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. (Jacob 5:77)
The allegory ends with the destruction
of the vineyard after evil again creeps into the vineyard. Clearly, this is a
reference to the end of the Millennium when Satan will be loosed briefly and
when the earth will end in fire. Does this eschatological burning make sense in
the allegory? Why would the Lord, who has resisted destroying the vineyard to
this point, suddenly decide to bur the vineyard after it has finally become
successful?
The answer lies in understanding the
allegory’s botanical basis. First, while the efforts of the Lord clearly take
time, this time is part of a season. “Then cometh the season and the end.”
Although historical time requires thousands of years, allegorical time is
comprised in a single “season.” This allegory demonstrates the efforts of the
Lord of the vineyard to produce valuable fruit of the “season.”
At the end of a season, it was part of
some ancient practices to burn the stubble form a harvested field, then plant
in a newly cultivated area. Such an approach would not be used for anything as
long-lived as an olive tree, but the botanical image of fire is one of renewal
as much as of destruction. It is through the burning of the fields that nutrients
are returned to the soil. Therefore, this burning at the last days is not
pictured as devastation, but as translation. It is a renewal of life rather
than a cessation of life. (Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and
Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. [Salt Lake City: Greg
Kofford Books, 2007], 2:551)
A document reprinted from 1996
Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Annual Report, Special Report 961, by Oregon
State University in cooperation with USDA-Agricultural Research Service,
discusses the modern practice of rubble-burning. In the introduction it notes: “Nothing
in recent years is quite so controversial as stubble burning, Burning has the
capability to increase crop yield under some cropping conditions, but if
repeated consistently, has the potential to lower soil quality. Changes in soil
quality take place very slowly, and it might be years before they are detectable
(Biederbeck et al., 1980). Stubble burning to facilitate no-till cropping may
enhance yield in the short-term, but prove detrimental to soil organic matter
(SOM) quality in the long term.”
Reports continue to appear stating
that stubble burning is “maintaining or increasing soil organic matter (SOM) after
2 or 3 years in no till-systems.” “Effect
of Annual Burn-No-Till Wheat on Soil Organic Matter Content and Bulk Density”
(Ibid., 551 n. 33)