1 Nephi 6 Nephi speaks of the Things of God
1 Nephi 7 Dialog from Nephi to Ishmael and his family
1 Nephi 7 6-22 Nephi prays for his brothers
1 Nephi 8 Lehi speaks about his dream
1 Nephi 9 Nephi speaks to Laman and Lemuel
1 Nephi 10 Lehi speaks of the Messiah and the House of
Israel
1 Nephi 10 17-22 Nephi prays to know more for himself
1 Nephi 11 Dialog between Nephi and the Spirit of the Lord
1 Nephi 11 13- 36 Dialog between and angel and Nephi
1 Nephi 12 Nephi talks about Jesus
1 Nephi 12 13-23 Nephi talks about Lehi’s descendants
1 Nephi 13 Nephi talks about the great and abominable church
1 Nephi 13 10- 19 Nephi speaks about the gentiles and the Promised
Land
1 Nephi 13 20-29 Nephi speaks about the gentiles with the
record of the Jews
1 Nephi 13 30-37 Dialogue between Nephi and the angel
1 Nephi 13:42 Dialogue between the angel and Nephi about
gentiles and their repent
1 Nephi 14:8-17 Nephi talks about the wrath of God Poured
out on the wicked
1 Nephi 14:18-30 Nephi talks about the apostle John
1 Nephi 15 Nephi speaks about the inquiring of the lord
1 Nephi 15 Nephi talks about the allegory of the olive tree
1 Nephi 15:21-36 Sermon about the tree, the rod and the
river
1 Nephi 16 Nephi speaks about the truth for the wicked
“And they said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our
father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive tree, and
also concerning the Gentiles.
10 Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the
commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the
hardness of your hearts?”
In this oratory passage, Nephi is talking about the allegory of
the Olive tree to his brothers Laman and Lemuel, but also to the house of
Israel and the gentiles (audience). Nephi’s stated intention was that the
fullness of the gospel of the Messiah comes unto the gentiles, and from the
gentiles. In addition, Nephi was grieved because of the hardness of their heart
and he felt inspired to share his knowledge of the Redeemer. Most of the
credibility Nephi gained was after he testified about the doctrine of the
redeemer (ethos). Moreover, Nephi’s words were very appealing when he said they
were the covenant people of the lord, which made them feel they belong to God (pathos).
Based on the language used in this allegory, it relates to Lehi’s dream of the
tree because they both used metaphors.
I had the opportunity to read in Jacob where they talked about the metaphor of the Olive Tree. In my readings, I found that there was a lot of repetition of words, which I'm sure you also noticed. In Jacob 5-Omni, it was a reoccurring theme that if you were to keep the Lord's commandments he would bless you. If you don't, you will not be blessed. I found this to be interesting because this is a theme that we see all the time in The Book of Mormon, but I never noticed it until I had to analyze it in depth my chapter.
ReplyDeleteThe allegory of the Olive Tree is fascinating, and there is great oratory as well found in this chapter.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I love the symbolism of trees in the scripture...their roots planted soundly in the ground, the branches, the soil, the fruit, its all so beautiful.
This allegory is very important because it is not only the words of Jacob, but we also the words of the Lord speaking to us. I wonder what difference this makes that this was just Nephi retelling it to his brothers...and how thedifference audience changes things.