Chapter 5 in the Book of Jacob is the longest chapter in the Book of Mormon.  It’s Zenos’ allegory of the tame and wild olive trees.  It’s 77 verses long.  Zenos was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel.  When he wrote the allegory, the story of the scattering and gathering of Israel was just beginning.  Verse 8 says that “I take away many of these young and tender branches, and I will graft them whithersoever I will.”

That was a process that was just beginning when Zenos wrote nearly 3000 years ago.  The scattering had just begun.  We know that the northern kingdom was taken away to parts unknown in 721 B.C.  We know that Lehi’s group left Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and that Mulek’s group left Jerusalem shortly thereafter.  Both Lehi’s and Mulek’s groups ended up in the Americas.

But the scripture says “many of these young and tender branches” were taken away.  How many more families and groups were taken away, and where did they go?  There were probably a good many more, and they were probably scattered over all the earth.  How interesting it would be to know their stories, and to read their records.

The allegory says that after a long time the Lord of the vineyard would call servants to prune the vineyard for the last time.  These are missionaries.  It says, “Wherefore, go to, and call servants, that we may labor diligently with our might in the vineyard, that we may prepare the way.”  (v. 61).

Notice that the Lord of the vineyard says “that we may labor diligently.”  He is working right alongside His missionaries.

“And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard sent his servant (the prophet); and the servant went and did as the Lord had commanded him, and brought other servants (it is the prophet who calls missionaries); and they were few.”  (v. 70).

The Church has an army of nearly 60,000 missionaries spread out over the earth nourishing and pruning the vineyard; but with a total of over 6 billion trees needing to be pruned and nourished, each missionary would have to prune 600,000 trees if each was to receive individual attention.  Looking at it another way, if there have been 1 million missionaries since the beginning of the Restoration, and if 10 billion people lived during that time, each missionary would have had to prune 10,000 trees, a staggering job.  Indeed, the laborers are few.

“And the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them,” verse 72 says, “and they (the servants) did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things.”

Verse 74 says, “And thus they labored with all diligence.”  In my Book of Mormon I’ve drawn an arrow that points to those words, and I’ve written at the other end of the arrow, “We are here.”  Seventy-four of the 77 verses of the allegory are past.  We’re somewhere in the last three verses of that 3000-year-old allegory.

In verse 74 the laborers are working diligently, and the bad is being cast away out of the vineyard.  The Lord is preserving unto Himself the natural fruit, and cleaning up the vineyard.  Every door that the missionaries knock on, every natural disaster, every baptism, and every war in the world today is part of the cleaning and pruning.

The very next verse, verse 75, says that “the Lord of the vineyard saw that…his vineyard was no more corrupt” (the Millennium had arrived).  “He called up his servants, and said unto them:  Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard…And blessed art thou; for…ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard.”  (v. 75).

We’re right at the end of the allegory.  We’re right at the beginning of the Millennium.  This is the last time that the vineyard will be pruned.  Never before were missionaries called to spread out over the earth.  Never will it happen again.  What a privilege it is to be a part of this little army of pruners.

Every spring I take my hand pruners, and my pruning saw, my loppers, and sometimes my chain saw, and I prune my orchard.  I begin with the big stuff, and the dead and diseased and deformed limbs.  I use the chain saw to cut down dead trees, and to take out the big limbs that are shading the more productive limbs, and which are keeping the good limbs from receiving light and making good fruit.  I drag all of these to the burn pile.

The Lord of the vineyard is the One who wields the chain saw.  He determines what big stuff needs to come out.

An objective in pruning is to open up the tree so that each limb receives maximum light.  It’s light that makes good fruit.  Having made the big cuts, and opened up the tree, I return to it with my little pruners and go up each individual limb.  I remove the branches that go straight up (the proud and lofty), and I snip off the ones that go straight down.  The branches that go straight up or straight down can’t bear the weight of ripe fruit, and form poor angles that break limbs when the fruit gets heavy.  My job in the spring is to visualize the trees and the branches when the fruit is heavy and ripe in the fall.

The job of the missionaries is similar.  They go up every limb.  Each twig is examined.  Each twig is given the chance to improve its angle and to come into the light and to bear good fruit.  The missionaries are the detail men.  It’s a big and tedious job.

My 100 trees take several days to prune.  I don’t look forward to the job, and wish that I had help.  I have to do the job in February, before the sap starts to flow, so that the cuts I make don’t cause the trees to bleed and become weak.  The weather isn’t good in February.  I always wish I could wait to do the job when the weather is nice, but it’s the good weather that I’m preparing for.

It’s a big job, and the weather may not be nice, but once I get started it’s always enjoyable.  I look back and see my orchard looking neat and beautiful.  I’m always amazed at how big my burn piles get.  I feel badly about each live limb that I lop off, but the end result is big apples and luscious peaches in the fall.  I’m blessed by my orchard.

“How blessed are they who have labored diligently in his vineyard,” Jacob said in explanation to Zenos’ allegory.  (Jacob 6:3).

I never look forward to reading the long chapter that is Jacob, chapter 5; but once I’m into it, I enjoy it like I enjoy pruning my orchard.  Jacob, chapter 5, is a masterpiece.  I’m grateful to be one of the laborers in the vineyard.