Trees are a major theme in the Bible.
Close to the beginning, there were the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. At the end, there's the Tree of Life. The same Tree of Life? Maybe. Maybe not.
In between, a lot of trees. Here are a few:
Noah's ark was built from trees.
Moses had a staff, perhaps made from a tree.
Sacrifices were burned on wood.
David and Solomon had the builders use wood in the Temple, and in the palace.
Absalom was killed while hanging in a tree.
Psalm 1 compares a righteous person to a tree.
Zacchaeus climbed a tree.
Christ presented the Sermon on the Mount from a boat, presumably made of wood.
Boats played an important role in the New Testament. Jesus traveled on them, some of the apostles were fishermen, and Paul and co-workers made journeys in them.
Christ hung on a cross made of wood.
Why trees?
Probably several reasons.
There are a lot of them.
They are symbols of permanence. Living permanence, unlike that of rocks.
They are solid.
They provide housing for other plants, for animals, and for humans. For humans, the housing provided is usually after the death of the tree--they make excellent building materials.
They provide shade.
They have character. There are patterns in branches, in individual leaves, in bark, and in the grain, when it's exposed. No two trees are exactly alike in appearance.
They bear fruit.
They have flowers.
They can be climbed. We like to go higher. We like adventure. We like to see things we wouldn't otherwise see.
Their roots are anchoring systems.
They capture energy from the sun.
No doubt there are other reasons why God used them as symbols, and why they are prominent in scripture.
Taken from a post of February 4, 2005, from this blog. Thanks for reading.
I expect to post from MacDonald's Diary of an Old Soul tomorrow, but probably won't be able to post, or read blogs, much, if any, for about two weeks.
Musings on science, the Bible, and fantastic literature (and sometimes basketball and other stuff).
God speaks to us through the Bible and the findings of science, and we should listen to both types of revelation.
The title is from Psalm 84:11.
The Wikipedia is usually a pretty good reference. I mostly use the World English Bible (WEB), because it is public domain. I am grateful.
License
I have written an e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which is free to anyone. To download that book, in several formats, go here.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
1 comment:
I love trees! My husband is always wanting to cut some of the MANY we have in our yard, especially those around the house. I keep telling him that they provide for the oxygen in the air. He says they make a mess he has to clean up, and also are ruining our roof. I say, it takes years for a tree to grow, and I'm not into cutting those down. Let GOD and his weather get rid of those that are getting old. We'll keep the rest! :)
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