Professor Julian Evans opens up a fascinating line of enquiry in Scripture
Since God’s Trees – Trees, Forests and Wood in the Bible was published two years ago by DayOne, there has been an unexpected consequence.
Not only has the book sold well and been reprinted, but numerous requests have been received for talks. In 2015 alone, 28 presentations were given to all sorts of groups – prayer breakfasts, ladies’ meetings, evangelistic and one-off church events, as might be expected, and surprisingly to non-church audiences too such as U3A, WI, science societies and forestry groups. The appeal seems to be the unusual perspective on how trees and wood in the Bible affirm Scripture and can enrich our understanding of the gospel. The talk is not dry botany, but takes seven contrasting topics on the tree theme; here we look briefly at three.
The tree Zacchaeus climbed
Only Luke’s Gospel records the conversion of Zacchaeus (Luke 19.1-10). We all know the story of how this diminutive, wealthy tax collector ran ahead to climb a tree as Jesus was coming that way and he wanted to see him. What Luke also tells us is the kind of tree Zacchaeus climbed, a syco-more-fig (Ficus sycomorus) – incidentally no relation to our familiar sycamore spelt with an ‘a’. Knowing this, that the tree was a syco-more-fig, enriches in two ways.
Firstly, sycomore-fig trees are common around Jericho. Indeed, they are widely distributed as a species and found in many parts of sub-tropical Africa. But secondly, and importantly, it underscores the care Luke took over his Gospel for even something as trivial as identifying the kind of tree. It is just the sort you’d expect to find in Jericho. Even today tourists are shown one claimed to be the tree he climbed!
Their presence in Jericho and the Jordan valley has another story. Twice in the Old Testament we read of individuals who tend sycomore-fig trees. Amos is the best known – he was a shepherd and he tended such trees (Amos 7.14). Part of what this involved was to help the figs sweeten by incising them and wiping with a little olive oil. The figs were not as good to eat as the common fig and needed this treatment to make them palatable. This was early autumn work and shepherds, who had brought their flocks down from the parched Judean highlands to find fresh pasture by the River Jordan, would climb up sycomore-figs to do this and perhaps cut off foliage as sheep fodder too. This would be a familiar sight in and around Jericho.
When Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus not only was he, a despised, wealthy citizen, demeaning himself, but by climbing a sycomore-fig he was identifying with what everyone knew lowly and equally despised shepherds did. Surely this added to the crowd’s ridicule, but so pressing was his desire to see Jesus nothing would stop him. If only more of us were as passionate to see and serve our Lord.
The bitter waters of Marah oasis
Just three days after the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea the Israelites complain about nothing to drink as the water at their first resting place is unfit. God shows Moses what to do – throw in a piece of wood (or tree). The water becomes drinkable (Exodus 15.25).
Commentators almost invariably skip this verse, but as someone writing specifically about trees and wood in the Bible I couldn’t. So is it an old wives’ tale or a myth in the sense of being questionable or just made up? I don’t think so. Thirty years ago I wrote my first book: it was about tropical plantations and I recall coming across an article published by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation about the tree that purified water. The tree is a moringa and several species occur in arid parts of North East Africa and the Middle East. Research when writing God’s Trees turned up both a leaflet by Germany’s overseas aid body (GTZ) recommending moringa seeds for village-scale water purification and a scientific paper comparing moringa seeds with alum for sewage treatment! So does this shed light on the curious verse in Exodus?
We know that in the desert of Shur, through which the Israelites journeyed away from the Red Sea, the moringa or ben-oil tree does occur, though today they are sparse. The species is Moringa peregrina. We also know that seeds of this tree when added to water cause impurities to settle out – to precipitate or flocculate. And when this happens some 98% of bacteria are removed too. But could this be the explanation of what God revealed to Moses, who had thousands of thirsty Israelites to satisfy? It might be: seeds from just one big tree are sufficient to purify about 30,000 litres (7,000 gallons) of dirty water and the process only takes about two hours.
It remains a miracle that Moses performed, and it remains a fact that there is a tree that would have been present that could have done the job. Our Bible is reliable in every detail; it is not awash with myths and old wives’ tales.
Christ’s crown of thorns
Israel is a dry country and there are many trees and shrubs that are prickly, spiny or thorny. We do not know which was used by the Roman soldiers who tore off twigs to fashion a crown to hurt and to mock the ‘King of the Jews’. The relics don’t help us; they are all of dubious authenticity and their long intact thorns are plainly wrong as Christ was repeatedly beaten around the head (Mark 15.19): the thorns would be broken and stained.
One candidate is a buckthorn, the Jerusalem thorn (Paliurus spina-Christi), as is suggested by its Latin name. Also known as the European Christ-thorn, it is still found in northern Israel and in New Testament times could well have been in and around Jerusalem amongst the scrubby oak of the Judean hills. Other suggestions include box-thorn, or the common thorny burnet, or even the idea that spines from the base of date palm fronds were used. The latter were readily available in Jerusalem and could have been woven around a headband to mock Christ’s divinity as well as his kingship, though it would not have been an instrument of torture.
The most plausible candidate is ‘Christ-thorn’ itself (Ziziphus spina-Christi), with its mix of upright thorns and recursive, bent-back ones. The tree can be found today around Jerusalem as well as throughout Galilee. Christ-thorn may also be the tree in Jotham’s fable, as the most likely meaning of the Hebrew word atad in Judges 9.14-15, and if it is what the soldiers twisted to inflict pain and bleeding then we have a twist indeed. Did the Romans collude with the Jewish leaders so that the only earthly crown Jesus wore was the very symbol of bad kingship in Judges and so heap yet one more humiliation and insult on our Saviour? Jesus the carpenter and country preacher would have known the tree well.
These examples, and the many other biblical mentions of trees, forests and wood, enrich our understanding of Scripture. As I say at the end of God’s Trees: ‘Appreciating better the trees we find in the Bible’s narrative has helped me appreciate better its far greater story.’
To contact Julian Evans to arrange a talk or find out more details visit www.godstrees.org.uk or phone 01256 381154
