Jacob 5

Jacob 5 is "the very long vineyard" chapter as my kids call it.  It is when Jacob quotes Zenos' allegory of the tame and wild olive trees.  Zenos is a prophet that we only know through what other prophets say about him.  It would be interesting to know what other things he wrote. As for this allegory it is about Israel and the gentiles and the scattering and gathering of Israel as it says in the synopsis at the beginning of the chapter.

It is kind of fun to see what I can recognize within the allegory, for example, verses 19 through 25 the Lord of the vineyard visits the natural branches of the tree which have been plucked off and replanted elsewhere in the vineyard.  A few that he planted in poor spots of ground have flourished and brought forth good fruit, but the one he planted in a good spot of ground has brought forth fruit of which half is good and half is wild.  Who does that sound like?  To me is sounds like the promised land and the Nephites and Lamanites.  Later, in the chapter it says of this particular branch:

"...this...I did plant in a good spot of ground; yea, even that which was choice unto me above all other parts of the land of my vineyard.  And thou beholdest that I also cut down that which cumbered this spot of ground, that I might plant this tree in the stead thereof."

Kimball, who was looking bored to tears as we read this in family scripture reading did perk up a bit as we tried to decipher what was being said.  He recognized that the Jaredites had been brought to the promised land before Lehi's family, but had killed themselves off through war.  In fact, I found a footnote reference that took me to the Book of Mormon chapter about the Jaredites that I feel helped me understand some things in Jacob 5 better.  I read the first half of Ether 13.  The footnote I found was under Jacob 5:63 and only referenced verses 10-12, but I understood much better when I went back and started at verse 1.  (So if you are having trouble understanding, I recommend reading Ether 13:1-13.)  I was seeking to understand the whole "and the last shall be first and the first shall be last" thing that is mentioned so often in the scriptures.  I don't know if anyone else has scriptural concepts that they feel they have to learn over and over again, but this is one of those for me.  I'll read the scriptures and think that I get it, but then next time I come across those words in a different context, the meaning becomes hazy.  In verse 63 it says:

"Graft in the branches; begin at the last that they may be first and that the first maybe last..."

Then, Ether 13:11-12 says:

"And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries, and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father, Abraham.  And when these things come, bringeth to pass the scripture which saith, there are they who were first, who shall be last; and there are they who were last who shall be first."

That reference really does answer the question, but like I said, if it seems as clear as mud, start in Ether 13:1.