Participating in the Tree of Life series: Plants of the Bible in historical context

This post is number 2 in a multi-part series on the Tree of Life.  This post addresses some important background information prior to looking at specific Bible passages relevant to the Tree of Life message.  Here is a link to the first post, which explains the purpose of this series.

As a formally trained botanist, I am keenly aware of the plant world that exists around us.  Everywhere I go my focus is drawn to the plants around me.  As a Christian, it is apparent to me by the frequency of inclusion of plants and plant parts throughout scripture, that much can be learned spiritually by understanding the typology and imagery of plants in the Bible.  The well-known 18^th century protestant theologian, Jonathan Edwards, believed this to be the case, as is evidenced by his thirteenth entry in Images or Shadows of Divine Things:

“Thus I believe the grass and other vegetables growing and flourishing, looking green and pleasant as it were, ripening, blossoming, and bearing fruit from the influences of the heavens, the rain and wind and light and heat of the sun, to be on purpose to represent the dependence of our spiritual welfare upon God’s gracious influences and the effusions of His holy spirit.  I am sure there are none of the types of the Old Testament are more lovely images of spiritual things.  And we find spiritual things very often compared to them in Scripture.”

One may ask why reference to plants would be utilized as a means to communicate spiritual truths.  The historical and cultural setting for the Old Testament involved early agrarian civilizations in the Middle East, in the region described as the Fertile Crescent.  Wheat and other grain crops (barley) underwent domestication in the Fertile Crescent, and early fruit crops were grown (dates, apples, grapes).

(Reference:  https://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6296/207)

Everyone alive in that age, and for generations to come, knew quite a bit about the lives of plants, by virtue of their active involvement in food production. Human survival depended on knowing how to tend crop plants. Consequently, the use of plants to explain aspects of our relationship to God made a lot of sense – these passages made use of universal knowledge. 

Let’s revisit Revelation 22: 1-3: 

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse. 

Is it immediately obvious to the reader the unusual nature of the fruit bearing described for the Tree of Life?  For some readers, probably so, but for many others, perhaps not.  Plants do not produce fruit every month.  Something different is clearly happening with the Tree of Life.  Consider that people of that era knew, by virtue of their routine work with crop plants, plants do not produce a crop of fruit every month.  This would be an unusual statement for anyone relying on their personal experience with fruit trees.  I like to think that this provides affirmation that this passage was recorded by John under the influence of the Holy Spirit, as he himself recorded in Revelation 1: 9-11: 

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches… 

A man writing out of his own thoughts would not have likely imagined a fruit tree producing fruit every month, as it belied his knowledge and experience.  Instead, we are given a message which distinguishes the Tree of Life from what is common to plant life on earth.  Why is this so? (more on this later) 

Modern civilization – and especially urban civilization – affords people the luxury to be disconnected from much of the work essential to human survival.  I’ve taught college students who have had almost no understanding of how their food is produced, and no understanding of agriculture, or even the basic functions of plants.  For example, I’ve had students who didn’t know that water is needed to germinate seeds, or to keep a plant alive, once it has germinated.  I’ve had students unable to visualize a potato plant or what part of the plant a potato grows from.  A general understanding of plants is sufficient to understand many of the truths communicated symbolically by plant-related Bible passages.  However, a more detailed understanding of plant form and function allows a greater insight into how God works in and through His body of believers.  Just to make sure all readers share a common baseline of knowledge about plant form and function, I’ll be providing an overview of relevant aspects of plant anatomy and physiology.  Understanding water in the life of a plant, and light in the life of a plant end up being essential to spiritual lessons conveyed through the Bible.  The next post or two will be covering some basic topics in plant biology.  Click here for the third post in this series.