Allegories are powerful stories, useful for teaching because they make lofty or complicated concepts relatable and understandable. In its original context, Zenos’s allegory resonated with his Israelite audience because they were familiar and experienced with olive cultivation.11 Jacob’s audience probably would not have known as much about raising slow-growing and climate-sensitive olive trees, but they would have related to the allegory because they saw themselves as a branch of the house of Israel, broken off from the mother tree and placed in a far corner of the vineyard (Jacob 5:14).