Resting In Him
May 16th, 2005, 06:16 PM
Nothing in God's word is without significance - not even the trees. This is a most amazing study which I thought I'd share. I know you will enjoy reading these unusual insights contained in this teaching. :):
In the Shadow of the Trees of Eden
The instigation of the Biblical record regarding God’s relationship with man begins in a setting in which we see two trees beside a river, and from the beginning to the end of the long course of redemptive history, the Bible then ends once again with two trees by a river (Revelation 22:2). Throughout the many pages in-between we see trees used as a persistent and profound metaphor woven into its’ narrative, defining the very purpose and providence of the kingdom of God.
The status quo of ignoring these trees in Eden, considering them to be too esoteric in their meaning, or comparing them to a simple Law / Grace analogy is inadequate! The tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” was not an androgynous participant in humanities fall from grace, as the patrons who dinned upon this cuisine were infected by an invasive and implacable ailment. Sin, we will contend, is not just the result of disobedience towards God’s command, but is a reflection of the nature and character of the one who knew good . . . only to choose evil. To understand the roles of these trees, we’ll first investigate the imagery of various trees throughout scripture. Once an appropriate overview is prepared, we’ll tender a paradigm of Eden’s trees and their roles in the sovereign plan and purposes of God.
Israel as a Tree
Exodus 15:17, describes the Jewish people as a garden God would plant in Israel, "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in", and this purpose of God is seen to persist in 2 Samuel 7:10, Isaiah 5:7, Jeremiah 24:6, 31:28 and 32:41. However, Israel falls into idolatry and fails in this divine objective, and is therefore branded as a fruitless fig tree (Jeremiah 8:13, Hosea 9:10-16, Joel 1:7) It’s possible that the fig tree is used in this comparison because Adam and Eve used fig leaves to attempt covering themselves (Genesis 3:7) after they fell in the garden. This association of Israel with this tree sheds light on Jesus’ cursing the tree in Bethany (Mat 21:19 & Mar 11:13), for as stated in the “Parable of the Fig Tree”, Jesus was “seeking fruit on this fig tree, and could find none” (Luke 13:7).
It’s also essential to point out that Jesus found the tax collector Zacchaeus in a sycamore-fig tree. This man would have been considered a traitor to other Israelites because he worked for the Roman government, and we can only speculate about how he was also rejected because of his small stature. Rejected, dwarfed and self serving, Zacchaeus perfectly represents the fruit of this tree Jesus found him in, the wayward children of Israel. He climbed the sycamore-fig tree only to see, but he didn’t realize that because of his exuberant heart he would be seen. Jesus reception of Zacchaeus demonstrated the fact that our dear savior was still patiently waiting on this fruit, the fruit of the fig tree.
People as Trees
It's amazing to observe how many times men are described as trees in passages like: Judges 9:10, Ezekiel 17:24, Zechariah 11:2, Luke 3:9, and Revelation 11:4. It makes you wonder if when the man healed of blindness in Mark 8, and at first saw men as trees in vs. 24, if he may have really seen more clearly than he should. We humans are body soul and spirit, and like a tree’s branches, our spirit reaches up to heaven, like a tree’s trunk our body is confined here to the earthly realm, and like a trees roots our soul . . . tainted by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, reaches down to the abyss.
We’re all trees in God’s eyes, which are requited to not only produce fruit, but good fruit. As John the Baptist pronounced beside the Jordan River, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). It’s not without reason that John would use this analogy here, as it’s probably the very same location where Elisha made the axe head float (2Kings 6:6). But the point of John’s words were to paint a striking contrast between the fruitful trees in vs. 10, with unfruitful trees who were destined for the pit of fire. Jesus also defined himself as a tree in his discourse on the true vine (John 15), and being connection to him is the crucial and only agency one requires to bearing fruit (John 15:5).
This realization that God clearly pictures us all as trees makes the promise of Jesus to the thief on the cross quite insightful! Could there possibly have been a more striking image of trees than this crucifixion account? Here we find three formidable trees contrasted with the arid Judean landscape, and Jesus offering this one man entrance into the “paradeisos”, or the “orchard of God”. This was the re-establishment of the Edenic paradise prophesy in Isaiah 51:3 and Ezekiel 36:35. Jesus was promising this man entrance back into Eden, and they would be the first two trees to re-populate its’ orchard!
Types of Trees
There are both good and bad trees defined in scripture, so we’ll start by defining the five good trees frequently refer to by the Bible.
1) The Oak Tree - Is a symbol of the sovereign rule of God as:
a) Joshua erects a tablet inscribed with the law of God under and oak tree (Joshua 24:26)
b) The angel that met with Gideon is found under an oak tree (Judges 6:11)
c) The Valley of Oaks is where David slew Goliath (I Samuel 21:9)
d) Absalom, the seditious son of David was suspended in the air by the branches of an oak, before he was killed by Joab who launched three spears into his heart – Could this a possible forerunner of Calvary? (2 Samuel 18:9)
2) The Palm Tree
a) The Palm tree provides us with an image of an oasis in a desert place (Exodus 15:27, Deuteronomy 34:3)
b) It’s a symbol of worship (Leviticus 23:40, John 12:13), and of the righteousness (Psalms 92:12, Jeremiah 10:5) as the judge Deborah dwelt under this tree (Judges 4:5)
c) And Palm Trees were incessantly carved into the walls (1Kings 6:29), doors (1Kings 6:32) and frames (1Kings 7:36) of the temple (Ezekiel 40 & 41)
3) The Hyssop Plant –
Its 3 cm stacked rows of blue/purple flowers and crossed leaves foreshowed the royal presence on the cross, and represents God’s cleansing work (Psalm 51:7).
a) Hyssop was used to spread the blood of the Passover lamb over the door posts and lintel of each of the Israelite’s homes before the Exodus (Exodus 12:22). The shape of the Hebrew letter drawn in this process produced both He - which symbolizes life, and Tav – which originally was represented by an image of a tree in old Hebrew. In one brief act, the Hebrew people were using Hyssop to mark their houses as belonging to the tree of life, with this blood of the lamb.
b) Hyssop was used to purify disease (Leviticus 14)
c) Hyssop was used in the sacrifice of the red heifer (Numbers 19:9), which in turn would be used to purify sin (Numbers 19:6)and the unclean (Numbers 19:18)
d) Jesus was fed vinegar from the stock of a Hyssop plant while he was suffering on the cross (John 19:29), and may himself be identified with this plant in the Isaiah 53:2 reference to the “tender plant”.
4) The Olive Tree –
Symbolized the light and approval of God, as:
a) The dove Noah sent out to find dry land returned with a freshly cut olive leaf, letting them know that the flood waters had receded (Genesis 8:11)
b) Olive oil was used for anointing (Judges 9:9), for making a vow to God (Genesis 28:18), for the ordination of priests (Exodus 28:41, 29:7), for the sanctification of the tabernacle, altar & laver (Exodus 40:9 - 11), for the coronation of kings (1Samuel 10:1, 15:17, 1Kings 1:39) and for commissioning people to a specific tasks of service (2Cronicles 22:7).
c) It was olive oil that was used to light the temple (Exodus 27:20, Leviticus 24:2)
d) In Solomon's temple, the two cherubims in the holy of holies (1Kings 6:23), and the doors & pillars (1Kings 6:31), were all made from olive wood.
5) The Almond Tree -
This tree symbolizes the fulfilled word of God (Jeremiah 1:11, 12), and as compared to these other trees already mentioned, it’s only mentioned a few times in scripture.
a) Aarons’ rod that was used for so many of the miracles chronicled in the Old Testament, came alive with buds, blossoms, and almonds to confirm the divinely established priesthood of the Levites tribe (Numbers 17:8)
b) The golden lamp stand or Menorah made to illuminate the Holy sanctuary of the temple/tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-40) would be patterned after an almond tree. When Moses retrieved all the staffs of the 12 tribes from the sanctuary in (Numbers 17) it was clear that Aaron’s staff belonged in the tabernacle because it looked like the Menorah. A question we might ask next is this, “what does the Menorah symbolize and in what way was Aaron’s rod identifying with that representation?”
The Menorah and the Rod of Aaron
There’s an important prophetic passage in Zechariah chapter 4 that brings two of these trees together in a significant way. Zechariah sees a Menorah flanked on either side by two olive trees that are poring oil into the lamps. He wants to know precisely what the elements in the vision represent so he requests a commentary from the Lord’s messenger two times.
In the first response, the messenger defines the symbolism of the Menorah. The flames on the Menorah are identified to be the seven eyes of Jehovah (Zechariah 4:10). This is consistent with (Revelation 4:5) which says the “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God”, and then later identifies these seven spirits to be “seven horns and seven eyes” in (Revelation 5:6). Here, Jesus is portrayed as a lamb “as it had been slain” in the center of God’s thrown, and the lamb’s headdress of horns are in fact being identified with the Menorah.
This view of the Menorah representing Christ is a captivating thought as most Bible commentators have traditionally associated the Menorah in Zechariah 4 with the lamp stands of Revelation 1. With Revelation’s clear association between the lampstands and the church v.s 20, many commentators hypothesize that Zechariah’s Menorah must therefore also represent the church. However, one detail that’s often missed in Revelation’s text is the fact that there are “seven lampstands” (plural) which are described as the “seven churches” (plural), identifying a typology in these churches that is later be illuminated in chapters 2 and 3.
This typology in Revelation 2 & 3 defines the obstacles Christian’s experience, the role of the Spirit in entreating them to preserver, and the gifts rewarded if they can only overcome. Some have suggested these churches represent periods of time, either in the history of Israel, or in the future of the church, and it may well be possible that the passages articulate both. However, regardless of these churches prophetic inference, an image of these churches together begin to emerge as we compare: Ephesus with Laodicea, Smyrna with Philadelphia, and Pergamos with Sardis. And in the middle church of Thyatira, we see Jesus describing himself as having eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like polished bronze or gold (Revelation 2:18), the very image of Jesus that John sees in the first chapter Revelation, v.s. 14, 15.
The lamps/churches/eyes are the “seven spirits of God” representing the breadth or life force (pneuma) of Christ “sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6), but the lampstand itself represents Christ. Jesus once said, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matthew 6:22). He also referred to John the Baptist as a kind of lamp (John 5:35), but the true “lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23) that illuminates the New Jerusalem and with His light, the light every other lamp including the sun will then be obsolete (Revelation 22:23).
Moving on to the second response to Zechariah’s query, the messenger of the Lord defines the two olive trees on the right and left of the Menorah. These olive trees are the “yitshar ben”, or the “anointed sons”, that “stand by the Lord” (Zechariah 4:14). I believe that the best interpretation of these olive trees would be that they represent the two heroes of Zechariah’s time. Joshua the High Priest appears “standing before the angel of the LORD” in (Zechariah 3:1), and together with Zerubbabel the governor of Judah, they stood together as they built “the altar of the God of Israel” (Ezra 3:2). For our purposes here, however, proving the identity of these olive trees isn’t as important as where they stood. They’re described here in (Zechariah 4:14) as “amad adown erets” or standing by the master of the earth, so once again our understanding of the Menorah representing Christ is found to be consistent.
Like the fire from the altar in the outer court of the temple, and the Shekinah Glory that lit up the Holy of Holies, the light from the Menorah illuminated the Holy Place of the Temple/Tabernacle, representing a type of Christ - the glory and light of God. This is all interesting but in a study about the imagery of trees throughout scripture, what’s the point in qualifying the Menorah’s symbolism? The point is that the Menorah and Aaron’s rod represent the same thing! Jeremiah and Zechariah were both petitioned by God to describe what they saw in a vision. Jeremiah saw Aaron’s rod (Jeremiah 1:11), but Zechariah saw the Menorah. Like Jeremiah’s vision of Aaron’s rod, Zechariah vision of the Menorah represents the promise of God’s fulfilled word – Zerubbabel would succeed in rebuilding the temple (Zechariah 4:7-9). Aaron’s Rod and the Menorah were both patterned after each other and as Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land with Aaron’s Rod, the Menorah would guide the priests in their temple duties and lead them into the inter sanctuary. Both these types looked back to the Tree of Life and looked forward to the fulfilled word of God, the cross Christ.
A rod represents ones strength, as in the strength of Egypt (2Kings 18:21, Isaiah 36:6, Ezekiel 29:6), or of Moab (Jeremiah 48:17), and is pictured to be their “scepter to rule” (Ezekiel 19:14). The rod ultimately embodies an image denoting the power of God (Psalms 110:2, Isaiah 10:24), His control over the nations (Isaiah 30:31), His provision (Micah 7:14), and the shepparding of His people (Psalms 23:4). And finally, we will eventually see Jesus ruling in the millennial kingdom with and Iron rod (Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15), so we can start to grasp how a vital role this icon holds throughout the message of the scriptures.
One of the Hebrew terms for the word rod is “shebet” which is also translated in the Old Testament by the word tribe. So when the scriptures speak of the tribes of Israel, a more literal appraisal of this designation could read, “The rods or branches of Israel”. This is not just an incidental association, as Moses got the head of each tribe of Israel to mark their names on a rod and place them in the Tabernacle to determine which tribes could participate in the priestly duties (Numbers 17). The prophets also associated the tribes of Israel with wooden rods in (Ezekiel 37:16, Zechariah 11), and God calls Israel the “rod of thine inheritance” (Psalms 74:2, Jeremiah 10:16, 51:19).
In their book “The Rod of an Almond Tree in God's Master Plan” Peter Michas and Robert Vander Maten argue that Aaron’s rod was once a physical part of the Tree of Life. The Branch was passed on from Abraham down through the patriarchs to Aaron and then finally down to King David. At this point, they suggest David planted the rod in the Mt of Olives where it grew up to be the tree on which Christ was crucified. The theory employs the authors in an excessive measure of speculation as they offer much credence in their arguments to extra-Biblical tradition. Also, based on our earlier overview of the goodly trees throughout scripture, it's not reasonable conclude that one kind of tree could have ever fully identify the Tree of Life. However, the thought that one particular rod representing the Tree of Life was passed down from the patriarchs (Genesis 32:10, Exodus 4:2), to the priests (Exodus 7:10, Numbers 17), to the kings (1Samial 14:27, 1Samial 17:40), and finally down to the prophets (2Kings 4:29, Jeremiah 1:11), both magnifies the status of the for-mentioned stations, and constitutes the basis for a re-evaluation of this rod’s role, and notion of the Tree of Life throughout the course of redemptive history.
Cont'd
In the Shadow of the Trees of Eden
The instigation of the Biblical record regarding God’s relationship with man begins in a setting in which we see two trees beside a river, and from the beginning to the end of the long course of redemptive history, the Bible then ends once again with two trees by a river (Revelation 22:2). Throughout the many pages in-between we see trees used as a persistent and profound metaphor woven into its’ narrative, defining the very purpose and providence of the kingdom of God.
The status quo of ignoring these trees in Eden, considering them to be too esoteric in their meaning, or comparing them to a simple Law / Grace analogy is inadequate! The tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” was not an androgynous participant in humanities fall from grace, as the patrons who dinned upon this cuisine were infected by an invasive and implacable ailment. Sin, we will contend, is not just the result of disobedience towards God’s command, but is a reflection of the nature and character of the one who knew good . . . only to choose evil. To understand the roles of these trees, we’ll first investigate the imagery of various trees throughout scripture. Once an appropriate overview is prepared, we’ll tender a paradigm of Eden’s trees and their roles in the sovereign plan and purposes of God.
Israel as a Tree
Exodus 15:17, describes the Jewish people as a garden God would plant in Israel, "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in", and this purpose of God is seen to persist in 2 Samuel 7:10, Isaiah 5:7, Jeremiah 24:6, 31:28 and 32:41. However, Israel falls into idolatry and fails in this divine objective, and is therefore branded as a fruitless fig tree (Jeremiah 8:13, Hosea 9:10-16, Joel 1:7) It’s possible that the fig tree is used in this comparison because Adam and Eve used fig leaves to attempt covering themselves (Genesis 3:7) after they fell in the garden. This association of Israel with this tree sheds light on Jesus’ cursing the tree in Bethany (Mat 21:19 & Mar 11:13), for as stated in the “Parable of the Fig Tree”, Jesus was “seeking fruit on this fig tree, and could find none” (Luke 13:7).
It’s also essential to point out that Jesus found the tax collector Zacchaeus in a sycamore-fig tree. This man would have been considered a traitor to other Israelites because he worked for the Roman government, and we can only speculate about how he was also rejected because of his small stature. Rejected, dwarfed and self serving, Zacchaeus perfectly represents the fruit of this tree Jesus found him in, the wayward children of Israel. He climbed the sycamore-fig tree only to see, but he didn’t realize that because of his exuberant heart he would be seen. Jesus reception of Zacchaeus demonstrated the fact that our dear savior was still patiently waiting on this fruit, the fruit of the fig tree.
People as Trees
It's amazing to observe how many times men are described as trees in passages like: Judges 9:10, Ezekiel 17:24, Zechariah 11:2, Luke 3:9, and Revelation 11:4. It makes you wonder if when the man healed of blindness in Mark 8, and at first saw men as trees in vs. 24, if he may have really seen more clearly than he should. We humans are body soul and spirit, and like a tree’s branches, our spirit reaches up to heaven, like a tree’s trunk our body is confined here to the earthly realm, and like a trees roots our soul . . . tainted by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, reaches down to the abyss.
We’re all trees in God’s eyes, which are requited to not only produce fruit, but good fruit. As John the Baptist pronounced beside the Jordan River, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). It’s not without reason that John would use this analogy here, as it’s probably the very same location where Elisha made the axe head float (2Kings 6:6). But the point of John’s words were to paint a striking contrast between the fruitful trees in vs. 10, with unfruitful trees who were destined for the pit of fire. Jesus also defined himself as a tree in his discourse on the true vine (John 15), and being connection to him is the crucial and only agency one requires to bearing fruit (John 15:5).
This realization that God clearly pictures us all as trees makes the promise of Jesus to the thief on the cross quite insightful! Could there possibly have been a more striking image of trees than this crucifixion account? Here we find three formidable trees contrasted with the arid Judean landscape, and Jesus offering this one man entrance into the “paradeisos”, or the “orchard of God”. This was the re-establishment of the Edenic paradise prophesy in Isaiah 51:3 and Ezekiel 36:35. Jesus was promising this man entrance back into Eden, and they would be the first two trees to re-populate its’ orchard!
Types of Trees
There are both good and bad trees defined in scripture, so we’ll start by defining the five good trees frequently refer to by the Bible.
1) The Oak Tree - Is a symbol of the sovereign rule of God as:
a) Joshua erects a tablet inscribed with the law of God under and oak tree (Joshua 24:26)
b) The angel that met with Gideon is found under an oak tree (Judges 6:11)
c) The Valley of Oaks is where David slew Goliath (I Samuel 21:9)
d) Absalom, the seditious son of David was suspended in the air by the branches of an oak, before he was killed by Joab who launched three spears into his heart – Could this a possible forerunner of Calvary? (2 Samuel 18:9)
2) The Palm Tree
a) The Palm tree provides us with an image of an oasis in a desert place (Exodus 15:27, Deuteronomy 34:3)
b) It’s a symbol of worship (Leviticus 23:40, John 12:13), and of the righteousness (Psalms 92:12, Jeremiah 10:5) as the judge Deborah dwelt under this tree (Judges 4:5)
c) And Palm Trees were incessantly carved into the walls (1Kings 6:29), doors (1Kings 6:32) and frames (1Kings 7:36) of the temple (Ezekiel 40 & 41)
3) The Hyssop Plant –
Its 3 cm stacked rows of blue/purple flowers and crossed leaves foreshowed the royal presence on the cross, and represents God’s cleansing work (Psalm 51:7).
a) Hyssop was used to spread the blood of the Passover lamb over the door posts and lintel of each of the Israelite’s homes before the Exodus (Exodus 12:22). The shape of the Hebrew letter drawn in this process produced both He - which symbolizes life, and Tav – which originally was represented by an image of a tree in old Hebrew. In one brief act, the Hebrew people were using Hyssop to mark their houses as belonging to the tree of life, with this blood of the lamb.
b) Hyssop was used to purify disease (Leviticus 14)
c) Hyssop was used in the sacrifice of the red heifer (Numbers 19:9), which in turn would be used to purify sin (Numbers 19:6)and the unclean (Numbers 19:18)
d) Jesus was fed vinegar from the stock of a Hyssop plant while he was suffering on the cross (John 19:29), and may himself be identified with this plant in the Isaiah 53:2 reference to the “tender plant”.
4) The Olive Tree –
Symbolized the light and approval of God, as:
a) The dove Noah sent out to find dry land returned with a freshly cut olive leaf, letting them know that the flood waters had receded (Genesis 8:11)
b) Olive oil was used for anointing (Judges 9:9), for making a vow to God (Genesis 28:18), for the ordination of priests (Exodus 28:41, 29:7), for the sanctification of the tabernacle, altar & laver (Exodus 40:9 - 11), for the coronation of kings (1Samuel 10:1, 15:17, 1Kings 1:39) and for commissioning people to a specific tasks of service (2Cronicles 22:7).
c) It was olive oil that was used to light the temple (Exodus 27:20, Leviticus 24:2)
d) In Solomon's temple, the two cherubims in the holy of holies (1Kings 6:23), and the doors & pillars (1Kings 6:31), were all made from olive wood.
5) The Almond Tree -
This tree symbolizes the fulfilled word of God (Jeremiah 1:11, 12), and as compared to these other trees already mentioned, it’s only mentioned a few times in scripture.
a) Aarons’ rod that was used for so many of the miracles chronicled in the Old Testament, came alive with buds, blossoms, and almonds to confirm the divinely established priesthood of the Levites tribe (Numbers 17:8)
b) The golden lamp stand or Menorah made to illuminate the Holy sanctuary of the temple/tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-40) would be patterned after an almond tree. When Moses retrieved all the staffs of the 12 tribes from the sanctuary in (Numbers 17) it was clear that Aaron’s staff belonged in the tabernacle because it looked like the Menorah. A question we might ask next is this, “what does the Menorah symbolize and in what way was Aaron’s rod identifying with that representation?”
The Menorah and the Rod of Aaron
There’s an important prophetic passage in Zechariah chapter 4 that brings two of these trees together in a significant way. Zechariah sees a Menorah flanked on either side by two olive trees that are poring oil into the lamps. He wants to know precisely what the elements in the vision represent so he requests a commentary from the Lord’s messenger two times.
In the first response, the messenger defines the symbolism of the Menorah. The flames on the Menorah are identified to be the seven eyes of Jehovah (Zechariah 4:10). This is consistent with (Revelation 4:5) which says the “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God”, and then later identifies these seven spirits to be “seven horns and seven eyes” in (Revelation 5:6). Here, Jesus is portrayed as a lamb “as it had been slain” in the center of God’s thrown, and the lamb’s headdress of horns are in fact being identified with the Menorah.
This view of the Menorah representing Christ is a captivating thought as most Bible commentators have traditionally associated the Menorah in Zechariah 4 with the lamp stands of Revelation 1. With Revelation’s clear association between the lampstands and the church v.s 20, many commentators hypothesize that Zechariah’s Menorah must therefore also represent the church. However, one detail that’s often missed in Revelation’s text is the fact that there are “seven lampstands” (plural) which are described as the “seven churches” (plural), identifying a typology in these churches that is later be illuminated in chapters 2 and 3.
This typology in Revelation 2 & 3 defines the obstacles Christian’s experience, the role of the Spirit in entreating them to preserver, and the gifts rewarded if they can only overcome. Some have suggested these churches represent periods of time, either in the history of Israel, or in the future of the church, and it may well be possible that the passages articulate both. However, regardless of these churches prophetic inference, an image of these churches together begin to emerge as we compare: Ephesus with Laodicea, Smyrna with Philadelphia, and Pergamos with Sardis. And in the middle church of Thyatira, we see Jesus describing himself as having eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like polished bronze or gold (Revelation 2:18), the very image of Jesus that John sees in the first chapter Revelation, v.s. 14, 15.
The lamps/churches/eyes are the “seven spirits of God” representing the breadth or life force (pneuma) of Christ “sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6), but the lampstand itself represents Christ. Jesus once said, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matthew 6:22). He also referred to John the Baptist as a kind of lamp (John 5:35), but the true “lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23) that illuminates the New Jerusalem and with His light, the light every other lamp including the sun will then be obsolete (Revelation 22:23).
Moving on to the second response to Zechariah’s query, the messenger of the Lord defines the two olive trees on the right and left of the Menorah. These olive trees are the “yitshar ben”, or the “anointed sons”, that “stand by the Lord” (Zechariah 4:14). I believe that the best interpretation of these olive trees would be that they represent the two heroes of Zechariah’s time. Joshua the High Priest appears “standing before the angel of the LORD” in (Zechariah 3:1), and together with Zerubbabel the governor of Judah, they stood together as they built “the altar of the God of Israel” (Ezra 3:2). For our purposes here, however, proving the identity of these olive trees isn’t as important as where they stood. They’re described here in (Zechariah 4:14) as “amad adown erets” or standing by the master of the earth, so once again our understanding of the Menorah representing Christ is found to be consistent.
Like the fire from the altar in the outer court of the temple, and the Shekinah Glory that lit up the Holy of Holies, the light from the Menorah illuminated the Holy Place of the Temple/Tabernacle, representing a type of Christ - the glory and light of God. This is all interesting but in a study about the imagery of trees throughout scripture, what’s the point in qualifying the Menorah’s symbolism? The point is that the Menorah and Aaron’s rod represent the same thing! Jeremiah and Zechariah were both petitioned by God to describe what they saw in a vision. Jeremiah saw Aaron’s rod (Jeremiah 1:11), but Zechariah saw the Menorah. Like Jeremiah’s vision of Aaron’s rod, Zechariah vision of the Menorah represents the promise of God’s fulfilled word – Zerubbabel would succeed in rebuilding the temple (Zechariah 4:7-9). Aaron’s Rod and the Menorah were both patterned after each other and as Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land with Aaron’s Rod, the Menorah would guide the priests in their temple duties and lead them into the inter sanctuary. Both these types looked back to the Tree of Life and looked forward to the fulfilled word of God, the cross Christ.
A rod represents ones strength, as in the strength of Egypt (2Kings 18:21, Isaiah 36:6, Ezekiel 29:6), or of Moab (Jeremiah 48:17), and is pictured to be their “scepter to rule” (Ezekiel 19:14). The rod ultimately embodies an image denoting the power of God (Psalms 110:2, Isaiah 10:24), His control over the nations (Isaiah 30:31), His provision (Micah 7:14), and the shepparding of His people (Psalms 23:4). And finally, we will eventually see Jesus ruling in the millennial kingdom with and Iron rod (Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15), so we can start to grasp how a vital role this icon holds throughout the message of the scriptures.
One of the Hebrew terms for the word rod is “shebet” which is also translated in the Old Testament by the word tribe. So when the scriptures speak of the tribes of Israel, a more literal appraisal of this designation could read, “The rods or branches of Israel”. This is not just an incidental association, as Moses got the head of each tribe of Israel to mark their names on a rod and place them in the Tabernacle to determine which tribes could participate in the priestly duties (Numbers 17). The prophets also associated the tribes of Israel with wooden rods in (Ezekiel 37:16, Zechariah 11), and God calls Israel the “rod of thine inheritance” (Psalms 74:2, Jeremiah 10:16, 51:19).
In their book “The Rod of an Almond Tree in God's Master Plan” Peter Michas and Robert Vander Maten argue that Aaron’s rod was once a physical part of the Tree of Life. The Branch was passed on from Abraham down through the patriarchs to Aaron and then finally down to King David. At this point, they suggest David planted the rod in the Mt of Olives where it grew up to be the tree on which Christ was crucified. The theory employs the authors in an excessive measure of speculation as they offer much credence in their arguments to extra-Biblical tradition. Also, based on our earlier overview of the goodly trees throughout scripture, it's not reasonable conclude that one kind of tree could have ever fully identify the Tree of Life. However, the thought that one particular rod representing the Tree of Life was passed down from the patriarchs (Genesis 32:10, Exodus 4:2), to the priests (Exodus 7:10, Numbers 17), to the kings (1Samial 14:27, 1Samial 17:40), and finally down to the prophets (2Kings 4:29, Jeremiah 1:11), both magnifies the status of the for-mentioned stations, and constitutes the basis for a re-evaluation of this rod’s role, and notion of the Tree of Life throughout the course of redemptive history.
Cont'd