When I was a kid, perhaps around 1950, my folks received a couple gifts from Scottish evangelist Gavin Hamilton who stayed with us when he came to speak at our small-town Baptist church: A KJV Bible with an olive wood cover and a bookmark decorated with dried and laminated Holy Land wildflowers.  He bought them on one of his trips to Israel—like thousands of Holy Land visitors still do.  Except that the bookmarks are now made up of pictures of wildflowers or significant plants mentioned in the Bible!  The nation’s wildflowers were being decimated by collectors.

Since that time, however, I’ve been fascinated with the natural history of the Holy Land—flowers, trees, birds, animals, and its geology.  So it was a great joy for me to have the opportunity to travel with RBC to Israel in 1997—my first trip.  Later when I joined the staff of Day of Discovery I was privileged to visit many more times.  The first time I went with a DOD crew, I pestered our guide, Jane, with constant questions about this or that plant.  Fortunately, Jane was also a volunteer at the Botanical Gardens of Jerusalem and could provide most of the answers. (Unfortunately the website of the gardens is pretty sad.)

Later when I was doing research at home I discovered many fascinating facts about the plants in Israel and the nations around it.  For instance, there is a sage plant (salvia; see photo above) that is shaped exactly like the Hebrew menorah.  Some have suggested that it was used as the model for the lampstand made for the tabernacle, but the design elements of it were actually spelled out by Jehovah, and the only natural forms mentioned were almond buds and blossoms.

For me gaining knowledge of the plants of the Bible has enriched my understanding of the Scriptures and increased my pleasure in reading them.  When natural elements of the lands of the Bible are mentioned, I now have a clear picture in my mind to accompany the words: mustard, broom, hyssop, olive and acacia trees, cedar, and so forth.

Dean in cedar of Lebanon

There is a great resource on the Internet that I use often that you might appreciate as well: Lytton Musselman’s Bible Plants site on the Old Dominion University website.  Lytton is a good friend of RBC and was the host of the final Day of Discovery program on the wonder of a tree. On his site you can usually find several pictures of each plant listed along with an in-depth commentary with Scripture references by Lytton.  Some of this commentary and many of his photos are also part of his informative reference book:  Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran. I keep it near my Bible since there is still a lot I’d like to learn about the plants of the Bible.

See you outdoors!

Dean