Trees are Lifesavers
Trees are lifesavers in the Bible.
Have you traced the trees in God’s redemptive program? Trees play a central role—you read that right—not a marginal role, but an active, central place in portraying humanity’s changing connection to the LORD God. In fact, as unlikely as it may sound, trees and humans are interconnected all the way through Scripture.[1]
In the very beginning, during creation of the Promised Land, we see intentional similarities between trees and humans. Trees sprout up out of the ground on the third day, and people come up out of the ground three days after that.[2] Both trees and people are to be fruitful and multiply. Both are said to carry seeds for purposes of reproduction and men and women are built in such a way[3] that the seeds of life are either nourished or stored.
In Genesis 2, the Garden is filled with an abundance of fruit trees exemplifying the bountiful provision of a loving, generous Father for his children, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman. Among those many fruit bearing trees, God also planted a tree of life. Adam was already very much alive. God had breathed life into him. But by eating the fruit from the tree of life, Adam and Eve were enabled to live life at a much higher level. They enjoyed eternal life, overcoming their natural mortality as humans.
But then, tragically, the trusting relationship changes at another tree,[4] when the man and woman are tempted to act in unbelief against that same loving and generous Father. The tree became a place of death.
After they fall into disobedience, Moses calls our attention to the hiding place they choose: the trees. And, finally, when the trial has ended and God hands down the sentences to the serpent, the woman and the man, once again a tree is mentioned. The man and woman are cast out of the Garden, and the road back to the tree of life is barred by cherubim, the same cherubim that later guard the Torah in the Ark of the Covenant, an Ark also made of trees.[5] Without access to that life giving tree, they are doomed to die.
The plot of God’s redemptive plan revealed in the Bible is how we as humans can regain access to the tree of life, access to eternal life, access to God’s presence, and once again enjoy fellowship with Him in Paradise. A tour guide would say: watch for the trees along the journey. Why? Trees are lifesavers, road signs providing hope for all travelers on the road of life.
Throughout the remaining journey of both the Old and New Testaments, trees are presented as places of death or of life, or sometimes, as both. In Deuteronomy 21:22-23, trees are places of punishment and death. In Galatians 3:13 Jesus turned a place of death into a place of life for us. Trees are lifesavers.
In describing Jesus’ death, both Peter and Paul explicitly state that He died on a tree.[6] Observe the statement Paul makes when he interprets Jesus’ death and addresses his fellow countrymen:
“When everything that had been written about him was brought to completion, they took him down from the TREE.” Acts 13: 13:29.
The human race first died at a tree (Gen 3) and fell under a curse. But the human race was given an opportunity for redemption and forgiveness at another tree where, by dying on a tree, Jesus took the curse upon himself. Trees are lifesavers.
And, equally true, like the fruit trees that came up out of the ground on the third day in the first creation, Jesus also came up out of the ground as the first human in a new creation on the third day. So, you can see that trees play a central role in monitoring the changing relationship of God and the human race. Trees are lifesavers.
Often in the biblical story, the analogy of the tree is hidden or unrecognized. A few examples of how trees are lifesavers might provide new eyes to your journey through Scripture.
Noah was saved from the waters of judgment and the flood by an ark made of trees.[7] So also infant Moses was saved from death by a tree. As a baby he was placed in a basket[8] made of reeds, a variation of a tree. Later, after their exodus from slavery in Egypt, the nation of Israel was saved from dying of thirst (after three days without water) when Moses placed a tree into bitter water. The tree changed the bitter water into sweet water. A tree was the means of salvation. Trees were lifesavers.[9]
And, trees were used by Rahab to save the two Jewish spies from certain death in Jericho. She covered the men with flax[10], another variation of a tree. Trees were lifesavers. There are countless more examples in both Old and New Testaments where trees are lifesavers, reminders that provide us with the hope of future glory.
So, we shouldn’t be surprised that John the apostle used trees to describe life in heaven:
“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7[11]
So, start your canonical journey through the Bible, keeping a sharp lookout for the various allusions to or explicit references to trees. Trees play a central role in our relationship to God. Trees are lifesavers from the very beginning all the way to the end. Watch for the trees.
Thank you for reading.
[1] See, for example, how the blessed man is portrayed as a tree in the reconstituted paradise of God in Psalm 1: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water which brings forth its fruit in its season.”
[2] Humans are made of the dust of the ground.
[3] Referring to the different ways men and women are built in terms of body parts.
[4] The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[5] Our English versions hide the Hebrew word, tree, and translate it as acacia wood.
[6] The Gospel accounts refer to Jesus’ death as occurring on a cross. This, of course, is true. But the word translated as “cross” originally meant a “stake,” a wooden (from a tree) pole upon which the guilty or condemned were punished or killed.
[7] Translated as “wood” but the Hebrew word is “tree.”
[8] Both Moses and Paul are basket cases.
[9] Exodus 15:22-27
[10] Used to make linen burial shrouds, such as the one used to wrap and bury Jesus’ body in the tomb. See the account in Joshua 2:6.
[11] Revelation 22:1-5.