‘Look at…all the trees’: Trees in the New Testament Gospels

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/].

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.

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,[1] while in his article “A Farewell to the Emmaus Road”[2] 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.

---

Notes

1. 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/].[↩]
2. David N. Bivin, “A Farewell to the Emmaus Road,” Jerusalem Perspective (2017) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/16208/].[↩]