Prophet Zenos Jacob 5

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Prophet ZenosJacob 5

• The Allegory of the Olive Tree

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Who Was Zenos?

• We dont know
• Some speculation as to his identity (Hugh Nibley
  and others)
• House of Joseph (3 Nephi 1015)
• Prophet after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
• Writings contained in the Brass Plates
• 4,261 Words of Zenos in the BofM
• Teachings focused on the Mission of the Savior
  and the Gathering of Israel
• Died as a martyr

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• I do not think I overstate the matter when I say
  that next to Isaiah himself-who is the prototype,
  pattern, and model for all the prophets- there
  was not a greater prophet in all Israel than
  Zenos
• Bruce R.
  McConkie

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Allegory of the Olive Tree

• Throughout Scripture, the Teacher of teachers
  and his prophets have invoked their surroundings
  to verify revelatory acts and sayingsIn the very
  rocks and trees of Israel, Gods meaning is
  lodged-meaning that can reach the center of the
  soul. Amid all those surroundings, no figure
  looms larger on the landscape than does the olive
  tree. Truman G. Madsen

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Jacobs Commentary on Zenos Allegory of the
vineyard

• 1 And now, behold, my brethren, as I said unto
  you that I would prophesy, behold, this is my
  prophecythat the things which this prophet Zenos
  spake, concerning the house of Israel, in the
  which he likened them unto a tame olive-tree,
  must surely come to pass.
• 2 And the day that he shall set his hand again
  the second time to recover his people, is the
  day, yea, even the last time, that the servants
  of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to
  nourish and prune his vineyard and after that
  the end soon cometh. (Jacob 61,2)

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Elder Dallan H. OaksApril Conference, 2004

• Another sign of the times is the gathering of the
  faithful. In the early years of this last
  dispensation, a gathering to Zion involved
  various locations in the United States to
  Kirtland, to Missouri, to Nauvoo, and to the tops
  of the mountains. Always these were gatherings to
  prospective temples. With the creation of stakes
  and the construction of temples in most nations
  with sizeable populations of the faithful, the
  current commandment is not to gather to one place
  but to gather in stakes in our own homelands.

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Seven Tribes of Lehi
Wild Trees- Different parts of the World
Israel Gathered In Zion and Jerusalem for the
Millenium
Natural Olive Tree- Israel
Good Fruit Everywhere Just before the time of
Christ Jacob 5 15-28
Bad Fruit Everywhere Before Christ to Dark
Ages Jacob 5 29-49
Fall of Jerusalem, 587 BC Jacob 4-14
Restoration and Last Days Jacob 5 50-73
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St. Hugh Nibley

• The long and puzzling story of the olive orchard
  in the fifth chapter of Jacob seems to present an
  endless combination of tactics to preserve the
  orchard. The point is that any combination is
  possible God will try any scheme, general or
  local, to redeem the people. . . . sixteen times
  the trees are given a last chance to get growing
  again there is no end to the Lords patience.