Parables are simple stories that are told to teach a moral, a lesson. Trees or large fruit-yielding plants or vines were favorite symbols in ancient parables. One reason is that the trees or vines had to be tended, nurtured, cared for, even pruned and dunged, in order for the husbandmen eventually to gain a yield of fruit.
Those familiar with The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ have read "the parable of the Lord of the Vineyard." In this parable a Lord and His faithful Servant, who represent Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, set about nourishing an olive tree. Despite their thorough and attentive efforts the olive tree begins to die. Together they prune the most corrupt branches and burn them, then sever the branches most promising yet unproductive of good fruit and graft them into wild olive trees. The Lord and His Servant then graft wild branches into the original tame or cultivated tree. At one point their efforts yield good fruit, but soon all branches corrupt. Finally The Lord and His Servant restore the original tame branches to their host tame tree and, with much effort, gain a yield of fruit for the season. The parable is an allegory of the scattering and subsequent gathering of the House of Israel.
My point in sharing this? I have long had an interest in parallel correspondences between The Book of Mormon and other sacred texts, in particular sacred texts that were and are relatively unknown.
Here is a little known fact: The one of the two earliest versions of the New Testament--The Codex Sinaiticus--contained extra books after The Book of Revelation, among them a rather lengthy work called "The Shepherd of Hermas." (BTW: The other early New Testament, The Codex Alexandrinus, also contained extra books.)The Shepherd of Hermas (SH) consists of visions, angelic visitations, and a parable.
I wish to share a few points from The Parable of the Willow, from Similitude VIII of Section III of Hermas. In this parable there is a willow tree. Branches are removed and distributed in foot-long rods to various people. After a time the Lord of the Willow Tree along with His servants return to gather the willow rods. They discover the willow rods to be in various states ranging from full bloom with fruit all the way to withered, cleft and dead, with gradations in between. In all there are twelve categories in that range. The Lord and His servants then separate the rods and send their stewards to one of three locations. There is a Tower, surrounding walls, and then a place of ultimate separation. The first rod bearers to enter the tower are those whose rods sprouted branches and fruit, followed by those whose rods sprouted branches with no fruit, and those whose rods were green, but without branches. These enter the Tower first. The remaining rods range from partially green to entirely dead. They are then planted in a plot of land, the plot is flooded, and after a time the rods are removed. A few have healed, turned green, sprouted buds, and are allowed to enter the Tower. Others are green and can enter the area of the first walls. Yet others have rotted and cleft, so these are eventually cast out. This Parable mirrors the LDS doctrine of the Plan of Salvation with Three Degrees of Glory replete with Temple imagery (the Tower) as the destination, three categories within the Tower, a "second" chance repentence with water immersion imagery from which many qualify for entry into the Tower but others with entry into the first walls. Finally others who are rebellious are without the first walls or cast off.
However, what interests me most at this moment is the interpretation that The Lord offers of this willow tree. Similitude VIII: 22-26:
22: I said unto him, Lord, tell me what this tree denotes? For I am greatly astonished, that after so many branches have been cut off, it seems still to be whole; nor does there any thing the less of it appear to remain, which greatly amazes me.
23: He answered me, Hearken. This great tree which covers the plains and the mountains, and all the earth, is the law of God, published throughout the whole world.
24: Now this law is the Son of God, who is preached to all the ends of the earth. The people that stand under its shadow, are those which have heard his preaching, and believed.
25: The great and venerable angel which you saw, was Michael, who has the power over his people, and governs them. For he has planted the law in the hearts of those who have believed: and therefore he visits them to whom he has given the law, to see if they have kept it.
26: And he examines every one's rod; and of those, many that are weakened: for those rods are the law of the Lord. Then he discerns all those who have not kept the law, knowing the place of every one of them.
Follow the teachings:
1) The Willow is the Law of God.
2) This Law of God is The Son of God.
3) Everyone who received a willow rod and held onto it received The Law of God, but not all kept it via the commandments in their hearts.
Now examine these passages from The Book of Mormon,
Third Nephi, Chapter 15:7-12
7: And because I said unto you that old things have passed away, I do not destroy that which hath been spoken concerning things which are to come.
8: For behold, the covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me.
9: Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.
10: Behold, I have given unto you the commandments; therefore keep my commandments. And this is the law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me.
11: And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he said unto those twelve whom he had chosen:
12: Ye are my disciples; and ye are a a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph.
Third Nephi, Chapter 18:24
24: Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up--that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.
What we see in this passages from The Savior's ministry among His covenant people in ancient America are the following points;
1) Jesus is the Law that replaces the Law given to Moses.
2) Jesus, The Son of God, is both the Law and the Light.
3) We are to hold up the Light, meaning Jesus, referring to His works, in particular praying unto The Father as He did.
The parallels are astounding. I will round out my points with this. Third Nephi records the teaching that Jesus, The Son of God, is the Law, and Third Nephi purports to have been written after the death, resurrection, ascension to heaven, and visitation of Jesus Christ to America, the Western Hemisphere. The Shepherd of Hermas contains the teaching that Jesus, The Son of God, is the Law. The Shepherd of Hermas was written sometime between AD 70 and 140, again, after the death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven of Jesus Christ.
The reader is free to see these correspondences as random, coincidental, insignificant though interesting, or perhaps inspired or even divinely manifest. Whatever conclusion the reader takes and whatever significance the reader ascribes to these, please bear in mind one thing: They passages under scrutiny are actually textual.
One last tidbit: In Genesis Chapter 1 we read the following about the creation.
Day 1: The Light appears (Jehovah, The Son of God)
Second Day: The Firmament in the heaven is made.
Third Day: The waters are gathered, the ground emerges and dries, and the flora are planted and thrive, all under the Light of Day 1.
Fourth Day: The Sun, Moon and Stars shine through the atmosphere.
Fifth Day: The Fauna are placed and thrive on the earth.
Sixth Day: Adam and Eve begin their lives on earth.
The solar "sun" was, for the ancient Hebrews, as well as the Egyptians, a symbol of resurrection, and for the Hebrews in particular, of the coming of The Lord among men:
Malachi 4:2
2: But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Bearing in mind that the rising of the sun represents the Resurrection of the Son including His advent among men, is it not interesting that in the G enesis account, an account whose details were rearranged anciently in order to emphasize the plan of salvation, in the Genesis account the "Sun" appears at the start of the fourth day? Why is that interesting? Well, the start of the fourth day was just after the middle point in creation, or as one might put it, in the meridian of time:
Moses 5:57
Fro they would not hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son, even him whom he declared should come in the meridian of time, who was prepared from before the foundations of the world.
So is it not interesting that Joseph Smith asserts that through divine manifestation anciently it was known that the Savior would come in the meridian of time, and that is what Moses appears to have presented the world in Genesis 1? Well, it's actually textual even if you take a different view. :-)
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