Jacob 5 -Allegory of the Olive Tree

Because Jacob talked about how difficult it is to chisel words on metal plates, Jacob must have thought this Olive Tree story was something we needed to read, study and understand. I have to admit, however, that despite my best efforts (adjusted for my life-long affliction of Attention Deficit Disorder), I find it a bit boring. And, just between you and me, I have read the Book of Mormon many more times than I have read Jacob 5.

The very, very, most basic breakdown of the Olive Tree story is that The Lord had His Servant plant an Olive Tree in some very good soil. The Olive Tree is the House of Israel. The Lord is our Heavenly Father. The Servant is The Savior. At first, the Olive Tree gives good fruit, but after a time goes by, the fruit starts to go bad. The roots of the tree are still good, but the fruit is awful. To help it grow, The Lord has the Servant nourish the tree, prune the tree, dung the tree, and etc. The Servant tries, but the fruit is still bad. 

As you read the chapter it becomes obvious that the efforts to save the Olive Tree symbolize The Lord's efforts to save the House of Israel. In the last verses of Jacob 4, we learn that the purpose of the Olive Tree story is tell how the House of Israel will get scattered several times, gathered several times, and then reject their Messiah all together. Will Israel ever accept Jesus as the Promised Christ? 

Jacob 4: 16-18

Why is it that the House of Israel lost their way? The scattering, and especially the gathering, of Israel is one of the paramount teachings of the Gospel. The gathering is already happening. 

Jacob 5:3

Jacob 5:47-48

Maybe you horticulturists can explain this part to the rest of us. I kind of get it, and kind of don't. I guess loftiness is like saying pride, maybe. How can we fix this problem? We need to help The Lord nourish his vineyard.

Jacob 5: 71-72

Read verse 72 again... "and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them." I like that a lot. Will The Lord save his beloved Olive Tree? Oh, I think it will work out just fine. 

Jacob 5: 75

If you have the desire to help, The Lord promises some pretty groovy blessings. 

Thanks for listening...

jb

Jacob 4 -Learn With Joy

 

Jacob teaching the people after Nephi's death

My last BOM blog was posted almost 6 years ago, in 2016. As an excuse for my absence, I reference the scene in "Black Sheep", when Chris Farley accidentally slips and falls down a mountainside for about 5 minutes before finally coming to a stop. He then gets up and looks up the mountain and says, "What in the #%^$ was that all about?" Here's a link if you'd like: https://youtu.be/f890SC1schE.

Today's post is about Jacob 4. The date is somewhere between 544 and 421 BC. Which means our little 8-year old Jacob Schwarzenegger has grown up to be around 70 years old or so.

Coming to America -about 592 BC

This chapter (Jacob 4) is very good, and I recommend you read the whole thing. For now, let's just look at a few scriptures of my choosing. There are a few often quoted verses in this chapter... such as...

Verse 1

In verse one we find out that it is difficult to engrave on the gold plates, which means that all those Isaiah chapters back in 1st and 2nd Nephi were actually important. Not to mention the famously long and, uh, fascinating(?) JACOB 5 -The Allegory of the Olive Tree. But we'll get to that next time.

And Verse 12...

And Verse 13

Neil A. Maxwell, one of the 12 Apostles from my younger days, talked about "things as they really are" on a few occasions. I bought a packet of 4 of his books back in the 90's and can honestly say that I started the one with that title. In fact, I started it several times...

And Verse 14...

Having read this verse many a time, and thinking to myself, "Ah, so that's why the Jews have such weird rules," today I'm taking a different lesson. I need to ask myself, 

• What have I been blind to?
• Where and how do I look beyond the mark? 
• What is the mark?

The last couple of years have been hard on my testimony and spirituality. As a confirmed introvert, the COVID pandemic gave me the wonderful opportunity to not have to go to church, but to do my churching from home. Unfortunately, I didn't do much churching at home. I have hardly picked up the scriptures since 2019. I don't pray near as much as I used to, and when I do pray, they are often short and lack substance. 

I have an APP on my phone that gives me reminders to do stuff. And, it keeps reminding me until I either do it and dismiss the reminder, or not do it and dismiss the reminder. Every morning starting at 7am, and bugging me every 1/2-hour until I do it, my phone dings and says, "Don't Forget to Pray!" Many's the time I didn't pray and dismissed my reminder. 

I think trying to have the Holy Spirit in my life, and maintaining my solid convictions of the truthfulness of the gospel without daily prayer and scripture reading (like I've done since I was 16 or so) is akin to me as "looking beyond the mark". My testimony that God Lives, that Jesus is The Christ, and  that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove are still a part of me, but have shrunk enough in significance that I stopped being driven by them. Weird, huh?

I feel like I am doing much better now. I feel the Spirit in my life and heart today, enough so that I felt motivated to pick up the scriptures and do a blog post again after so long. So, that's nice. 

Here's one of the scriptures that has spoken to me many times over the years...

Verse 3

Learning spiritual and life lessons are much funner if they come because of faithfulness, and not because of the lack of it. In other words... feeling blessed because I'm doing what is right, as opposed to feeling like crap because I'm not doing what is right, might give the same lesson, but it always better to...

Learn With Joy and Not With Sorrow

I'll leave the rest of Jacob 4 for you to glean what you will. When I post again (hopefully not 6 years from now), we'll talk about Jacob 5 and all of its dung. How exciting is that?!!!

Thanks for coming, and please, Don't Forget to Pray and Read the Scriptures...

jb