Trees of Testing and People of Testing
Trees of Testing
Ever considered how much you are like a fruit tree? It’s no coincidence. It’s part of God’s redemptive purpose. Human beings are portrayed intentionally as fruit trees in Genesis 1-3. The biblical text shows that we share many similarities with fruit trees, though there are also many differences.[1]
Humans as Fruit Trees
Both humans and fruit trees arise from the same soil (Genesis 2:7, 9[2]), both bear fruit,[3] both are upright with extended arms, and both carry seeds[4] within themselves for self-perpetuation. And while I cannot develop this issue here, humans carry within themselves one organ with two parts which are shaped like “trees” for sustaining physical life.[5]
The biblical authors use the analogy of “humans as trees” as a unifying theme throughout the entire Bible. You’ll find them everywhere if you have learned to observe the biblical text through Inductive Bible Study.
Tree of Testing
One example of “humans as trees” can be traced in many stories. The LORD God made all kinds of trees sprout out of the ground that were pleasing to the eye and good for food (fruit trees, Gen 2:7). But one of the trees in the middle of the Garden was also good for food and pleasing to the eye (Gen 3:6). This particular tree was the forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and bad (Gen 2:17). Apparently, it was beautiful to look at and laden with delicious fruit. But this tree was also a tree of testing, a tree of temptation, and it was at this tree that Adam and Eve failed to trust God’s one and only command not to eat of its fruit. It was a tree of testing, a testing of faith.
But this is not the end of the story. Genesis 1-3 contains all the themes that the Bible emphasizes throughout the remainder of its long story. If you really know Genesis 1-3 from a canonical perspective, the rest of the Bible will fit together like hand and glove. All the dots will connect together for you. This is why knowing Genesis 1-3 in the Hebrew language is foundational for Bible teachers and church leaders.
People of Testing
Here’s one example of that canonical approach. There are additional trees of testing throughout the Biblical story. They are people who, just like fruit trees, are pleasing to the eye (beautiful). Those beautiful people create a test for those who look at them. They become people of testing like “trees of testing.”
Here is one easy example:
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, she was taken into his palace. Genesis 13:14-15
See the connection? Sarai was pleasing to the eye of Pharaoh. So, he took her into his palace just as Eve took the fruit from the forbidden tree into her mouth because it, too, was beautiful. Sarai was like a tree, a tree of testing.
But Sarai is not the only tree of testing. There are many people of testing, both male and female, in the biblical narratives. Can you locate them? God placed many other examples in Scripture of this “tree of testing” to help us understand that the testing and failure of Genesis 3 continues throughout human history.
And, finally, can you observe how the Gospel writers[6]--with Genesis 1-3 in mind--depict Jesus, facing his own trees of testing?
Humans as trees is just one thread (of many) that sews the fabric of Scripture together. Find a thread in Genesis 1-3 and follow it throughout the Bible. Trees of testing.
Thank you for reading.
[1] Only humans are made according to God’s image and are distinguished as male and female.
[2] The verbs describing how trees “sprouted” (2:7) and humans were “formed” (2:9) also share the same three consonants—no accident. They are intentionally linked together.
[3] To the humans, God said: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Genesis 1:28.
[4] For example: the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent are human beings. Genesis 3:15. Many English translations mask the original Hebrew word “seed” with “offspring” or “descendants.” But the word is “seed,” matching the fruit carrying seeds of the trees.
[5] Can you analyze your own human body and discover how God made human being with two internal “trees”?
[6] Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.