Trees & Shrubs of the Land

Trees are very important to any country's economy. They affect climate and prevent soil erosion, quite apart from their practical uses. Before industrialization, people depended on trees for food and shelter, fuel and most building projects. In Solomom's day the wealth of Lebanon lay in its great forests of cedar and other valuable woods. Some of the more important trees for the people of the Bible are mentioned on this page.

Almond
The almond was the first fruit-tree to blossom in Israel, sometimes as early as January. As well as being a fovorite food, the nut also produced oil. The most famous Bible reference is Aaron's almond rod which flowered and produced fruit overnight.
Numbers 17:8

Fig and Sycomore fig
The fig was an important fruit in Bible times. The ideal of peace and prosperity was summed up as 'everyone able to sit down under his own vine and fig-tree'. Figs are slow-growing trees, bearing fruit for about ten months of the year. The large leaves make useful wrappings. Cakes of dried figs made excellent food - compact 'iron rations' which were easy to carry. Amos the herdsman and prophet also 'took care of fig-trees'. The tree Zacchaeus climbed to get a better view of Jesus was a sycomore - another kind of fig-tree.
Amos 7:14; Luke 19:4

Olive
One of the main tree=crops of ancient Israel. The berries were harvested in about November, by shaking or beating the branches with poles. Some olives were eaten pickled, but most were taken in baskets to the presses, where the valuable oil was crushed out. Olive oil was used for cooking, as fuel for lamps, and as a soothing lotion for the skin. In ancient Israel it was also used to anoint kings and priests. It was the way a person was set apart for special work. The trees themselves can live to an age of several hundred years. The wood can also be carved and polished for fine work, as in Solomon's temple.
Deuteronomy 24:20; Ju8dges 9:8; 1 Kings 17:12-16; 1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Kings 6:23

Cedar
The beautiful, giant cedar of Lebanon, which once grew in great forests. Although the cedar is still the national symbol of Lebanon only a few of these trees remain, high in the mountains. In Solomon's day King Hiram of Tyre exported vast quantities of cedar. The wood is a warm red color, and long lasting. It could be carved and decorated, and was used to panel Solomon's temple and palace.
1 Kings 6:15-7:12

Pomegranate
Scarlet flowers contrast with deep green leaves on this large shrup. The yellowy-brown edible fruits are the size of an orange. Inside the hard rind is a juicy pulp, full of seeds. The shape was copied in embroidery round the edge of the high priest's robe, and carved on the pillars in Solomon's temple.
Exodus 28:33; 1 Kings 7:20

Vine
A trailing shrub producing grapes, one of the most important of all fruit-crops. Moses' spies brought back huge clusters of grapes as a sign of the riches of the Promised Land. Vines were planted in rows in carefully prepared vineyards on the sunny hill slopes. Each spring the vines were pruned, and as the grapes ripened the owner kept a sharp look-out for intruders - animal or human - from a special watch-tower. At harvest time the grapes were picked and taken to be trodden out at the winepress. Some were also made into raisin-cakes. The fermenting wine was stored in new skins or pottery jars to mature. the vine was a national emblem in Israel, a symbol of peace and prosperity. Jesus used it in five of His parables, and described himself as the true vine on which the branches (His followers) depend.
Numbers 13:20, 24; Matthew 9:17; 20:1-6; 21:28-32, 33; Luke 13:6-9; John 15:1

Plants of the Land
Trees & Shrubs of the Land
Changes of the Land

Structures of the Land Climate of the Land Vegetation of the Land Resources of the Land Regions of the Land