In the previous article, I summarized for you the allegory of the Olive Tree, found in Jacob 5. Since the entire story revolves around this tree, it’s important to understand what it represents. In allegories, many things represent something else, and we must learn the meaning of the symbolism before we can learn the meaning of the story.
There are actually a number of olive trees in the story. The representations are taken from the Institute of Religion Manual for the Book of Mormon.
The tame tree represents Israel, the chosen people. The wild trees represent those who are not of Israel in the early story, and later the branches that are wild represent apostate Israel. The branches are various groups of people.
Olive trees can grow wild, but pruning and care gives the most reliable results. We see in the allegory how hard the Lord worked to care for his trees. We saw in one part of the allegory that the top of the tree was dying. This is due to the tree outgrowing its roots (Research and Perspectives: Recent Studies on the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Jul 1989, 62) According to the article I’ve linked to here, the servant had to remove branches before grafting new ones to prevent this particular problem.
The Book of Mormon student manual explains that the olive tree is a very appropriate symbol for a story that represents God’s love for His children. The trees require extensive care and nurturing, as we’ve seen in the story. If left alone, the trees fruit will be inedible. A wild tree can be made tame, but this requires a great deal of effort, cutting back the trunk and grafting branches of a tame tree onto it. Even then, it’s not fully developed for fifteen years. Olive trees are the product of patience and direct, hands-on nurturing and assistance. The manual explains: “Throughout its history Israel has demonstrated the remarkable aptness characterized by the symbol of the olive tree. When they gave themselves to their God for pruning and grafting the Israelites prospered and bore much fruit, but when they turned from Christ, the Master of the vineyard, and sought to become their own source of life and sustenance they became wild and unfruitful.”
As we study the story, we see that Israel was a wonderful tree that served God well for many years. Being a favored nation, the Lord of the vineyard (God) is reluctant to let it simply die, and does everything in His power to save the tree, or Israel. Again and again, Israel struggles and seems to be in great trouble, but we see it is still here, having survived centuries of trials and war. The olive tree in the allegory produced many new trees from its transplanted branches, and is like Israel in that way. It keeps coming back to life, surviving all threats to its survival.
We know from prophecy that Israel will be gathered together and restored someday. The planting of the tree branches taken from the parent tree in various corners can be interpreted as the scattering of Israel, and the grafting of those scattered trees’ branches back on to
The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.
