Jacob 5:31 - 5:35

Jacob 5:31 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard did taste of the fruit, every sort according to its number. And the Lord of the vineyard said: Behold, this long time have we nourished this tree, and I have laid up unto myself against the season much fruit.

The fruit was tasted. The master said that over the years he had cared for this tree and it had produced a great quantity of good fruit that he had stored.

Jacob 5:32 But behold, this time it hath brought forth much fruit, and there is none of it which is good. And behold, there are all kinds of bad fruit; and it profiteth me nothing, notwithstanding all our labor; and now it grieveth me that I should lose this tree.

But now after tasting all the fruit, he found that it was all bad. He was frustrated because of all the work over the years in caring for the tree that it was now producing worthless fruit. He was thinking that it was maybe time to destroy the tree. [All sorts of fruit I think mean all sorts of religions or philosophies that men are living under instead of the gospel. It is like the indictment given by the Lord to Joseph Smith in the First Vision where He said that for they were all wrong; … all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that the professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. There are many organizations that think they are doing good, but because they are not organized under the pattern of the priesthood, they do not have the Lord’s sanction and are as a result going to fail even if they are trying to do good.

Jacob 5:33 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: What shall we do unto the tree, that I may preserve again good fruit thereof unto mine own self?

The master turns to his servant and asks what more could he have done to help the tree produce good fruit? [Interesting that the Lord would asked his servant this question. I think the Lord wants us to have input with Him. This given us a chance to tap our knowledge or emotions. We are not just mindless servants going only as we are told, but the Lord wants us to participate in the work so we can develop our God like attributes that are within all of us. This is a training exercise for the servant now. He has to start to use his own knowledge to think of what he would do if he were the master of the vineyard.]

Jacob 5:34 And the servant said unto his master: Behold, because thou didst graft in the branches of the wild olive tree they have nourished the roots, that they are alive and they have not perished; wherefore thou beholdest that they are yet good.

The servant says to the master that the branches whether original or grafted in have kept the roots alive and they appear to still be strong. [I think this means that even thought the religions have had a corrupt doctrines and false priesthoods, that they nevertheless have kept some semblance of the knowledge of Jesus Christ alive in the minds and hearts of the people. The roots is the gospel and it influence could go only to the point that the people would allow it. At this juncture, Jesus Christ is know and some of His mission understood, but the power to administer sacred ordinances was lost and revelation had stopped for a time.]

Jacob 5:35 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: The tree profiteth me nothing, and the roots thereof profit me nothing so long as it shall bring forth evil fruit.

Not withstanding how good the roots might be the fruit is not good and the tree as it stands is worthless.