From Psalm 1:
Blessed is he that walketh not in the counsel of the godless, nor treadeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers;
2 but delighteth in the law of the LORD, and pondereth his law, day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth his fruit in his season, and his leaf fadeth not away. And what he makes is well done.
2 but delighteth in the law of the LORD, and pondereth his law, day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth his fruit in his season, and his leaf fadeth not away. And what he makes is well done.
I see it in front of me, the tree, planted by a stream. With strong roots and hardy roots. It stretches many green leaves into the air, rustling softly in the wind.
So firmly anchored is a person who trusts in God. So strong, so at rest in himself. He is firmly grounded in the earth and yet reaches out to heaven. He belongs to the earth and longs for God. A man is like a tree, and a man who trusts in God is like a tree standing by water.
A beautiful image. And by no means the only one in which the Bible speaks of trees. Famous are the trees that God plants in paradise: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. God forbids the first two humans, Adam and Eve, to eat from these fruits. But they eat of it anyway, and God expels them from paradise. In pictures, you often see Adam and Eve eating an apple. Yet the Bible doesn't even say what fruit it was, it simply says: fruit. The apple was chosen because it is big enough to be easily painted on pictures. And because in Greek and Latin, the word for evil and for apple sound almost the same: malum and mallum. Eve and Adam do something evil when they eat the fruit - so the connection to the Latin word for apple is obvious.
Besides the Tree of Knowledge - the "apple tree" - there is a second tree in the Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve are not supposed to eat: the Tree of Life. The symbol of the Tree of Life is found in many religions. A tree lives much longer than a human being, some trees become over 1000 years old. And a tree can live almost forever through its saplings. In the Bible, in the Book of Job, it says: "A tree has hope even when it is cut down; it can shoot again, and its shoots do not fail. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the dust, yet it greeneth again with the smell of water, and putteth forth branches like a young plant. But if a man dies, he is gone." A tree lives on, a man must die. Therefore, the tree is the sign of life.
The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek. In both languages, no distinction is made between living "tree" and dead "wood". When the Bible says that Jesus died on a wooden cross, it is implied that this wood is also life. A hymn says, "Wood on Jesus' shoulders, cursed by the world, became the tree of life, bearing good fruit." From the dead comes new life; indeed, death and life are connected. We Christians believe in this and rejoice in every tree that reminds us of life.