fit for eternal life the Lord will use His gardening skills on each one of us individually. He will prune and dig about and nourish and often times such treatment will be uncomfortable as is illustrated by the following:

"On my way to visit the Jameses the other evening, I saw a wheat field that appeared to be greener and taller than the others. Thinking about it for a while, I concluded that occasionally some loving farmer drives over the field with his tractor and dumps manure all over it. I thought, 'My, it's just like life. Here we are minding our own business, growing our little hearts out. We're really quite green, somewhat productive and very sincere. When out of the blue, life deals us a dirty one, and we're up to our eyebrows in manure. We, of course, conclude that life as we have known it has just ended and will never be the same again. But one day, when the smell and the shock are gone, we find ourselves greener and more productive than we have been'. Unfortunately, no matter how often we go through these growing experiences, we are never able to appreciate the sound of the tractor or the smell of the manure." (Harold W. Wood)

We can sometimes be like the tree that stood right next to a church and didn't go 'hunting' therein for what it needed to sustain and strengthen its roots. Some of us are not willing to work on our roots even though we want the fruit (eternal life): "It seems that some [Latter-day Saints] among us have this same problem; they want bountiful harvests - both spiritual and temporal - without developing the root system that will yield them. There are far too few who are willing to pay the price, in discipline and work, to cultivate hardy roots" (President Spencer W. Kimball, in CR Oct 1978, p 113 or Ensign, Nov. 1978, p 74-5). Grounding ourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ by nourishing the seed of faith through the word of God is our part in our individual cultivation. This is our hunting ground. If we hunt here we can be assured of hardy roots which will enable us to endure the trials and afflictions of this life without abandoning the strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life. May of us feel that strengthening the roots is far too hard and we opt for the seeming ease of telestial life. This is however, not what God wants for us eternally and so He expends all his energy and effort to bring us back to Him over and over again. And anything less than eternal life is not what we wanted long ago when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. We were among that happy throng and our voices were heard singing praises to Him who has all the love, all the mercy, all the long-suffering and all the power to one day bring us home.