"We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention."
Jacob
chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon offers a detailed description of
practices regarding the cultivation of olive trees. Jacob explains
that the lengthy passage is taken from a Jewish text by Zenos that
was among the sacred writings available on the brass plates that Lehi
brought with him from Jerusalem.
Information
about olive trees in the text agrees well with what is known of
ancient olive cultivation in ways that seem far beyond what Joseph
Smith could have known.
While
Romans 11:13-26 refers to grafting of olive trees and has some
obvious parallels to the Book of Mormon, significant enough that a
common ancient source can be considered, his passage offers scant
information compared to the extensive and detailed information in
Jacob 5, the longest chapter in the Book of Mormon.
Excellent
discussion of the chapter is available from Brant
Gardner's Multidimensional Commentary for Jacob 5,
which includes an analysis of the links to Romans 11 and reasons why
Paul may have been referring to or influenced by another ancient
source that might have common roots with the writing of Zenos.
There
is so much that can be said about the impressive details of Jacob 5
that an entire book of scholarly analysis has been prepared: The
Allegory of the Olive Tree,
ed. Stephen D. Ricks and John W. Welch (Salt Lake City: FARMS and
Deseret Book, 1994), 624 pages, now one of many
books available online
at the
Maxwell Institute.
A
good place to start is Chapter 21, "Botanical
Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5"
by Wilford M. Hess, Daniel J. Fairbanks, John W. Welch, and Jonathan
K. Driggs, pp. 484-562, along with other chapters about ancient olive
practices and symbolism.
The
details in Jacob 5 appear to be a masterful and accurate
representation of ancient horticultural practices regarding olive
trees, including the art of grafting branches from one tree to
another, which is still common for those caring for olive trees.
[Jacob
5] purports to be the work of an ancient northern Israelite author,
living between 900-700 B.C., about olive growing. [Footnote 275
discusses the details leading to this conclusion.]
Almost
every detail it supplies about olive culture can be confirmed in four
classical authors whose authority on the subject can be traced back
to Syro-Palestine. Zenos's parable fits into the pattern of ancient
olive cultivation remarkably well. The placing of the villa above the
vineyards [Columella, Rei Rusticae I, 5,7] means that, when
the master gives instructions to his servants, they have to "go
down" into the vineyard (Jacob 5:15, 29, 38).
It
was also customary for the master of the vineyard to have several
servants (cf. Jacob 5:7,10-11,15-16, 20-21, 25-30, 33-35, 38, 41,
48-50, 57, 61-62,70-72,75). [Cato, De Agri Cultura 10; Varro,
Rerum Rusticarum I, 18.] When only one servant is mentioned in
Zenos's parable, the reference is most likely to the chief steward.
Likewise,
Zenos's mention of planting (Jacob 5:23-25, 52, 54), pruning (Jacob
5:11, 47, 76; 6:2), grafting (Jacob 5:8,9-10,17-18, 30, 34, 52,
54-57, 60, 63-65, 67-68), digging (Jacob 5:4, 27, 63-64), nourishing
(Jacob 5:4,12, 27, 28,58,71; 6:2), and dunging (Jacob 5:47, 64, 76),
as well as the fact that dunging occurs less frequently in the
parable than the nourishing, all mark it as an authentic ancient
work.
The
unexpected change of wild olive branches to tame ones (Jacob 5:17-18)
would have seemed a divine portent to our ancient authorities.
[Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum II, 3,1.]
Even
more striking, for Joseph Smith to have made up the parable from
these classical authors, he would have had to read all four:
Theophrastus is the only one to discuss the differences between wild
and tame olives, the tendency for wild olives to predominate, and
prophetic use of the olive tree as a sign.
[Romans
11:16-24 does mention wild and tame and grafting, but nothing about
the fruit or the purposes thereof. A casual reading of Paul leaves
the impression that it is as easy to be one way as the other.]
Varro
and Columella are the only ones to acknowledge the Phoenician
connections. Cato and Varro are the only ones who discuss the
servants' roles. Cato and Columella alone note the placement of the
villa above the groves; Varro is the only author to discuss the "main
top" in association with the "young and tender branches"
(cf. Jacob 5:6).
Yet
Joseph Smith probably did not have access to these works. And even if
he had, he could not read Latin and Greek in 1829. Theophrastus's
Historia Plantarum first published in English in 1916,
[Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants, trans. Arthur Hort
(London: Heinemann, 1916)] and no part of his De Causis Plantarum
was available in English until 1927 [Robert E. Dengler, ... Ph.D.
Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1927].
While
English translations of Cato, Varro, and Columella were available to
the British in 1803, 1800, and 1745 respectively [Thomas Owen, M.
Porcius Cato concerning Agriculture (London: White, 1803), ...],
it is hardly likely that they were widely circulated in rural New
York and Pennsylvania.
Joseph
Smith could have known nothing about olives from personal experience,
as they do not grow in Vermont and New York. Can it reasonably be
supposed that Joseph simply guessed right on so many details? And
even if he somehow managed to get the details from classical authors,
how did he know to put it into the proper Hebrew narrative form? [The
narrative of Zenos follows the Hebrew narrative pattern as laid down
by Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York:
Basic Books, 1981).]
Even
if Joseph Smith had somehow gathered the details of ancient olive
culture from someone who knew it intimately, he would still have had
no plot. [Zenos's plot is much more complicated than Paul's, and if
Joseph Smith is adding to the plot, it must be explained how he got
the extra details ... and made them fit in with ancient olive lore.]
Based
on the botanical and horticultural information present in the
archaeological and historical record, and reflected in Jacob 5, we
can conclude that the ancients were superb horticulturists and had a
profound understanding of vital biological and plant cultural
principles. Most of the botanical and horticultural principles in
Jacob 5 are sound and are very important for olive culture.
In
addition, the one or two points, according to our interpretation,
that represent unusual or anomalous circumstances are necessary
enhancements to the message of the allegory.
In
this single chapter of the Book of Mormon there are many detailed
horticultural practices and procedures that were not likely known by
an untrained person, and may not have been fully appreciated by
professional botanists or horticulturalists at the time the Book of
Mormon was translated.
Even
today, outside of olive-growing areas, professional horticulturalists
may not fully appreciate some of the unique aspects of olive culture.
Given the extensive detail about olive culture present in Jacob 5, we
must give Zenos much credit for a high degree of horticultural
knowledge, which many take for granted.
Examples
of what the ancients and Zenos evidently knew were how to prune, dig
about, dung, and nourish; how to graft tame to wild and wild to tame,
and how to graft tame back into tame; how to balance tops and roots
by pruning, and the reasons for doing this; how to save the roots of
trees whose branches had decayed, and how to transplant branches to
preserve the desired traits of good plants; how to preserve and store
fruit and how to distinguish between good and bad fruit; how well
plants grow on good and bad soil; how to care for trees to cause
young and tender branches to shoot forth; that they could graft wild
to tame to rejuvenate tame; that specific cultivars produced well in
certain areas; ... that they could burn an orchard to reestablish a
new one; that plants grown from seeds would not have desirable
characteristics; the importance of elimination of old wood and debris
by burning, and how to deal with pests and pathogens; how to prevent
heavy bearing one year and no bearing the next by proper pruning; the
necessity to plant more than one cultivar for pollination; and how to
propagate scions with the desirable genetic material.
Interestingly,
much of this sophisticated technology was probably lost in the
Nephite civilization, for the olive is not mentioned again in the
Book of Mormon after Jacob 5, an indication that the lands of the
Book of Mormon may not have been suitable for growing olives ...
The
only regions on the American continents with Mediterranean climates
where olive culture is economically feasible are the regions of
California, Chile, and Argentina.
Joseph
Smith probably knew how to prune, dig about, dung, and nourish local
fruit trees; he probably knew a little about grafting, and he may
have been familiar with some other horticultural principles, but not
likely those peculiarly related to olive culture.
For
online verification of olive culture principles from non-LDS
resources, consider "The
Secrets of Olive Trees"
from the archived version of BienManger.com, from which the following
excerpts are taken. That page verifies several concepts in Jacob 5,
such as the ability of olive trees to grow in rich and poor soils,
the importance of grafting, the ability to regenerate or rejuvenate a
decaying olive tree, and the practice of applying dung:
SOILS
The olive tree often grows on poor and dry soils, but gives remarkable
results on rich soils (California) or by irrigation (Spain and
Oranie)....
GRAFTING:
the propagation of a given variety of table olives is done by
grafting, except in special cases (cuttings, stump chips of the same
variety).
Depending
on what has to be grafted, the following techniques are being used:
For
the seedlings and the sprouts coming from stocks of a different
variety, you can use cleft grafting or budding.
In
the case of older trees, be it the grafting of wild olive trees or of
olive groves whose production is to be modified, it is advised to use
inarching or bark grafting....
REGENERATION:
It
may be necessary to rejuvenate an olive grove if it has not been
maintained for a long period or if it has suffered accidents, thus
becoming unable to produce a normal crop.
It
is sufficient to cut away all branches, except the largest ones and
then graft the remaining stumps. The grove should then bear a unique
variety of table olives and be able of bearing fruit in excellent
conditions.
A
trunk in very bad shape should be cut at the base in order to start
with three replacing shoots....
MANURE:
Although
manuring largely pays off, olive trees are still too rarely manured.
Manure should be organic, on a basis of dung or cattle cake.
When
possible, a culture of green fertilizers (vetch, lupin, etc.), mowed
at maturity and ploughed in, will complete the dressing of organic
matter....
Some
ancient olive trees in Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives date back
2000 years. When old large limbs are pruned on large aged olive
trees, new branches grow and a new olive crop grows....
The
leaves of olive trees are gray-green and are replaced at 2-3 year
intervals during the spring after new growth appears. Pruning yearly
and severely is very important to insure continued production. The
trees have the unproductive limbs removed, "so that it will be
more fruitful" John 15:2.
An
olive tree can grow to 50 feet with a limb spread of 30 feet, but
most growers will keep the tree pruned to 20 feet to assure maximum
production. New sprouts and trees will emerge from the olive tree
stump roots, even if the trees are cut down. Some olive trees are
believed to be over a thousand years old, and most will live to the
ripe old age of 500 years.
Olives
generally are beaten off trees with poles, harvested mechanically or
by shaking the fruit from the trees onto canvas. Most ripening olives
are removed from the trees after the majority of the fruit begins to
change in color. It is important to squeeze out the olive oil within
a day after harvesting or else fermentation or decline in flavor and
quality will occur.
The
olive oil can be consumed or used in cooking immediately after its
collection from the press. Olive oils are unique and distinct, each
brand of olive oil having its own character, as determined by many
factors, like those unique flavor differences found in fine wines.
Prepared
commercial olive oils can vary greatly in aroma, fruit flavor;
whether the taste is, flowery, nutty, delicate, or mild, and the
coloring of olive oil is quite variable....
Olive
trees can survive droughts and strong winds, and they grow well on
well drained soils up to a pH of 8.5 and the trees can tolerate salt
water conditions.
In
Europe, olive trees are normally fertilized every other year with an
organic fertilizer. Alternate bearing can be avoided by heavy pruning
and generally the trees respond to this very quickly and favorably.
Olive
trees should be purchased that have been vegetatively propagated or
grafted, because the seed grown trees will revert to a wild type that
yields small olives with an insipid taste. Olive trees are more
resistant to diseases and insects than any other fruit tree and,
therefore, are sprayed less than any other crop.
Other
olive-related resources are provided by the University
of Georgia
(note the discussion of soils, indicating that olive trees can grow
on soil too poor for ordinary cultivation, consistent with Jacob 5)
and the California
Rare Fruit Growers.
The
Book of Mormon does not say that the Nephites raised olives, however.
For more information on the issue of plants and animals in the Book
of Mormon, see my LDS
FAQ page
on that topic.
Jeff Lindsay has been defending the Church on the Internet since 1994, when he launched his
LDSFAQ website under JeffLindsay.com. He has also long been blogging about LDS matters on
the blog Mormanity (mormanity.blogspot.com). Jeff is a longtime resident of Appleton,
Wisconsin, who recently moved to Shanghai, China, with his wife, Kendra.
He works for an Asian corporation as head of intellectual property. Jeff and Kendra are the parents of 4 boys, 3 married and the the youngest on a mission.
He is a former innovation and IP consultant, a former professor, and former Corporate Patent
Strategist and Senior Research Fellow for a multinational corporation.
Jeff Lindsay, Cheryl Perkins and Mukund Karanjikar are authors of the book Conquering
Innovation Fatigue (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).
Jeff has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University and is a registered US
patent agent. He has more than 100 granted US patents and is author of numerous publications.
Jeff's hobbies include photography, amateur magic, writing, and Mandarin Chinese.