Thus saith the Lord, I will liken thee, O house of Israel, like unto a tame olive tree, which a man took and nourished in his vineyard; and it grew, and waxed old, and began to decay. (Jacob 5:3)
It’s taken me a lot of years to feel like I really understand what the allegory of the olive tree is talking about. Maybe I’m slower than most, or maybe there’s just a lot there to be deciphered. So I thought I’d write down some of my understanding.
This post will only scratch the surface of what’s contained in Jacob 5, but hopefully it will be of use to someone.
A Summary
Jacob 5 tells the story of an olive tree, valued and cared for by the Lord of the vineyard and his servants.
This tame olive tree begins to wither, but because the roots are good, the Lord works to preserve the tree in any way he can. He cuts off the bad branches and grafts in new branches taken from a wild olive tree. He nourishes and prunes it, then when the tree produces new, tender branches, he takes some of those branches and plants them in different spots of ground. He takes other young branches and grafts them into the wild olive tree. Then he nourishes it more, hoping to preserve the tree and its fruit.
Time passes, and the Lord of the vineyard returns. The wild branches that were grafted into the tame tree have taken strength from the roots and brought forth good fruit. This gives the Lord joy, as he is able to lay up much fruit unto himself.
He checks on the trees that have grown from the tender branches of the tame olive tree and discovers that three have brought forth good fruit, but the one planted in the best ground only brought forth some good fruit and some bad.
A long time passes, and when they come to check on the tame tree again, it has produced all sorts of bad fruit. The Lord is grieved, knowing the roots were good, but that the bad branches have overrun the tree anyway.
The other trees he planted have also become corrupted and there is no good fruit to be found in his vineyard. He is sorely grieved, not knowing what more he could have done to preserve his trees and produce good fruit. But the trees are of no use to him, so he determines to cut them down and burn them. But his servant convinces him to spare them a little longer.
So they try again. They pluck off only the branches that produce the most bitter fruit, and the rest they nourish, returning the tame branches to the tame tree, hoping the branches and roots together will strengthen each other and produce good fruit.
He calls his servants to labor diligently one more time. The season is ending, this will be the last pruning and they must do everything in their power to nourish the trees. The servants obey, and the Lord labors with them to save the good fruit and clear away the bad.
There efforts pay off. The fruit produced is sweet, able to be laid up unto the Lord, who rejoices with his servants.
What is the tame olive tree? The house of Israel.
When the Lord talks about the House of Israel, or about “my people,” he’s referring to those people who have received a covenant from him. Jacob was given the name “Israel” when he received a covenant from God, that by extension, was offered to all of his descendants. The blood lines of Israel are, by birthright, a covenant people.
So, imagine that tame olive tree as Jacob and all of his descendants. Jacob is at the roots. He received the covenant and both he and the Lord hope that this covenant will go forth to all the branches of the house of Israel and produce good fruit.
What is the fruit? The souls of mankind.
However, we can clearly see from the allegory that the fruit (or souls) produced by this tree are not guaranteed to be good, or to be partakers in the covenant, but some can be.
The entire purpose of the Lord laboring in the vineyard is to produce good fruit, to produce souls who can receive a covenant from the Lord and be saved. His work and His glory is the bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men.
Good fruit=saved souls
Bad Fruit=unsaved souls
What is the nourishment the Lord gives? The Word of the Lord.
And it came to pass that he pruned it, and digged about it, and nourished it according to his word. (Jacob 5:5)
The best way to nourish a people and produce souls worth saving is by the word of the Lord (scriptures). We need to be familiar with and understand His teachings, His expectation, and His covenants.
Having a covenant as a birthright isn’t enough. The allegory teaches us that many of the branches of the tree withered, just like there have been many children of Israel who have not been partakers of the covenant. But the Lord keeps trying. He removes the withered branches and commands his servant to:
“Go and pluck the branches from a wild olive tree…Take thou the branches of the wild olive tree, and graft them in.” (V. 7,9)
What is the wild olive tree? The gentiles.
Everyone not of the blood lines of Israel is a gentile. That’s me, and probably you. We are likely not direct descendants of Israel, so that makes us gentiles. We’re wild, without a covenant.
So when the covenant people no longer respect that covenant, the tree withers. And when the tree withers, the Lord brings wild branches (different groups of gentiles) and grafts them into the tame tree (offers them the covenant) in the hopes that they will take nourishment from the roots of the tame tree (accept the covenant) and thus produce good fruit.
But what about the few young and tender branches produced by the tame tree?
And it came to pass that after many days it began to put forth somewhat a little, young and tender branches; but behold, the main top thereof began to perish. (Jacob 5:6)
The Lord hedges his bets and transplants some of those branches to other parts of the vineyard.
And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard went his way, and hid the natural branches of the tame olive tree in the nethermost parts of the vineyard. (V.14)
What are the young and tender branches? Family lines in the house of Israel.
Like Lehi and his family. Though Lehi grew up in the traditions of the Jews, he had gone to the Lord, conversed with Him and obeyed His directions. Lehi honored and accepted the covenant with God. He was a young and tender branch who was separated from the majority of the house of Israel and transplanted to the americas with his family.
The Lord saw the iniquity and unbelief in Jerusalem and he took those few willing to hear and obey his voice, and he planted them elsewhere to give them a chance to keep the covenant. By doing so, Lehi and his family avoided the takeover of Babylon and the corruption of all their religious traditions.
But what about the dying branches?
We will pluck off those main branches which are beginning to wither away, and we will cast them into the fire that they may be burned. (V.7)
Agency. The Lord honors agency. The house of Israel was given a covenant. They had an opportunity, but it was up to each individual to accept or reject it. Will they be sweet fruit or bitter? If a group of people (or branch) is so lost in wickedness and unbelief that they cannot be recovered, then the Lord will remove them and destroy them. That branch will be burned in order to preserve the rest of the tree. This pruning will likely be offensive to the tree, but is necessary for the Lord’s purposes.
The Lord of the vineyard knows that not all the fruit will be good. God knows that not all will accept the covenant, but He gives endless opportunities for us to do so. He wants us to take strength from the roots and accept the covenant, to come to Him. He doesn’t care if the branch originated from the tame tree or the wild tree, he doesn’t care if the fruit grows from the tame tree, from the wild tree, or from one of the tender branches planted afar off.
All he cares about is what we little pieces of fruit make of ourselves.
We can’t rely on the fact that we originated from the tame tree, or that the branch we come from produced good fruit several harvests ago. That’s irrelevant to whether we’ll be sweet or bitter.
However, if branches (a person, or a group of people) spring forth, young and tender though they may be, he’s going to give them the best chance he can think of to bear good fruit. He will provide all the nourishment he can, but in the end, he cannot force a tree to bear good fruit. The Lord cannot force a people to accept the covenant he offers.
So the bad branches are cast off. The Lord of the vineyard plants the young branches elsewhere, he grafts the wild branches into the tame tree, and he nourishes. His labors pay off. Both the tame tree and the branches produce fruit worthy of preserving.
But, behold the tree. I have nourished it this long time, and it hath brought forth much fruit; therefore, gather it, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self. (V. 23)
The Lord and servant rejoice, but not all the fruit is good, and they know their labors must continue. More time passes, and when they next go to harvest, they are met with disappointment.
The Lord of the vineyard said: Behold, this long time have we nourished this tree, and I have laid up unto myself against the season much fruit. But behold, this time it hath brought forth much fruit, and there is none of it which is good. And behold, there are all kinds of bad fruit; and it profiteth me nothing, notwithstanding all our labor; and now it grieveth me that I should lose this tree. (V.31-32)
It grieves Him to think that he’ll have to give up on the tree entirely, because he cares about the fruit, every single piece. He knows the roots are good, the covenant is good. If the fruit would just takes nourishment from the roots instead of from the other branches, the fruit would be good. Yet the tree produces “all kinds of bad fruit,” and later it produces “evil fruit.”
And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my vineyard, for I have done all. What could I have done more for my vineyard? (V. 49)
How frustrating to be the Lord of the vineyard, to pour his everything into saving this tree, these pieces of fruit, and to have it fail time and time again. He reaches the point where he is ready to throw in the towel and burn the trees entirely.
But, behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the vineyard: Spare it a little longer. (V. 50)
The servant intercedes on behalf of the tree, and because the Lord of the vineyard values the tree, and the fruit, he agrees. He labors with all diligence. He tries every trick in the book. He nourishes, digs about, dungs, grafts, prunes, transplants. He takes the natural branches that he had removed and he grafts them back into the tame tree.
Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my vineyard. (V. 54)
He calls more servants to labor with him. He directs them to prune and graft and nourish, clearing away the bad fruit and branches to prepare a way that perhaps the trees might bring forth good fruit.
And you know what? It works.
And there began to be the natural fruit again in the vineyard; and the natural branches began to grow and thrive exceedingly. (V. 73)
The Lord is able to preserve much fruit, and he has joy because of the fruit of his vineyard, and shares that joy with the servants that labored with him. The work is done, and the Lord is able to declare:
I will lay up unto mine own self of the fruit, for a long time, according to that which I have spoken. (V. 76)
What does it mean when the Lord says, “I will lay up unto mine own self of the fruit?”
When the Lord gathers fruit unto Himself, that fruit no longer belongs to the tame tree or the wild tree. That fruit belongs to Him. Those saved souls are now part of His family, and He will protect them. The Lord does this work himself. It’s not a servant who lays up the fruit, it’s the Lord of the vineyard that does the gathering into His family.
That’s the end goal—to be part of the Lord’s family, to be called by His name, to have Him give us a new identity.
We don’t want to stay on the tree. We want to be gathered up unto the Lord, because only then can we be safe from the burning.
And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again come into my vineyard, then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away into its own place. And then cometh the season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned with fire. (V. 77)
When the season ends, it’s not just the bad branches that are going to be burned. It will be the entire vineyard—every piece of fruit left on every branch of every tree. Nothing that we have built here on this earth—no earthly family we have claim to, no organization we’re a part of—is going to be preserved.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a lot of work to do to sweeten my soul.