Jacob Ch 5

[Guest]

I've been spending some time on Jacob Ch 5 (Zenos' Olive Tree Allegory).  I began a discussion on it for family home evening last night.  I asked who was familiar with it.  All but my two youngest were familiar with it.  I asked who knew what it was about.

• Bubba piped up and said,"Be good and you'll grow. Be evil and you'll be hewn down and cast into the fire."
• ... Ok ...  Not exactly wrong... but ...
• Mighty Mouse announced that it has 77 verses and 6-1/2 pages.  I don't know.  He got bored and looked it up.  Then it devolved into a scriptural trivia lesson.  
• Ffenix asked how many of the Isaiah verses were changed in the BoM.  No one knew.  Not even him.  So that didn't count.

So, back to Jacob.  I couldn't help think about the olive tree.  Most of the symbolism is pretty straight forward.  But when I started getting into the details I wondered what exactly do the roots and "the top thereof" represent?

The top was cut off and cast into the fire.  The roots were just always there hanging around.  I'd say that the roots are the group of people who became the modern-day Jews.  So, who/what was the top?

[estradling75]

Hmmm...

One idea is call the roots the fundamental understandings and traditions that are true... and the farther up the tree the (branches and the top) where the modern (of any age) interpretation and culture that develop based on the understanding of the roots (which understanding can be distorted or flawed) This then leads to the fruit which will be good or bad depending branches and top.

[LeSellers]

39 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Ffenix asked how many of the Isaiah verses were changed in the BoM.  No one knew.  Not even him.  So that didn't count.

According to John A. Tvedtnes

Quote

Of the 478 verses in the Book of Mormon quoted from the book of Isaiah, 201 agree with the King James reading while 207 show variations. Some 58 are paraphrased and 11 others are variants and/or paraphrases.

Lehi

[CV75]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

I've been spending some time on Jacob Ch 5 (Zenos' Olive Tree Allegory).  I began a discussion on it for family home evening last night.  I asked who was familiar with it.  All but my two youngest were familiar with it.  I asked who knew what it was about.

• Bubba piped up and said,"Be good and you'll grow. Be evil and you'll be hewn down and cast into the fire."
• ... Ok ...  Not exactly wrong... but ...
• Mighty Mouse announced that it has 77 verses and 6-1/2 pages.  I don't know.  He got bored and looked it up.  Then it devolved into a scriptural trivia lesson.  
• Ffenix asked how many of the Isaiah verses were changed in the BoM.  No one knew.  Not even him.  So that didn't count.

So, back to Jacob.  I couldn't help think about the olive tree.  Most of the symbolism is pretty straight forward.  But when I started getting into the details I wondered what exactly do the roots and "the top thereof" represent?

The top was cut off and cast into the fire.  The roots were just always there hanging around.  I'd say that the roots are the group of people who became the modern-day Jews.  So, who/what was the top?

There are a number of references in the chapter about the top being made equal with the root, and the problem of the loftiness of the vineyard whereby these corrupt branches overcome the roots which are good. So I would say the tops are the proud and rebellious that were cast off and destroyed at various and sundry times after the diaspora.

[zil]

There are many good insights in the institute manual.

[vmethot]

I'm surprised that the institute manual did not have what I think I learned in seminary. My understanding for years has been that the roots are the covenants of the fathers. This makes sense to me because the Lord always wants to preserve them. I understand the top to be the leaders of the people. The leaders of the people, including the kings and priests, had become corrupted and they were plucked out when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. The fourth branch was plucked and placed somewhere else in the vineyard and had new roots. This was Lehi with the covenants that he made with the Lord that he and his seed would get a promised land and anything else that it entailed.