March 31, 2013
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Palm Trees are God’s Favorite
This Easter season I printed out Ann Voskamp’s “Trail to the Tree” Devotional. It is free on her site www.aholyexperience.com and I highly recommend it. I am a big fan of extending any holiday as long as possible, and this has 17 days. The first one begins with a tree. I mistakenly thought “Oh, how cool! All the trees in the Bible until that tree (cross).” The devotional, Trail to the Tree, does not do this. Which meant it needed to be done.
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Trees were created on the 4th day: right after the stars and before the fish. Two trees were so special they got capital names: one was called “Life” and the other “Knowledge of Good and Evil” (rather long, but still). These trees had powers in their fruit. Sounds like the beginning of a good story. Ehh, not so good. You know what happened.
Then trees were used for hiding. Hiding from God, hiding from nakedness. Not used for shade, for sustenance, but for cowardice. Leaves: the first underwear. Wasn’t our finest hour as humans. And so those two trees were guarded by an angel with a big sword, and not for us. But not forever: the tree of life returns…in heaven (Rev. 22:1-2).
Trees are cut and used to make sacrifices. Trees get cut and built into an ark. They were flooded but seeds survived. Then the father of nations, Abraham. He liked trees. Sitting under them, at least. And planting them (Gen. 21:33). I think that is a beautiful part of calling on God. Plant a tree first. Why aren’t there any sermons about that?
Jacob used trees to trick his uncle (Gen. 30:37), and all the trees of Egypt got stripped in the 10 plagues. For the Israelites, there were all kinds of rules regarding the trees when going into the promised land, and, of course, one out of every 10 pieces of fruit went to God. Does sharing with my sister count?
In Judges, a particularly mixed up and ugly part of Israel’s history, a bunch of brothers get killed by a half-brother and there is a parable about trees (Judges 9—I studied all the references for trees. I don’t know this off the top of my head). The first king of Israel also liked sitting under trees, and was then buried under one, after he lost his head (1 Sam. 31:13). King David’s son, Absalom, got his hair stuck in a tree and was dangling until he was stabbed to death (2 Sam. 18:9). Depressing.
Trees were used in decorating the temple Solomon built (1 Kings 6:32—palm trees, specifically), and will also be in the future temple in heaven (Eze. 41:18). Which leads me to the point: God’s favorite tree is the palm tree. So is mine. Palm trees are the specific type of tree mentioned most in the Bible. (Including as a sexual innuendo in Song of Solomon).
Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, trees are used as a symbol and physical reminder of God’s blessing and prosperity (Ps. 37:35), and the lack thereof, or removal of trees as a punishment (2 Kings 3:19). In Proverbs, four things are like a tree of life: wisdom (3:18), results of righteousness (11:30), hope fulfilled (13:12), and a healing tongue (15:4). Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that Daniel explained about a tree. Sad ending: it gets chopped down.
Then the New Testament and Jesus. He compares people to trees and our actions to their fruit (Matt. 7:17). Luke 13 has his story about a man who planted a fig tree: if there are no figs, what will he do? We find out what Jesus did to a non-fig fig tree: withered it (Mt. 21:9). I’d rather have the “move mountains” option rather than “tree withering” if given the choice with my faith.
There is the funny story of the trees that walked (Mt. 8:24), that always makes me wonder why Jesus had to heal him twice. In a traditional American folktale called “The Tale of the Three Trees” there are three trees cut down and made into a manger, a fishing boat, and a cross. As pretty as the tale is, the manger was probably made out of stone. But I will give you the other two.
Jesus was a carpenter during that whole “quiet time” of his life from age 12-30. He probably spent more time with trees than with people. Makes me wonder what he was thinking. “I am God…thou art a piece of wood…become a table!”
Galatians 3:13 makes it clear that you aren’t supposed to get yourself crucified. But there was a plan for this tree/hanging/crucifixion since before time began. And while I can’t call this quick review of the 200+ times the word “tree” is used in the Bible “Trail to the Tree,” this is following through to that culminating tree.
I pause, as scenes from “Passion of Christ” invariably come racing through my mind. I want to shut them out and skip to Sunday. But the trail to the tree hasn’t stopped. I am grafted into that “tree” (Rom. 11:24). And don’t forget, I’m still looking forward to meeting that tree called “Life.” Happy Easter and God bless!
