The Nephite Branch Will Be Restored

John W. Welch

The next morning, Jacob resumed his speech where he left off, by assuring his people that they are a "righteous branch" (9:53; 10:1). Zenos and Isaiah and Nephi had spoken about branches of the House of Israel, righteous or evil (for example, 1 Nephi 15:12; 19:24; 2 Nephi 14:2; 21). Jacob thus assured his audience: You too are a branch of that tree, and you still belong to that tree, and you will be grafted back in when their posterity comes to a knowledge of their Redeemer (10:3). They will be preserved. That image, of course, will reappear in Jacob 5, when Jacob recited to the people Zenos’s lengthy Allegory of the Olive Tree.

John W. Welch Notes

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