Every time I read the fifth Chapter of Jacob in the Book of Mormon, I can’t help but wonder about all the stories of grafting and where they took place. It seems quite clear that the graft that took place in finest part of the vineyard was that of the Nephites and the Lamanites and that the branch that died was the Nephites, but what about the branch that was planted in the poorest part of the Vineyard? Might that have been Tibet? Or Siberia? How I long to hear those stories, though I doubt if they’ll be entirely different than the ones we know. All of the “promised land” stores have tales of hardship, deprivation, as well as faith and triumph. I don’t expect the others to be any different.
Clearly the allegory is the tale of the House of Israel and of it’s scattering across the globe or Vineyard. The main tree remained in Palestine, but so many others were grafted on to the tree. I think this chapter uses planting and grafting interchangeably it is possible to start a new olive tree from cuttings from an old one, so I’d like the thoughts of others on my surmise. If I am correct though, and all of the “planting” was actually a graft, it would most certainly mean that the America’s were already populated when Lehi and his family were grafted on to an existing tree, or population. The apparent population explosion recorded in the Book of Mormon seems to bear this out. Though it seems that the new comers, must have immediately and strongly influenced, even dominated, the existing population.
I find it very interesting that China for example has had a very strong Christian presence, most certainly as early as the third Century. In fact one source says that at the time of Marco Polo, there were more Christians in China, than in any other region of the globe, including Europe. I think it quite likely that there were earlier dispersions of Israel that arrived and thrived in the Far East as early as, if not earlier than the people of Lehi arrived in America. Like America, those people could have continued bearing good fruit on into the “Christian Era.” As prophesied, their records, will one day be available to us. What an exciting day that will be!
On a side note, about ten years ago, I met a young Sister Missionary on Temple Square from the People’s Republic of China. Their name tags bear the flag of their country of origin. I asked her how long she’d been affiliated with the Church? Her reply astounded me! She’d been part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints her entire life. She went on to report that there are 30,000 Latter-day Saints in China! That the Government likes the Church because, “we obey the rules.” She bore testimony of the 12th Article of Faith and of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as reasons why the Chinese Government and the Church have an amicable relationship. Some of this number were converted abroad and returned home to China, but many have learned of the gospel from friends and neighbors. She counted it a miracle that Hong Kong came under Chinese rule, because they can make day trips to the Temple without special permission. She also told me that they’d probably have even more freedom to worship if the Jehovah’s Witnesses would stop breaking the rules.
I found myself thinking that it seems quite certain that the portion of the allegory that tells of returning the branches to the mother tree, represents the Latter-day gathering. What a joy it is to be part of that! When I see what The Book of Mormon represents to many Indigenous People across the Americas, I can’t help but anticipate the joy of natives of China, Japan, the Philippines, Africa and everywhere else across the globe receive records of their own ancestor’s interactions with God and his Prophets!
This time through Chapter 5 gave me another perspective. I found myself thinking of who I really am, the me who once lived in the presence of God. At birth, I lost track of that and as mortality wore on, I began to bear wild fruit and also had need of pruning and grafting. Naturally, being an enemy of God, I also required dunging and digging about. I can see in this allegory many times when I went wild, or got too lofty and needed pruning. The grafting in of my dear wife and children, and many dear friends have made a profound change in me. The trimming off of this sin, or that tendency has been much needed. The laborers in the Vineyard have labored diligently with me. I just hope in this tree’s old age, there may be still a few young and tender branches, that can shoot forth and bear good fruit.
No comments:
Post a Comment