“Divine Directives in Jacob 5”

This new Interpreter Foundation article went up online today: “Divine Council Directive Speech in Jacob 5: Collaborative Governance and Authorized Partnership in Zenos’s Allegory of the Olive Tree,” written by Stephen Kent Ehat, in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 68 (2026) : 157-206:

Abstract: Christ the Lord—the Lord of the vineyard or the Son acting in his stead—both fulfills his promises and authorizes his servants to share in the work of saving the vineyard. Building on Brant Gardner’s identification of promise/fulfillment pairs in Jacob 5, this study identifies a complementary literary-theological pattern of divine council directive speech acts. These imperatives and cohortatives (“Go and pluck,” “Come, let us go down,” “let us graft”) not only announce divine intention but they commission, consult with, and mobilize covenant agents. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern divine council traditions, speech-act theory, and covenant formulary studies, the paper argues that the allegory presents the plan of salvation as collaborative governance rather than unilateral decree. The Lord directs, delegates, and labors alongside his servants, expanding the gathering of Israel from prophetic mission to collective effort and culminating in shared success. Jacob 5 affirms both divine reliability and covenant partnership: trust the Promisor and join the work.

Brother Ehat’s article is accompanied online by “Interpreting Interpreter: Divine Directives in Jacob 5,” written by Kyler Rasmussen:

One complaint that I’ve heard from a couple of friends about our Becoming Brigham series has been that the episodes are too short.  They wanted more.

Let me address that complaint a bit, explaining our reasoning as to the length of the episodes: Our general impression is that many people, especially younger people, favor shorter online content.  (I should note that the complaints about our installments being too short have come, in every case, from people in their seventies.)  So we decided to go about as short as we could without altogether sacrificing substance — which is how we arrived at a length that will typically run between ten and fifteen minutes.  We think, on the whole, that it’s better to hear people wishing for more than to have them complaining that we went on too long.

If length and depth of treatment are desired, though — and I hope that people do want depth and substance! — folks should remember that our current plan is to create about seventy to seventy-five episodes of Becoming Brigham — which will come out, eventually and approximately, to between fourteen and nineteen total hours of documentary material.

Six episodes of Becoming Brigham are already out (and available here).  The seventh episode will appear on Monday.  Anybody who finds ten or fifteen minutes too little is certainly welcome to watch more than one installment at a time.  And, incidentally, we plan to post complete transcripts of all of the interviews that we’ve done (and that we continue to do) for the series.

I would like to remind you of an upcoming event and encourage you to mark your calendars for it.  It will be held on the Provo campus of Brigham Young University, regarding which further details will be forthcoming:

“For a Wise Purpose in Him”

“GOP Rep. Gonzales ending reelection bid after admitting to affair with late staffer”  Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas, a married father of six, had an affair with his married political aide Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who eventually drenched herself in gasoline and burned herself to death.  Since then, he has been under pressure to leave Congress, and he has finally given in to the pressure.

However, I’m not sure why, in today’s Republican Party, Mr. Gonzales’s affair should have been such big deal.

Years before becoming the Attorney General of Texas, in 2014, Ken Paxton was reprimanded and fined $1,000 by the Texas Securities Board for failing to register as an investment advisor.

Since assuming the office of Attorney General, Mr. Paxton has faced accusations of bribery, abuse of public trust, obstruction of justice, and fraud, resulting in a twenty-article impeachment by the Republican-led Texas House of Representatives on a vote of 121-23.  (Eight of his top aides had reported him to the FBI for abusing his office, which led to a whistleblower lawsuit that was ultimately settled for $3.3 million in taxpayer funds.)  Allegedly, Mr. Paxton used his office to benefit Nate Paul, a donor to his campaign, who in turn employed a woman with whom Paxton had an affair.  Mr. Paxton was acquitted by the Texas Senate, which failed to reach the 2/3 vote required for conviction.

Mr. Paxton was also indicted on three felony counts of securities fraud shortly after taking office, facing up to 99 years in prison.  However, he reached a plea deal in March 2024 to drop these charges by paying nearly $271,000 in restitution, performing a hundred hours of community service, and completing courses in legal ethics.  (He is, please recall, the Attorney General of Texas.)

In July 2025, Mr. Paxton’s wife, Texas state Senator Angela Paxton, sued him for divorce, citing adultery.

On Tuesday of this week, Mr. Paxton qualified by primary election to challenge incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX, a fairly traditional Reagan Republican type) in a run-off election for the Republican senatorial nomination.

As we’ve often been reminded in recent years, we’re not voting for choirboys or for a preacher or a pastor-in-chief.  We’re draining the swamp.  Making America great again.  So why all the fuss about poor Representative Gonzales?.

I close, as I often do, with some chilling reports — in this case, a solid quintet — that I’ve drawn from the effectively inexhaustible Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™:

• “Leading the Way: Following the Savior’s example, BYU-Pathway students are pioneering change that will bless generations”  This is the 2025 Annual Report for BYU-Pathway Worldwide, and it’s huge.  Decades of dedicated work by atheists and agnostics will be required to undo the damage reported here.  (Please see the summarizing graphic above.)
• “Church Hosts Luncheon to Distribute Giving Machine Funds in Nairobi, Kenya: Church Awards Checks to Charities Participating in Giving Machines Initiative in Nairobi, Kenya”
• “President Johnson Provides Relief in Eurasia: Relief Society leader ministers in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan”
• “How the Church Is Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the United States”
• “BYU at 150: The Language University: BYU teaches courses in more foreign languages than any college in America”