How to cite this article: Joshua N. Tilton, “‘Look at…all the trees’: Trees in the New Testament Gospels,” Jerusalem Perspective (2024) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28823/].
This article belongs to the collection Ashrech Ziqnati (Blessed Are You, My Old Age): Studies in Honor of David Bivin’s 85th Birthday.
Trees play a modest but nonetheless important role in the Gospels, both in the events of Jesus’ life and as illustrations in Jesus’ teachings. While it is all too easy to look past the individual trees in the Gospels in order to take in the theological “forest,” the author of Luke seems to indicate that each tree has intrinsic worth. That is why, uniquely in Luke, we hear Jesus recommend that his listeners look at all the trees (Luke 21:29). In this essay we will attempt to follow this advice literally by taking note of every species of tree mentioned or alluded to in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Tree Anatomy and Nomenclature
Before we begin identifying the varieties of trees mentioned in the Gospels, however, we will pause to survey the vocabulary associated with trees that occurs in the Gospels.
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This article is written in honor of David Bivin’s 85th birthday. In addition to promoting the study of the ancient languages Jesus spoke, the ancient Judaism Jesus practiced, and the ancient texts that bear witness to Jesus’ cultural surroundings in order to better understand the words and deeds of Jesus, David has also emphasized the need to become familiar with the physical environment Jesus inhabited. In his periodical, Jerusalem Perspective, David Bivin devoted a surprising amount of space to articles dealing with the ecology of the Gospels,[80] while in his article “A Farewell to the Emmaus Road”[81] David proved himself to be a passionate conservationist. I can therefore think of no better way to celebrate and honor the occasion of David’s 85th than to plant a tree in the land of Israel, which can be done through the Arbor Day Foundation by following this link: https://shop.arborday.org/trees-for-israel With a donation of $18 a tree can be planted in the forests of Israel in honor of David Bivin as an enduring and living monument to his lifetime of achievement. E-certificates can be sent to David at this e-mail address: david@jerusalemperspective.com.
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- [1] See Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, and Henry Stuart Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1968), 1191-1192. ↩
- [2] See Eduard Yechezkel Kutscher, A History of the Hebrew Language (ed. Raphael Kutscher; 2d ed.; Jerusalem: Magnes; Leiden: Brill, 1984), 140 §243. The translators of the Septuagint usually rendered עֵץ as ξύλον (see Elmar Camillo Dos Santos, An Expanded Hebrew Index for the Hatch-Redpath Concordance to the Septuagint [Jerusalem: Dugith, 1976], 159), which may reflect this development in the Hebrew language. ↩
- [3] See F. Nigel Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), 42. ↩
- [4] On the wood needed for the altar, see Shmuel Safrai, “Temple,” in The Jewish People in the First Century (2 vols.; CRINT I.1-2; ed. Shmuel Safrai and Menahem Stern; Amsterdam: Van Gorcum; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976), 2:865-907, esp. 882-883. ↩
- [5] See David Flusser, “‘The House of David’ on an Ossuary,” in his Jesus (3d ed.; Jerusalem: Magnes, 2001), 180-186, esp. 185. ↩
- [6] See Ben-Zion Rosenfeld, תולדות התיישבותן של שתי משפחות מהכהונה גדולה בימי הבית השני, מחקרים בגיאורגרפיה ההיסטורית יישובית של ארץ ישראל (2 vols.; ed. Yose Katz, Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, and Y. Kaniel; Jerusalem: Yad Yitzhaq ben Zvi, 1991), 2:206-218. An English translation of this article can be found on WholeStones.org. See Rosenfeld, “The History of the Resettlement of Two High Priestly Families in the Second Temple Period,” under the subheading “Bet Meqoshesh.” ↩
- [7] See Matt. 26:47, 55; Mark 14:43, 48; Luke 22:52. Cf. Jos., J.W. 2:176, 326. ↩
- [8] See t. Men. 13:21; b. Pes. 57a. Cf. Jos., Ant. 20:181, 207. See also m. Mid. 1:2. ↩
- [9] According to Mark 6:8, however, the apostles were permitted to carry a staff. The contradiction is puzzling. It may be that the author of Mark wanted to portray the apostles as though they were about to enact a second exodus. According to Exodus, the Hebrew slaves were to eat the first Passover with their loins girded and their staff in hand. It is possible that the author of Mark wished to present the apostles wearing a Passover “uniform.” See David N. Bivin and Joshua N. Tilton, “Sending the Twelve: Conduct on the Road,” The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction (Jerusalem Perspective, 2016) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/14786/], Comment to L66. ↩
- [10] See Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24. ↩
- [11] See David N. Bivin and Joshua N. Tilton, “Yohanan the Immerser Demands Repentance,” The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction (Jerusalem Perspective, 2020) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/19843/], Comment to L17. ↩
- [12] Cf. Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 41. ↩
- [13] See Michael Zohary, Plants of the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 58. ↩
- [14] Translation according to Benedict Einarson and George K. K. Link, ed. and trans., Theophrastus: De Causis Plantarum (3 vols.; Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976-1990), 2:73-74. ↩
- [15] Translation according to Einarson and Link, Theophrastus: De Causis Plantarum, 2:81. ↩
- [16] See Jehuda Feliks, “Fig," Encyclopaedia Judaica (2d ed.; 22 vols.; ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik; Detroit: Macmillan, 2007), 7:18; Lytton John Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 55-57; Yoav Waisel and Azaria Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel (Tel Aviv: Yad Hahamisha, 1980), 40-41; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 58-59. ↩
- [17] See Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 56; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 40. ↩
- [18] See David N. Bivin and Joshua N. Tilton, “Fig Tree Parable,” The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction (Jerusalem Perspective, 2022) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/24966/]. Cf. R. Steven Notley, “The Season of Redemption,” Jerusalem Perspective (2002) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2003/]; idem, “Learn the Lesson of the Fig Tree,” in Jesus’ Last Week: Jerusalem Studies in the Synoptic Gospels 1 (ed. R. Steven Notley, Marc Turnage, and Brian Becker; JCP 11; Leiden, Brill, 2006), 107-120. ↩
- [19] See Asaph Goor, “The History of the Fig Tree in the Holy Land from Ancient Times to the Present Day,” Economic Bontany 19.2 (1965): 124-135, esp. 124. ↩
- [20] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 110. ↩
- [21] Goor (“The History of the Fig Tree in the Holy Land from Ancient Times to the Present Day,” 132) noted that the wood of fig trees was preferred for the fire on the altar since it produced abundant embers. See m. Tam. 2:3. ↩
- [22] Olive wood was not usually burned (see Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 106), and was prohibited as fuel for the fire on the altar (m. Tam. 2:3). ↩
- [23] See Jehuda Feliks, “Olive,” Encyclopaedia Judaica (2d ed.; 22 vols.; ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik; Detroit: Macmillan, 2007), 15:406-407; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 106-110; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 68-69; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 56-57. ↩
- [24] See Gustaf Dalman, Sacred Sites and Ways: Studies in the Topography of the Gospels (New York: Macmillan, 1935), 321. ↩
- [25] See Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (3d ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 191. ↩
- [26] See Shmuel Safrai, “Home and Family” in The Jewish People in the First Century (2 vols.; CRINT I.1-2; ed. Shmuel Safrai and Menahem Stern; Amsterdam: Van Gorcum; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976), 2:728-792, esp. 743. ↩
- [27] On olive oil as a foodstuff, see Y. Feliks, “Nutrition in Biblical Israel,” Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology 7 (1979): 2-9, esp. 4; Magen Broshi, “The Diet of Palestine in the Roman Period—Introductory Notes,” Israel Museum Journal 5 (1986): 41-56, esp. 44-45. ↩
- [28] See Asaph Goor, “The Place of the Olive in the Holy Land and its History Through the Ages,” Economic Botany 20.3 (1966): 223-243, esp. 225-226. ↩
- [29] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 106-107. ↩
- [30] See Feliks, “Olive,” 406; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 110. ↩
- [31] See Goor, “The Place of the Olive in the Holy Land and its History Through the Ages,” 226. ↩
- [32] See Goor, “The Place of the Olive in the Holy Land and its History Through the Ages,” 229. ↩
- [33] Jehuda Feliks, “Sycamore,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 19:347-348; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 130-131; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 44-45; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 68-69. ↩
- [34] See Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 68. ↩
- [35] See Feliks, “Sycamore,” 347; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 68. ↩
- [36] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 112; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 131. ↩
- [37] See Liddell, Scott, and Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, 1670. ↩
- [38] See Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 71. ↩
- [39] See Jehuda Feliks, “Mulberry,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 14:609. ↩
- [40] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 120. ↩
- [41] Cf. Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 130. ↩
- [42] See Feliks, “Sycamore,” 348. ↩
- [43] See Edwin Hatch and Henry A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (Including the Apocryphal Books) (3 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1897; repr., 2 vols.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983), 2:1301. ↩
- [44] See Jehuda Feliks, “Palm,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 15:602-603; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 48-50; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 74-75; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 60-61. ↩
- [45] See Asaph Goor, “The History of the Date through the Ages in the Holy Land,” Economic Botany 21.4 (1967): 320-340, esp. 333-334, and see p. 324-325 for earlier references to Greek authors. ↩
- [46] See Menahem Kister, “Words and Formulae in the Gospels in the Light of Hebrew and Aramaic Sources,” in The Sermon on the Mount and its Jewish Setting (ed. Serge Ruzer and Hans-Jürgen Becker; Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 60; Paris, 2005), 117-147, esp. 121. On the exclamation הוֹשַׁע נָא, see Menahem Kister, “Lexicographical Problems Early and Late,” Scripta Hierosolymitana 37 (1998): 244-263, esp. 259-261; idem, “Words and Formulae in the Gospels in the Light of Hebrew and Aramaic Sources,” 120-122; Randall Buth, “The Riddle of Jesus’ Cry from the Cross: The Meaning of ηλι ηλι λαμα σαβαχθανι (Matthew 27:46) and the Literary Function of ελωι ελωι λειμα σαβαχθανι (Mark 15:34),” in The Language Environment of First-century Judaea: Jerusalem Studies in the Synoptic Gospels 2 (ed. Randall Buth and R. Steven Notley; JCP 26; Leiden: Brill, 2014), 395-421, esp. 407-408. ↩
- [47] Jehuda Feliks, “Jujube,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 11:573; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 136; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 124-125; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 154-155. ↩
- [48] See Gloria E. M. Suess, “Beating the (Thorny) Bushes,” Jerusalem Perspective 48 (1995): 16-21 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/1528/], esp. 19. ↩
- [49] See Feliks, “Jujube,” 11:573; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 136; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 154-155. ↩
- [50] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 39; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 124-125. ↩
- [51] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 38; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 157. ↩
- [52] See Jehuda Feliks, “Burning Bush,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 4:297-298. ↩
- [53] See Jehuda Feliks, “Vine,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 20:536-537; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 65-70; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 74-75; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 60-61. ↩
- [54] David Flusser, “Do You Prefer New Wine?” Immanuel 9 (1997): 26-31. ↩
- [55] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 102. ↩
- [56] See Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (2d ed.; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1903; repr., Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2005), 435. ↩
- [57] See Jehuda Feliks, “Mixed Species,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 14:385-387, esp. 386, under the subheading “Mixing in the Vineyard.” See also Asaph Goor, “The History of the Grape-vine in the Holy Land,” Economic Botany 20.1 (1966): 46-64, esp. 55; idem, “The History of the Fig Tree in the Holy Land from Ancient Times to the Present Day,” 125. ↩
- [58] See Jehuda Feliks, “Mustard,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 14:704; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 94-96; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 93. ↩
- [59] See Jehuda Feliks, “Myrrh,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 14:709-710; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 96-98; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 200. ↩
- [60] See Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 200. ↩
- [61] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 138. ↩
- [62] See Joseph Klausner, “The Economy of Judea in the Period of the Second Temple,” in The World History of the Jewish People: The Herodian Period (ed. Michael Avi-Yonah; New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1975), 179-205, esp. 183. ↩
- [63] Tractate Semaḥot 2:7 (ed. Zlotnick, 3 [232]; ed. Higger, 105), on the other hand, refers to offering wine to the condemned (וּמַשְׁקִין אוֹתוֹ יַיִן כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יִצְטָעֵר), but makes no reference to frankincense. Strangely enough, in Zlotnick’s translation of Semaḥot 2:7 we read: “He should be given wine and frankincense to drink to dull his suffering.” ↩
- [64] See Flusser, Jesus, 229-230. ↩
- [65] See Jehuda Feliks, “Frankincense,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 17:212-213; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 59-61; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 197. ↩
- [66] See Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 59; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 197. ↩
- [67] See Shmuel Safrai, “Zechariah’s Prestigious Task,” Jerusalem Perspective 18 (1989):1, 4 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2326/]. ↩
- [68] See Jehuda Feliks, “Carob,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 4:492; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 33-36; Waisel and Alon, Trees of the Land of Israel, 26-27; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 63. ↩
- [69] Feliks, “Carob,” 4:492. ↩
- [70] On Hanina ben Dosa and other early ḥasidim, see Shmuel Safrai, “Jesus and the Hasidim,” Jerusalem Perspective 42/43/44 (1994): 3-22 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2685/]. ↩
- [71] Cf., e.g., H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible (9th ed.; London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1898 [orig. pub. 1867]), 360-362. ↩
- [72] See Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 63. ↩
- [73] See Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 54-55. ↩
- [74] See Jehuda Feliks, “Cedar,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 4:535; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 36-38; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 104-105. ↩
- [75] See Jehuda Feliks, “Oak,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, 15:357-358; Zohary, Plants of the Bible, 108-109; Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants, 104-106. ↩
- [76] See Flusser, Jesus, 51; Brad H. Young, Jesus and His Jewish Parables: Rediscovering the Roots of Jesus’ Teaching (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist, 1989), 238; idem, The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1998), 20; Peter J. Tomson, ‘If this be from Heaven…’ Jesus and the New Testament Authors in their Relationship to Judaism (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 142; R. Steven Notley and Ze’ev Safrai, Parables of the Sages: Jewish Wisdom from Jesus to Rav Ashi (Jerusalem: Carta, 2011), 305. ↩
- [77] Aesopic Fables of Babrius in Iambic Verse §36. For the text and translation of the fable, see Ben Edwin Perry, ed. and trans., Babrius and Phaedrus (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965), 50-51. ↩
- [78] See Avot de-Rabbi Natan, Version A, §41 (ed. Schechter, 131); cf. b. Taan. 20a. On familiarity with Aesop’s fables in ancient Jewish society, see Haim Schwarzbaum, “Talmudic-Midrashic Affinities in Some Aesopic Fables,” IV International Congress for Folk-Narrative Research in Athens (1.9-6.9 1964): Lectures and Reports (Athens, 1965): 466-483; idem, “משלי איסופוס ומשלי חז″ל” [“The Fables of Aesop and the Parables of the Sages”], Maḥanayim 112 (1967): 112-117 (an English translation of which appears at WholeStones.org [https://wholestones.org/blog/translations/aesops-fables-and-the-parables-of-the-sages/]). ↩
- [79] For a detailed discussion of this saying, see Joshua N. Tilton and David N. Bivin, “Narrow Gate,” The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction (Jerusalem Perspective, 2024) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28352/]. ↩
- [80] Such articles include: Gary Asperschlager, “Holy Land Postcard: Hula Valley Nature Reserve,” Jerusalem Perspective (2016) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/16254/]; Mendel Nun, “Fish and the Sea of Galilee,” Jerusalem Perspective 22 (1989): 8-9 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/4311/]; Gloria E. M. Suess, “Lilies of the Field,” Jerusalem Perspective 46/47 (1994): 18-23 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/1584/]; idem, “Beating the (Thorny) Bushes,” Jerusalem Perspective 48 (1995): 16-21 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/1528/]; idem, “Enemies of the Harvest,” Jerusalem Perspective 53 (1997): 18-23 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/1496/]; Beth Uval, “Reading the Landscape: Neot Kedumim, the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel,” Jerusalem Perspective 49 (1995): 18-21 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2742/]; and my own “Chickens and the Cultural Context of the Gospels,” Jerusalem Perspective (2014) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/12933/]. Also of note are the beautiful illustrations by Liz McLeod that adorned the following JP articles: David N. Bivin, “A Body, Vultures and the Son of Man (Luke 17:37),” Jerusalem Perspective 37 (1992): 2, 18-19 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/3962/]; Randall Buth, “That Small-fry Herod Antipas, or When a Fox Is Not a Fox,” Jerusalem Perspective 40 (1993): 7-9, 14 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2667/]. ↩
- [81] David N. Bivin, “A Farewell to the Emmaus Road,” Jerusalem Perspective (2017) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/16208/]. ↩
