The Trees of God
Arbor Day—Last Friday in April (states may vary) The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground— trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9 When we start to talk about trees, usually some particular tree comes to our mind’s eye. It may be a special one from our childhood: some tree we loved to climb in, a tree we hung a swing from, a special one we built a treehouse in, one in whose bark we carved our initials and those of a sweetheart’s, or one that we fell out of and broke an arm like I did! The study of trees is one of the most exciting and insightful Bible studies you will ever undertake. Unfortunately, though, it is one of the many subjects that we seldom take the time to seriously delve into—or, dare I say, climb into! However, once the veil has been lifted from our eyes concerning trees in God’s Word, we are overwhelmed with their prominence and significance throughout the whole of the Bible. There are some 350 references to trees in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Literally from the first page to the last page of the Bible—Genesis 1 to Revelation 22—trees are used to communicate great spiritual truths to us. They are some of God’s most beautiful and graphic living parables of biblical principles! In Genesis, we read of God’s original garden called Eden. It was filled with “trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” In the midst of that garden there were two special trees: the “tree of life” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). The primal temptation was associated with that second tree. In 28
