PLANTS AS METAPHORS

KEY VERSE: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. (Hos 14:8)

  Ever since I asked the question about Adam, “Why dress and keep the Garden of Eden” (Gen 2:7), as God takes care of the Garden? It came to me that alive trees and such are metaphors for “living souls” (Gen 2:7). “Dress and keep” can also be translated as, “serve and preserve.” That is the Greatest Commandment – to love God and others.
  That interpretation was validated to me one day. I had visualized trees as men standing in the Garden of Eden. Later on, when I read about blind Bartimaeus in the intermediary stage between total blindness and complete sight, he saw “men as trees walking” (Mark 8:24). Since then, I see trees and vines as metaphors for people and nations.
  Of course, there is the parable of the fig tree (Mat 24) to reinforce that, and also the parable of wheat and tares (Mat 13). God speaks in parables and uses metaphors to explain His Words.
  In the key verse, the tribe of “Ephraim,” representing the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria), is like a green fir tree. Fir trees are tall, even exceeding 250 feet. Their cones stand erect, and are the source of their seed and reproduction. The grandiose height reaches toward the heaven, and the cones point toward heaven. The fir tree seems to represent God’s Way and growth, remembering that in the Garden, living things could multiply.
  The Abrahamic Covenant had Israel as the party to live His Way, and multiply all over the Earth. Ephraim’s was a party to that as one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The key verse reads, “From me is thy fruit found.” Ephraim was to be one of the “cones” of the twelve “fir trees” of the Abrahamic Covenant, or what became the Covenant of Grace. In fact, God restored the tribe of Ephraim to the Covenant by grace although they did not deserve it.
  Of course, the fir tree not only represents the tribe of Israel and the nation of Israel, but also disobedient people. God’s grace extended to all “fir trees” which had the potential to spread His Word, of which the cones are metaphoric.
  The Garden of Eden was surely surrounded by a protective “hedge” as cherubim guarded the only entrance (Gen 3:24). Why a hedge? Because God put a hedge of safety around Job (Job 1:10; 3:23). God served and preserved Job from the evil ones. Adam, it seems, was made a royal priest to the living souls who were yet to be animated with flesh and bones. Now read about the vision that Isaiah saw:

And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down…  For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant… (Isa 5:5a,7a)

  Hosea saw Israel as a fir tree. Isaiah saw the nation of Israel as a vineyard, obviously full of vines bearing fruit. On the other hand, Judah was already a “pleasant plant.” Note that the Garden of Eden teamed with life, and was “very good” (Gen 1:31). However, Judah was merely “pleasant” and Israel was growing toward pleasantness.
  Theretofore, Israel, as Job, had been protected by a hedge of safety. God had created Israel just as he had the Garden of Eden. The Garden was very good, but its hedge was removed, and the Garden became as the world. It was exposed to the consequences of sin: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field… (Gen 3:17b; 18).
  Of course, in the end, Israel (the Garden of Eden) will be trodden down, and replaced (Rev 21). Jerusalem – the foundation of peace – will regain its peaceful existence as it was when a Garden. (I’ve written much about Israel being the location of the Garden of Eden many times because that’s where scripture places it.)
  Israel, as God’s vineyard, will become quite a pleasant plant when God treads that nation down in the end, and makes it teeming with vitality and pleasantry again.
  In a flash, I saw trees and plants as men and vineyards as whosoever God loves even though they are not righteous. However, to understand that metaphor took much time to consider.
  Scripture cannot just be read hurriedly, but must be slowly consumed for its delicious “flavor.” The Word is pleasant in that it offers hope. Readers must “taste” the flavor of the fir nuts and the grapes to understand the reward!