Each time I reread the parable of the tame and wild olive trees in Jacob chapter 5, I receive more insights, and become more and more impressed with it.  It’s a masterpiece.  It was written by the prophet Zenos, somewhere in the Holy Land, sometime before 600 B.C.  It spells out in some detail what would be the future of the Americas, of all places.

Verse 44 speaks of the destruction of the Jaredites to make room for the coming of Lehi’s family.  Verse 40 speaks of the Nephites being overcome by the Lamanites.  Verse 42 speaks of the great, worldwide apostasy.  Numerous verses speak of the Americas as being a land which “was choice unto (the Lord) above all other parts of the land.”

Zenos, I think, was writing about his descendants.  That’s why he was given this revelation concerning them.  He saw how they would prosper and bring forth good fruit for a time; and how they would deteriorate, necessitating a major pruning and missionary effort in the latter days.  Zenos even saw the army of Latter-day missionaries of which I’m a part; but though we number over 80,000 strong, we are “few” compared to the work that needs to be done.  (Verses 61 &70)

Lehi’s family was planted in the most choice part of the vineyard, yet there were other branches besides his that were planted in less desirable places.  These, too, brought forth good fruit for a time before they, too, became corrupted.  There were at least four transplantations described in verses 19-25.  All of that good fruit would have left records, but the only record of the four that we have, came from the group described in verse 25.

Jacob was part of that group.  He was so enchanted with Zenos’ parable that he wanted to be sure that it was copied onto Nephi’s gold plates.  Just imagine the labor of love that required.  None of us would like to be given the job of copying those 6 ½ pages in longhand, yet Jacob undertook the task of engraving that whole parable word-by-word on metal plates.  The job took days!  I bless his name for it.

And imagine, if you will, the preparation required to even be able to start such a task.

Jacob was Lehi’s son.  He, like Nephi, was “taught somewhat in all the learning of (his) father…which consist(ed) of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.”  (1 Nephi 1:1-2).  Lehi’s boys grew up speaking Hebrew (Mormon 9:33); but being the good father that he was, Lehi sat them down and taught them a difficult foreign language.  Nephi and Jacob were diligent students, mastered Egyptian, and taught the art of reading it and of writing it to their own sons, who taught their sons through a thousand years of history, clear down to Mormon teaching Moroni.  (Enos 1:1, and Mosiah 1:2-4 for example).

Have you tried to learn a foreign language?  I’m currently trying to learn Bislama.  It’s a daunting task; yet Bislama is a spin-off of English, so I think I can do it.  Egyptian didn’t even use letters.  I can’t imagine what it required for Nephi and Jacob to learn it.

Can you imagine trying to teach your own son how to read and write a foreign language?  I know how well that would have gone in my family.  I’d have had some pretty rebellious boys.  I have no doubt but what Lehi did, too.

Laman and Lemuel claimed that Nephi robbed them when he took the brass plates and departed into the wilderness when Lehi’s family split into opposing groups.  The truth of the matter was, however, that Lehi’s family wouldn’t even have had the plates had it not been for Nephi, and quite possibly Laman and Lemuel weren’t capable of reading them if they had them.  They complained that “we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive-tree, and also concerning the Gentiles.

“And (Nephi) said unto them:  Have ye inquired of the Lord?

“And they said unto (him):  We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.”

If we read between the lines here, not only did they not bother to pray, they also didn’t bother to read the scriptures.  Perhaps they weren’t even capable of reading the brass plates.  The brass plates were written in Egyptian.  (Mosiah 1:4).  Somehow I can’t picture Laman and Lemuel being patient enough to take Egyptian language lessons from their father.

Embodied in this parable are some wonderful evidences of its authorship and authenticity.  To say that Joseph Smith wrote it is ludicrous.  I consider Joseph Smith one of the greatest men who ever lived, but even he wasn’t smart enough to write such a document.  He couldn’t have faked such a thing.

Look at verse 18 of Jacob chapter 5.  There are 6 thereofs in that one verse.  Joseph didn’t speak that way.  He couldn’t and wouldn’t have written that way, but Zenos did.  There are lots of thereofs sprinkled through that chapter.  The rest of the Book of Mormon doesn’t contain that many thereofs, either.  The language in that one chapter makes it stand out from all the rest of the Book of Mormon, making it plain that it had a unique author.

The Book of Mormon is solid evidence of the divinity of Joseph Smith’s work, and of the Restoration of the gospel.  Today I saw prophecy fulfilled.  I sat through two sacrament meetings and one Sunday school meeting—my first in Bislama.  Here I am on a remote island of the sea, and I heard a branch president bear testimony with emotion in his voice that he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.  Two young, black outgoing missionaries did the same.  The Sunday school teacher gave a wonderful lesson on section 135 of the Doctrine and Covenants stressing the fact that “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.”  (D&C 135:3).

The congregation then sang, “Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah, Jesus anointed that prophet and seer!”  They did it without hymnbooks, and with fervor.

The angel Moroni told the boy, Joseph Smith, that his name “should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues.”  (Joseph Smith-History 1:33).

That farm boy’s name is being spoken of in Vanuatu, of all places.  Moroni’s prophecy stands fulfilled.