Jacob 5:7, 11, 13, 32, 46, 47, 51, 66

[pam]

Reference Search: Jacob 5:7, 11, 13, 32, 46, 47, 51, 66

7 And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard saw it, and he said unto his servant: It grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, go and pluck the branches from a wild olive-tree, and bring them hither unto me; and 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.

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11 And the Lord of the vineyard caused that it should be digged about, and pruned, and nourished, saying unto his servant: It grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, that perhaps I might preserve the roots thereof that they perish not, that I might preserve them unto myself, I have done this thing.

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13 And these will I place in the nethermost part of my vineyard, whithersoever I will, it mattereth not unto thee; and I do it that I may preserve unto myself the natural branches of the tree; and also, that I may lay up fruit thereof against the season, unto myself; for it grieveth me that I should lose this tree and the fruit thereof.

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32 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.

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46 And now, behold, notwithstanding all the care which we have taken of my vineyard, the trees thereof have become corrupted, that they bring forth no good fruit; and these I had hoped to preserve, to have laid up fruit thereof against the season, unto mine own self. But, behold, they have become like unto the wild olive-tree, and they are of no worth but to be hewn down and cast into the fire; and it grieveth me that I should lose them.

47 But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned. Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard?

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51 And the Lord said: Yea, I will spare it a little longer, for it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard.

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66 For it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard; wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground of my vineyard; and thus will I sweep away the bad out of my vineyard.

Quote for Discussion

“It grieveth me”

An almost haunting declaration of this divine devotion is laced through these seventy-seven verses in the eight-fold repetition of the line “it grieveth me that I should lose this tree.” This long parable does outline Israel’s history, but soon enough the attentive reader senses a much more personal story coming from the printed page—the grief and the godly pain of a father anguishing over the needless destruction of His family.

Jeffrey R. Holland, Heroes from the Book of Mormon, [salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1995], 37

[MrShorty]

This is one of the things that usually impresses me when I read the allegory of the olive tree. How much care and concern the Lord of the vineyard puts into each tree. I know the trees represent whole groups of people and not individuals, but I often like to think that, as an individual member, the Lord of vineyard might be concerned about losing me as an individual, and that some things that happen in my life are the Lord's way of trying to keep me close.

[pam]

Didn't Christ also speak of the flock? Wouldn't you go searching for even the one that is lost? I think of it as the same concept that you mention MrShorty.

Thanks for providing your insight into this.