Jacob 5...wow this is a long chapter!

“And it came to pass that the servant of the Lord of the vineyard did according to the word of the Lord of the vineyard, and grafted in the branches of the wild olive tree.” –Jacob 5:10

For this scripture, I decided to look up the word “grafted” into the 1828 dictionary. The word grafted means “a small shoot or cion of a tree, inserted in another tree as the stock.” By this definition we learn that the Lord of the vineyard is grafting, or inserting, wild olive branches in the olive tree. This is symbolic to God inviting the Gentiles to be a part of the church. The assigned reading states that grafting is symbolic of spiritual rebirth in this allegory. Therefore, God is inviting the Gentiles to be spiritually reborn and to become part of the church. This is kind of like missionary work.

And these will I place in the nethermost part of my vineyard, whithersoever I will, it mattereth not unto thee; and I do it that I may preserve unto myself the natural branches of the tree.” – Jacob 5:13

In the 1828 dictionary, “nethermost” is defined as, “lowest; as the nethermost hell; the nethermost abyss.” So with this definition in mind, God is taking the branches of house of Israel that have decayed and begun to die and he is sending them to Hell. This is rather harsh, but obviously the branches are corrupting the tree, so they needed to be pruned away. Although this example makes God seem like an unforgiving man, in the text the servant (or Christ) first tried to dig, prune, and nourish the tree so that he could save it. The tree just continued to die. God gave the House of Israel many chances to repent, and the chose not to, which is why they were in a sense cast away.

In verses 19-21, the Lord of the Vineyard visits the branches that were cast in the nethermost part of the vineyard and he finds that they are growing and that their fruit was good. This is a beautiful example of repentance. God gives everyone a chance to become clean again, and to help strengthen our spiritual roots.

“Finally, I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with awful dread and fear. –Jacob 6:13

“Pleasing” in the 1828 dictionary means, “gratifying; exciting agreeable sensations or emotions in giving pleasure or satisfaction.” It is interesting how Jacob refers to it as the pleasing bar of God because for the righteous it will be a happy day. For those of us who have utilized the atonement, we have no need to fear. The wicked, as stated above in the analysis of Brad Wilcox’s talk, will not have a comparable experience on judgment day as the righteous. It is entirely your choice of which side you will be on during that day.