The Allegory of the Olive Tree
Jacob’s tale of the olive trees, drawn
from the extrabiblical prophet Zenos, is cooperative and boasts a cast of
characters. Instead of one person—a sinner, lost sheep, silver coin, or prodigal
son—the tree that opens the story represents the entire house of Israel: “thus
saith the Lord, I will liken thee, O house of Israel, like into a tame olive
tree which a man took and nourished in his vineyard” (Jacob 5:3). As the tree
ages and begins to decay, the Lord hopes to encourage new, young growth. Soon a
servant joins the master of the vineyard in caring for the tree, and their first
strategy to save it involves mixing the branches with other trees in the
vineyard. Throughout this allegory, salvation is a group project, and,
apparently, not the kind in which on laborer can do all the work alone.
As the story progresses, what began as
care for one tree grows to include more and more in the vineyard. The Lord
expands his focus from the tree representing the house of Israel to its
branches. This perspective increases to become care for all the trees and the
vineyard as a whole. Initially the Lord takes interest exclusively in the tame
olive tree saying multiple times. “It grieveth me that I should lose this tree”
(vv. 7, 11-13; see also v. 18). But once it has been cross-grafted—its branches
spread throughout the wild trees and wild branches grafted into the tame tree’s
roots—the master evaluates the results, carefully checking each transplant
site. He travels to the nethermost parts of the vineyard: “Behold, these! . . .
Take of the fruit thereof . . . that I may preserve it unto mine own self,” and
“Look hither and behold another branch also which I have planted” (vv. 20, 24;
see also vv. 14, 21-26). Scattering the tame tree branches multiplies his care
for the entire vineyard, such that when all the trees fail to produce good
fruit, the Lord of the vineyard weeps. Instead of referring to just the one
tree, he repeatedly asks, “What could I have one more for my vineyard?” (vv.
41, 47). The enterprise of saving the tame olive tree widens to that of saving
the entire vineyard. The allegory suggests that the trees’ success is
interdependent, that what affects one ultimately has an impact on the rest of the
vineyard too. In short, concern for one tree must spread to concern for all if
any of the trees are to survive.
The tame roots are necessary for the
wild branches to produce good fruit. In like manner, the grafted wild branches
revitalize the decaying tame tree. As Deidre Green writes of the allegory:
God’s covenant with Israel will not be
fulfilled if those within the covenant isolate themselves from others. The tame
olive trees that represent Israel cannot flourish or even survive without the
new life introduced by the wild branches. Far from being disposable, the wild
olive trees alone are capable of saving the tame olive trees from being deemed “good
for nothing” and cast out. (Deirdre Nicole Green, Jacob: A Brief Theological
Introduction [Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious
Scholarship, 2020], 102)
If any part of the vineyard is to be
spared, the various trees, branches, and roots need each other. The master
designs them into productive relations, and how the servant encourages the
master to give the endeavor enough time to grow.
Not only are there trees
interdependent with one another but also the lord and servants relationship is
collaborative. When the Lord despairs that all his trees produce bad fruit, the
servant urges and persuades him to wait, make new attempts, and still try to
save the vineyard. When the Lord says to “pluck off the branches that have not
brought forth good fruit and cast them into the fire,” the servant replies, “Let
us prune it and dig about it and nourish it a little longer, that perhaps it
may bring forth good fruit unto thee” (v. 27). When the lord sees the trees as
good for nothing and is ready to hew them all down, the servant coaxes, “Spare
it a little longer” (v. 50). The Lord agrees and, with renewed resolve, plans
to regraft some branches and clear away others (vv. 52, 54, 65). He engages
additional servants “that we may labor with our mights in the vineyard” (v.
61). There is a different picture than a singular, omnipotent God who dispenses
individual permission slips into heaven. This is a picture of “all hands on
deck” for sweat and problem-solving; for backbreaking, dirty work and
undetermined experiments; and for head-scratching frustration combined with
arboricultural acumen. Jacob (through Zenos) presents salvation as an ambitious
family home-improvement project that must be figured out together. This is
the story Jacob tells of how the lord and his followers work out salvation.
If we pluck the allegory out as a
self-contained story, we may not readily categorize it as an account of Christ
as Savior. But Jacob connects the allegory of the olive trees to Christ as
Savior directly. In context, the transnational and transtemporal allegory of
the olive trees is not presented as a sweeping story of a global Abrahamic
covenant, although it can be read as such. Rather, Jacob tells the allegory of
the olive tree to show the house of Israel returns to Christ. In the previous
chapter, he writes, “for why not speak of the atonement of Christ and attain a
perfect knowledge of him?” (Jacob 4:12). And from this query, he explains how
one branch of the house of Israel would not accept Christ. The premise for the
allegory of the olive trees arises as Jacob circles back to ask, “how is it
possible that these, after having rejected the sure foundation, can ever build
upon it that it may become the head of their corner?” (Jacob 4:17). He proceeds
to answer that question through the example of communal salvation in the
allegory. As Jacob frames it, the story of the olive trees is about the
Savior of each individual sinner, the one lost sheep, the single silver coin,
and the one prodigal son, but the allegory is also an illustration of how an
entire lost people may be redeemed through other prophets. (Sharon J. Harris, “Saving
the House of Israel: Collective Atonement in the Book of Mormon,” in Latter-day
Saint Perspectives on Atonement, ed. Deirdre Nicole Green and Eric D.
Huntsman [Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2024], 118-20)