The Parable of the Vineyard: Jacob 5

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The Parable of the VineyardJacob 5

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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Why Parents Drink

• The boss wondered why one of his most valued
  employee had not
  phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent
  problem with one of
  the main computers, he dialed the
  employee's home phone number
  and was greeted with a child's
  whisper.
• "Hello ? "
• "Is your daddy home?" he asked.
• " Yes ," whispered the small voice.
• May I talk with him?"
• The child whispered, " No ."
• Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the
  boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"
• "Yes.
• "May I talk with her?
• Again the small voice whispered, "No .
• Hoping there was somebody with whom he could
  leave a message, the boss asked, "Is anybody else
  there?"
• " Yes ," whispered the child, " a policeman ".
• Wondering what a cop would be doing at his
  employee's home, the boss asked, "May I speak
  with the policeman?"
• " No, he's busy ", whispered the child.
• "Busy doing what?"
• " Talking to Daddy  and Mommy and the Fireman ,"
  came the whispered answer.
• Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in
  the background, the boss asked, "What is that
  noise?"
• " A helicopter " answered the whispering voice.
• "What is going on there?" demanded the boss, now
  truly apprehensive.

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Question/Reminder

• Why did the Lord and his prophets choose
  to teach in parables and allegories?
• Wouldnt more plainness have been
  easier to understand?

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Bruce R. McConkie

• 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
• The Joseph Smith Translation, The Restoration of
  Plain and Precious Things. Edited by Monte S.
  Nyman and Robert L. Millet. Religious Studies
  Center, BYU, Provo, Utah, 1985, p. 17.

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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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Zenos Multilayered Parable of the Vineyard
A story about how to have a productive
vineyard
The Scattering and Gathering of Israel
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Seven Tribes of Lehi
Wild Trees- Different parts of the World
Natural Olive Tree- Israel
Israel Gathered In Zion and Jerusalem for the
Millenium
Bad Fruit Everywhere After First Century to Dark
Ages Jacob 5 29-49
Good Fruit Everywhere Just before the time of
Christ Jacob 5 15-28
Fall of Jerusalem, 587 BC Jacob 4-14
Restoration and Last Days Jacob 5 50-73
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In addition, however, (Jacob 4)

• And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto
  prophesying for I perceive by the workings of
  the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling
  (Sin) of the Jews they will reject the stone upon
  which they might build and have safe foundation.
• But behold, according to the scriptures, this
  stone (Jesus Christ) shall become the great, and
  the last, and the only sure foundation, upon
  which the Jews can build.
• The Great Question! And now, my beloved, how is
  it possible that these, after having rejected the
  sure foundation, can ever build upon it, that it
  may become the head of their corner?
• How Can They Repent?
• Behold, my beloved brethren, I will unfold this
  mystery unto you

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Zenos Multilayered Parable of the Vineyard
A story about how to have a productive
vineyard
The Scattering and Gathering of Israel
Our Own Scattering (Sin) And Gathering (At-One-Men
t)
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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.
• Hugh Nibley, Prophetic Book of Mormon, 498

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President Spencer W. Kimball

• Long ago, an elderly Navajo brother told me
  something that I have reflected upon many
  times in the years that have intervened.
• He said This gospel is something we have been
  trying all our lives to remember now all at once
  it comes back. Our fathers used to be with your
  fathers in the long ago, but then we came to a
  division in the road with a great stone in the
  middle. We went one way and you went the other.
  We went around that big rock for a long time but
  now we are back together, and we will always walk
  together from now on.

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President Spencer W. Kimball

• I have met some who are a little bit ashamed
  that they are Lamanites. How can it be? Some
  would rather define themselves as Nephites, or
  Zoramites, or Josephites, or something else.
  Surely there must be a misunderstanding. Would
  they separate themselves from the great
  blessings the Lord has promised to his covenant
  people? Would they cast off their birthright? For
  the Lord himself has chosen to call these people
  Lamanitesall the mixed descendants of Father
  Lehi, and Ishmael, and Zoram, and Mulek, and
  others of the Book of Mormon record all of the
  literal seed of the Lamanites, and also all that
  had become Lamanites because of their
  dissensions. (DC 1048.)
• You who are Lamanites remember this Your
  Lamanite ancestors were no more rebellious than
  any of the other branches of the house of Israel.
  All the seed of Israel fell into apostasy and
  suffered the long night of spiritual darkness,
  and only through the mercy of God have any of the
  branches been saved from utter destructionthe
  gentile-Ephraimite mixture first, and then the
  Lamanite remainder of Joseph, that the saying
  might be fulfilled, the last shall be first, and
  the first last. (Matt. 2016.)
• Ensign, December, 1975