Elder Bruce R. McConkie said of the prophet Zenos, whose writings were once in the Old Testament, but have been taken away: “I do not think I overstate the matter when I say that next to Isaiah himself—who is the prototype, pattern, and model for all the prophets—there has not been a greater prophet than Zenos. And our knowledge of his inspired writings is limited to the quotations and paraphrasing summaries found in the Book of Mormon.”
Since the allegory outlines the history of the scattering and gathering of the house of Israel, it is only logical that it starts with the beginning. The house of Israel began about 1800 B.C., when the twelve sons of Jacob were living in Canaan. The allegory ends when the temporal existence of the earth is completed, or, in other words, at the end of the millennium.
A careful analysis of the allegory shows that it refers to seven time periods (see table 3—end of chapter). Two of these time periods are described as merely “a long time passed away” between the visits of the Lord and his servant to the vineyard (Jacob 5:15, 29). These seem easily identified. The first long time period would be about 400 years from the end of the Old Testament prophets to the time of the ministry of Jesus Christ, a period when no revelation was given to Israel. The second would be the great apostasy following the Savior’s ministry until the day of the restoration, another period when no revelation was given to Israel. The identification of the other five time periods is made easier by identifying these two. The five are: (1) from Jacob to Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets; (2) the ministry of Jesus Christ; (3) the restoration in 1820 to the millennium; (4) the millennium; and (5) the end of the earth.
The first period covers from about 1800–400 B.C. This is the time that Israel was scattered “upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations” (1 Nephi 22:3). The interpretation of Jacob 5:3–14 is drawn from the scriptures and history of this time.