More tree and shepherd/flock symbolism

In this post, I proposed that Nephi made a connection to his forefather Joseph's patriarchical blessing when he talked about the gathering of Israel. He makes this connection through tree and shepherd/flock symbolism and alludes to the temple. These are common symbols in both the Book of Mormon and the Bible, especially related to the scattering/gathering of Israel and sometimes also the temple.

Tree symbolism has been discussed extensively on this blog. I wanted to start exploring shepherd/flock symbolism but first I wanted to look at another couple of examples where both symbols are used together.

Consider this post about Alma 5, where I pointed out parallelism involving these two symbols. The sermon also has an overarching temple theme. For instance, according to this article:

Alma compared having God’s image engraved upon oneself to having “a pure heart and clean hands” (Alma 5:19)—a phrase that comes from a temple entry psalm (Psalm 24:4). This psalm was meant to assess a person’s worthiness to pass through the gates of the temple and thereby enter into the presence of God. Thus, Alma taught that the righteous who enter into God’s presence will have God’s image engraved upon their countenance. In other words, they “shall be like him” (1 John 3:2; Moroni 7:48)

This article gives further insight into the temple worship and covenant context of Alma 5. In other words, the covenant making and gathering that the temple provides is easily associated with partaking of the fruit of the tree of life, being grafted into the olive tree representing the House of Israel or gathering as a flock whose shepherd is Christ. On the other hand, as Alma also discusses in this chapter, being unclean and unrepentant is associated with being "hewn down and cast into the fire" (Alma 5:35) or having the devil as shepherd (Alma 5:39).

I noticed the same two symbols together in Habakkuk 3:17

17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Here the symbolism is used with a negative connotation. The prophet depicts the effect of a hostile invasion, i.e. the scattering of Israel. For the record, these prophecies are probably from the late 7th century BC, after the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, right before the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet, he says, he will rejoice in the Lord. He knows that Israel will be gathered again and trusts in the salvation through God.