2013
Take My Yoke upon You
September 2013

“Take My Yoke upon You,” Ensign, Sept. 2013, 22–23

Take My Yoke upon You

A useful tool for harnessing animals became a central image in the Savior’s invitation to come unto Him.

Take My Yoke upon You

Photograph © iStockphoto.com/wbritten; title background © PhotoSpin; Christ’s Image, by Heinrich Hofmann, courtesy of C. Harrison Conroy Co.

A Double Yoke

Purpose: To harness a pair of animals so that they can drag a load together as efficiently as possible. Used especially with oxen for plowing soil.

How it’s made: A beam carved from a single piece of wood is fitted to a particular ox’s shoulders, maximizing comfort and pulling force. The strap or bow around the neck is attached to pegs to secure the yoke. The hitch point connects the yoke to what’s being pulled.

How it works: The beam rests in front of the shoulder hump (or withers), distributing weight and enabling natural and comfortable movement. Custom fitting each side allows oxen of unequal size or strength to pull together without one being dragged by the other.

Yoke beam

Pegs

Strap or bow

Hitch point and pole ring

Oxen

What We Can Learn

A yoke is:

  • Designed to carry burdens. Why drag the heavy weight of sin around? (see Isaiah 5:18). When we repent and come unto the Savior, He takes that burden away and gives us peace and healing.

  • Intended to help get work done. With the Lord’s yoke, we can help do His work (see Moses 1:39), and He will work with us (see Jacob 5:72). It’s still work, but in it we find rest to our souls.

  • Custom fitted. It’s His yoke we take upon us—the one best suited for us, because His ways help us live in harmony with our true nature, “the nature of happiness” (Alma 41:11), and because the Savior knows us and can succor us individually (see Alma 7:12).