Tag Archives: Exodus 15:27

Fruit and Nuts – Date Palms and Israel

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This post has grown from my repeat reading of Psalms and Isaiah. Dates and especially palm trees are mentioned with several important places and practices in Israel. Please, do not get your metaphorical hackles raised because of my choosing Israel as the ‘nuts’ in this post; it is not about all of the Children of Jacob.

Once again, I am telling on myself. I was comfortable with the level of study I had done on dates; can’t say Father God was. So, with the Small Voice in my heart, I dived into the subject like I should have done at first.

The Fruit – Dates and the Palm Trees

  • The Hebrew words connected with palms are Strong’s H8558 to H8561. H8558 is the main root word, more on that later.
  • Dates as consumable food is mentioned twice in the Bible and the references tell the same story. The occasion is when David brought the Ark of God to Jerusalem: 2 Samuel 6:19 and 1 Chronicles 16:3. He gave a date cake and a raisin cake to every man and woman who joined in the party. I would guess it was to make sure the people had food on the trip back to their houses. That act of concern reminds me of Jesus feeding the multitudes after teaching them in the wilderness. That had to be a lot of dates and raisins. Given the archeology and historical evidence, I find it unusual that there are not more references to them as food. Strong’s Hebrew: 829. אֶשְׁפָּר (eshpar) — Finger joint, knuckle date rolls or cakes. 2 Samuel 6:19 Hebrew Text Analysis men and women got a set.
  • In Song of Songs 7:7+8 it talks about palm trees and then it seems to switch to grape vines and clusters of grapes; actually, it is ‘clusters on the vine’. As I have looked at Hebrew words and their roots, the great imaginations that formed them are amazing.    Song of Solomon 7:8 Hebrew Text Analysis  Judean date palm – Wikipedia The fruit on the tree has a draping quality that could resemble a cluster of grapes hanging on a vine, the stem looks like a vine. You will need to find a picture of a date palm in fruit:) Many translations could be better because they just assumed it was grapes.
  • Tamar is the name of several women in the Bible. It comes from the palm tree’s quality of standing tall and erect. Find these women’s stories in the Bible, one is grandmother of Jesus.
  • There is an associated word that connects the upright quality of Palms to buildings. The art work in the Solomon’s Temple is rooted in this word. He put palm trees as decorations on the panels of the Temple, 1 King 7:36. Strong’s Hebrew: 8561. תִּמֹרִים (timorah) — Palm tree, column, pillar
  • Date and Palm Trees – Yes, there were other types of palms in the Levant, but the date palm was the most abundant, it seems okay to think of all references to palms as date palms. (Think H8558) Strong’s Hebrew: 8558. תָּמָר (tamar) — palm trees, palm, palm tree The first use of this word is the comforting oasis in Exodus 15:27 and Numbers 33:9; it was a green spot with flowing water in the middle of a sand-sea. The last use of this word is in Joel 1:12 where locusts are ravishing the land. That thought is a good segway into the ‘Nut’ portion of this post.
  • Jericho needs to added into the ‘first’ list for palms. Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world. The name places it as an oasis with palms trees. So, the Children met palms when they left Egypt and when they entered the Promise Land; a good place to compare and contrast for teaching purposes.
  • Branches from these trees are included in two customs in the Bible. With a connection to the oasis, the Festival of Booths (Day of Atonement) encourages the building of their booths using palm branches. The second custom is welcoming the king by laying down palm branches in his path, that would include David and Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem. A practical aspect here is to cut down on dust.
  • Isaiah 9:14 uses palm branches as a metaphor for the elders and prominent men of Judah, the ‘head of society’; while the false prophets are portrayed as reeds or the tail of society for teaching lies.

BibleGateway – Keyword Search: palm

The Nuts – Israel

This “nut” was not picked lightly and has been hard for me to crack. To break this one open and see the meat inside has proven difficult. I will extend the metaphor a little further; part of any nut is not edible, but even the non-edible part can be useful. The Father has always reserved part of Abraham and Sarah’s children for Himself, even as most of them fell from the faith-tree that this couple planted and rolled after other gods. Spiritual Israel this might be a good time to check your stock in this family tree.

Israel started out as Jacob and the use of both names needs to be considered as part of any lesson where both appears. Many will break them apart as a function of history, but it is a good time to “be still and know God”. As northern Israel and southern Judah cracked apart, they still shared the rootstock of Jacob/Israel, so, look a little deeper.

I picked these talking points from the withered, dead nuts that choose to drop from the faith-tree. You may have others or even call them something different, I am okay with that. Were they the root problem or the bad fruit? I may think about that for a while.

  • Eye Candy – This problem showed up as Israel camped under the Cloud in front of Mt. Sinai and reappeared in Judges all the way through to the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles. The People wanted a god they could see and party around; the nations that surrounded them had idols, a physical thing they could touch, kiss, and make. Psalm 106 (a historical psalm) is a good reference, but they are mentioned in many Books of the Old Testament. Psalm 106:19,20 talks about the golden calf and verses 35 to 39 add references to continued unfaithfulness by making gods.
  • Prostitution – Along with the ‘eye candy’ came burning incense and sex. It may have been in the high places, sacred groves and gardens, or pagan temples, male and female prostitutes were part of demon worship; they even made it in to the Temple in Jerusalem under some of the bad kings. Judah, son of Jacob, worshipped with a shrine prostitute, or so he thought in Genesis 38:13; it was Tamar his daughter-in-law (you still need to find the others). Isaiah 2:6-8 and 65:1-12 also talk about this prostitution. Christians like to spiritualize this subject, and Father God also accuses Israel of spiritual prostitution. Unfortunately, some churches and denominations have placed worldly agends over Jesus’ Resurrection and the work of the Holy Spirit. Also see 2 Kings 17:9. John in the Book of Revelation quotes Jesus confronting this problem in His church at Thyatira with a woman who claims to be important, Jezebel. I see no reason to believe that this was just a “spiritual prostitution”. Please, note that not all in that church were led astray.
  • Greed – Another topic that may not get a lot of pulpit-time. Did ancient Israel have a problem with greed? Yes, and with the rest of humanity God gave us the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20; the last few cover the subject very well. Jesus in Matthew 19:16-22 covers the topic again for us with the rich young ruler. If you need a reference in between those check out Isaiah 3:14-15 and read Proverbs, Solomon does talk about things connected to being greedy.

The relationship between Israel and God has had its problems, just read Kings and Chronicles. But they are God’s chosen people through Abraham and some always look to the Father; Elijah thought he was alone but God had 7,000 that had not worshipped Baal, the servant girl who bragged on Him to Naaman, Nehemiah and Ezra, Esther, and the Prophets, the list is long. The seven Christian churches in Revelation tell a very similar story; some had problems, some did not. There is good inside that hard outer shell.

Jacob/Israel and his family are this study. I try to study this name change and how it is used many times in Scripture, when it shows up in another study. This time, I found connecting words and stories in Genesis 32:22-31 and Hosea 12:3. I found the words in these two passages very interesting.