The Scattering of the Branches

Yesterday I wrote about the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5 and how some of the branches from the main tree were taken and planted in the nethermost part of the vineyard.  We read that the Lord “hid the natural branches in the tame olive tree in the nethermost parts of the vineyard, some in one and some in another, according to his will and pleasure” (v13-14).  So what people did these branches represent?  Since the original tree represents the house of Israel, then it must be that these various branches that were “hid” in the vineyard represent the scattering of Israel to various places.  Lehi may have been referring to the allegory when he summarized what would happen this way: “After the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel, the natural branches of the olive tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer” (1 Nephi 10:14).  These branches were scattered, and then eventually would be brought back and gathered again.   

Though we do not know exactly which groups were meant to be represented in the allegory, of the “branches” spoken of, it does appear that the “last” one references the Nephites and the Lamanites.  We read, “Look hither and behold the last. Behold, this have I planted in a good spot of ground; and I have nourished it this long time, and only a part of the tree hath brought forth tame fruit, and the other part of the tree hath brought forth wild fruit; behold, I have nourished this tree like unto the others” (v25).  This certainly fits what we know in general about the Nephites (who were likely the “tame fruit”) and the Lamanites (the “wild fruit”) who were “planted” in “a good spot of ground,” or the promised land.  Nephi may have even been  to the allegory of the olive tree when he said to his brothers, “Behold, I say unto you, that the house of Israel was compared unto an olive tree, by the Spirit of the Lord which was in our father; and behold are we not broken off from the house of Israel, and are we not a branch of the house of Israel?” (1 Nephi 15:12).  He emphasized this again to his brothers as he was introducing the words of Isaiah that he was about to speak to them: “Wherefore I spake unto them, saying: Hear ye the words of the prophet, ye who are a remnant of the house of Israel, a branch who have been broken off” (1 Nephi 19:24).  Nephi clearly viewed his people as a branch of the house of Israel that had been scattered.           

I don’t think that without further revelation we can know anything more about the other “branches” spoken of in verses, but we do know that the Lord knows them and knows where they are.  Nephi spoke of these groups when he gave us these words of the Lord: “For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away” (2 Nephi 29:12).  When the Savior visited the Nephites and was ready to leave after the first day, He told them, “But now I go unto the Father, and also to show myself unto the lost tribes of Israel, for they are not lost unto the Father, for he knoweth whither he hath taken them” (3 Nephi 17:4).  The Lord of the vineyard hid the branches in the vineyard, and he knows where they are today.  And someday all will be gathered “together again that they shall bring forth the natural fruit, and they shall be one” (Jacob 5:68).