Sometimes I pester my botanist friend Lytton Musselman when we are in the field by asking him to tell me the common name of the plant he’s examining. He typically says, “I don’t know; all I need to know is its scientific name. Besides, common names are often misleading, if not totally wrong.” That fact, I learned, is especially true in reference to trees.  Today’s nature post on tree misnomers is found on the “Ambling” page of the WOC site.

One of the highlights of my travels with RBC’s Day of Discovery team was the opportunity I had to visit one of the few groves of old cedars left in Lebanon: The Cedars of God.

'The Cedars of Lebanon' by Edward Lear, British. Oil, 1862.

As it is with valuable trees everywhere, our human stewardship of the biblically honored “cedars of Lebanon” has often been disgraceful. They were so valuable in ancient times that even by the time of Christ they were badly depleted. In the second century, the Roman emperor Hadrian placed a ban on cutting them—except, of course, for imperial Roman use! Reforestation has happened sporadically since that time. Modern industrial times took a great toll on them, and they were again badly depleted by the middle of the 20th century.

Lytton Musselman

Dr. Lytton Musselman, chair of the botany department of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, has assisted in some of the latest rounds of reforestation in Lebanon. As a visiting professor at American University in Beirut in 2001, Lytton was the host of our Day of Discovery crew as we did our filming of the “The Wonder of a Tree” series. He appears in the final episode. Lytton is also the host and content provider of the “Bible Plants” Website at ODU. You can find the “Bible Plants” link in the right sidebar. Four years ago—after years of research and photo collection—his book on the plants of the Bible and the Koran was published. Titled Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran, it is a great asset to me in grasping the outdoors setting of each biblical account.

Since the Bible begins with unfallen man living in a Garden and ends with the redeemed saints living in a Garden City, and since, in between, the natural world plays such an important role in the biblical narratives, I find it curious that Christians typically do not seem very interested in the natural history of the Bible lands. Because I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to visit Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan with Day of Discovery, I’m fascinated with the natural world of the Bible.

About a year ago I picked up in a used-book store a wonderful old tome by Henry Van Dyke, the author of The Other Wiseman and The First Christmas Tree. He’s also the writer of the lyrics we sing to the music of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You.” This book is a chronicle of his own trip to Israel, Jordan, and Syria in 1907, and it is titled Out-Of-Doors In the Holy Land. In the preface he expresses what I have come to feel about the importance of the natural history of the lands of the Bible:

There are two things in the book which I would not have you miss: the first is the new conviction—new at least to me—that Christianity is an out-of-doors religion. From the birth in the grotto at Bethlehem (where Joseph and Mary took refuge because there was no room for them in the inn) to the crowning death on the hill of Calvary outside the city wall, all of its important events took place out-of-doors. Except the discourse in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, all of its great words, from the sermon on the mount to the last commission to the disciples, were spoken in the open air. How shall we understand it unless we carry it under the free sky and interpret it in the companionship with nature?

I’m sure, of course, that you and I have received most of our biblical instruction indoors—in our churches, and so forth—but because I have experienced the out-of-doors in the Holy Land and can still vividly recall its vistas, smell its odors, and even savor eating “St. Peter’s fish” on a table beside the Sea of Galilee, when I read the Bible today, it relates to me in a physical as well as a spiritual manner. One does not have to visit the lands of the Bible, however, to gain that perspective. Merely picturing Jesus as walking shoulder to shoulder with you through your favorite outdoor place will go a long way toward helping you grasp the reality that your Savior is also the Creator of much of what you love.

To me the capstone of honor given by a biblical author to the natural world is that great scene in Revelation 5 where the angels, the elders, and all the earth’s living creatures praise in unison the Lamb who was slain for our sin:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! (Revelation 5:11-13).

I’m a tree hugger. I have been from the first time I climbed one as a child. Some minor injuries, however, taught me that trees don’t always enjoy being hugged!

Red maple

How much respect does the Bible teach us to show for non-human expressions of God’s creation—such as the tree? Since the birth of the age of science, Western civilization has more or less thought of the elements of the material creation as little more than resources for human consumption. This attitude has helped create many crises within the natural environment. Deforestation and disregard for the forest ecosystem are just a couple of the many problems created by a purely utilitarian view of nature.

Certainly God made trees for our enjoyment and our use. And the Bible clearly puts people on a higher plane than other living things. But have we lost sight of God’s affection for field and forest, which must remain healthy and whole for our own health? Listen to the heart of the psalmist:

KEY SCRIPTURE:
[God] sends the springs into the valleys; they flow among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them the birds of the heavens have their home; they sing among the branches. He waters the hills from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man’s heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He planted, where the birds make their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. The high hills are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers. . . . O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions (Psalm 104:10-18,24).

White pine

The psalmist went on to exclaim, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works” (Ps. 104:31). David told us even more about God’s attitude toward His creation when he wrote, “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made. . . . The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made (Ps. 145:9,13 NIV). The book of Psalms ends with five songs that form a great musical crescendo of praise. We could assume that only people can give praise, but the Bible speaks of all nature giving praise to the Creator of the universe.

Bigleaf maple

Psalm 148 exults:”Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children (vv.7-12). From this we understand that God cares for, rejoices over, is good to, has compassion on, and loves what He has created. When we enter the woods or merely rest in the shade of a tree, do we sense God’s pleasure? Do we have the same experience our forefathers had when they were surrounded by God’s material creation?

In commenting on Psalm 148:9, the great English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote:

Fruit trees and forest trees, trees deciduous or evergreen, are equally full of benevolent design, and alike subserve some purpose of love; therefore, for all and by all, let the great Designer be praised. There are many species of cedar, but they all reveal the wisdom of their Maker. When kings fell them, that they may make beams for their palaces, they do but confess their obligation to the King of trees, and to the King of kings, whose trees they are. Varieties in the landscape are produced by the rising and falling of the soil, and by the many kinds of trees which adorn the land. Let all, and all alike, glorify their one Lord. When the trees clap their hands in the wind, or their leaves rustle in the gentle breath of Zephyr, they do to their best ability sing out unto the Lord (The Treasury Of David).

Madrone

When we walk into a forest, we are properly awed to be surrounded by all the other creatures God loves, cares for, and rejoices in. And they in turn praise Him merely by doing what He made them to do. Wherever His work is being faithfully carried out, wherever His will is honored and respected, wherever praise is flowing forth in honor of the Creator, there is indeed is a sacred place.

[RBC Ministries has two free resources that celebrate the wonder of a tree: a Day of Discovery TV series that can be viewed online and an online Discovery Series booklet from which today's post was taken.  Click on the links to give them a look-see.]

Edible seeds such as acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, and beechnuts are often referred to as mast. When these trees produce a crop larger than typical, foresters say they are “masting.”

Beechnuts

Masting among such trees happens every few years. The effect of it is to ensure that not all the seeds will be consumed by squirrels and other seed/nut eaters and allow the tree to reproduce. In the lean years, nut predators thin out, and while they’re gone, the trees take notice and drop a ton of seeds to ensure germination. So suggest the botanists.

Click on over to the Ambling page and amble along with me as I ramble on about this fascinating aspect of our Creator’s design for trees and their capacity to do the work He’s given them to do.