VOW TO END THE MYTH OF TREES

  

  Paul had been tried by the Jews at Achai, a Greek City. The Roman governor there, Gallio, was charged by the Jews to judge, and of course, punish Paul for speaking that Jesus is God in the Flesh. Gallio said it was none of his business and refused to judge Paul for breaking Jewish Law. Then the Jews were beaten by the Greeks. Then the tenor changes. As if for no reason, the following information is revealed.

And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while (in Achaia), and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow. (Act 18:18)

  Obviously, Paul’s journeys are significant, but why does scripture indicate that Paul had had his head shaved in Cenchrea because he had made a vow. Many theologians suggest that Paul had taken a temporary vow of the Nazarites, and the vow was finished, perhaps because his objective was accomplished when he was in Cenchrea.

  There was another occasion in the New Testament wherein vows are mentioned:

²³ We have four men which have a vow on them; ²⁴ Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. (Act 21:23-24)

  It seems that growing their hair long was a purification process ending in shaving their heads. The four men purified the Jews from the Law of Moses by cutting their hair. (That  was after Paul had been tried in Achai).

  Nazarites were called to be temporarily purified, except for Samson whose was meant to be permanent, and commencing in the womb. Their purification process was: (1) separation (sanctification), (2) abstinence of all things from the vine, (3) not touch the dead, and (4) make sacrifices of bread and domestic animals unto the Lord. The vow was ended by shaving the hair from the head and “put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings” and the vow was for God’s blessings for the children of Israel (Num 6).

 Apparently the four Nazarites took the vow to bless the Jews in Jerusalem to separate them from the Law of Moses, and Paul surely took the same vow at Cenchrea. Perhaps it was knowing what would happen with the Jews at Achai that he had performed the vow. Perhaps it was for the Gentiles, or perhaps it was for another reason.

  Cenchrea was the home of Homer — his birthplace — who was author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Why would God want readers to know that the place Paul shaved his head and burnt his hair was in Cenchrea. Homer was their antiquarian hero and had been since the 8^th Century before Christ. Homer was also noted for his numerous metaphors of men as Trees. Perhaps Paul’s vow was to burn the metaphor of Homer’s Trees and replace those with the metaphors of God’s Trees.

  My eyes were opened when reading about blind Bartimaeus. With his vision partially restored and facing Jesus, Bartimaeus said, “I see men as trees, walking” (Mark 8:24). That amazed me because I had seen the trees of the Garden as men standing and facing the Tree of Life just as Bartimaeus was doing. Perhaps he, in his special state, saw Jesus as the Tree of Life, and the souls of men as trees walking. He saw what men with perfect vision could not see. He “squinted” better than 20/20 and essentially saw into the souls of men, and into the Spirit of Jesus.

  I always considered the Garden of Eden to be a Garden of Trees as well as a “Garden of Metaphors.” (Homer would have liked that insight).

  Adam was told to dress and keep the Garden (Gen 2:15). Another translation would be to serve and preserve the “Garden.”  The Tree of Life was perhaps an olive tree, but also a metaphor for Jesus Christ in that the fruit from it would result in immortality (Gen 3:22).

  Adam did not follow through with his assignment —  to keep the Way of the Tree of Life — so cherubim replaced him: “(God) drove out the man (Adam); and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

  John was revealed that same vision of Jesus in Paradise:

⁶ And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. ⁷ And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. (Rev 4:6-7)

  Those beasts were like Isaiah’s description of cherubim. They were keeping the Way of the Tree of Life, or in that vision, God on His Throne. The rainbow over the throne revealed the Promise to Noah. The rainbow was indicative of Jesus Christ who is God’s Appearance on the throne. Jesus is in Paradise standing tall as the Tree of Life on the River of God (Rev 22:1-3).

  The cherubim did what Adam could never do after the original sin. God’s intention for Adam was to serve and preserve the Tree of Life, or metaphorically, Jesus, the coming Messiah. The Garden was entirely good (Gen 1:31). Adam would need to do no work in the Garden, but he had been commanded to multiply. Hence, he was surely to serve and preserve future men as he was told to serve and preserve the Tree of Life. In other words, Adam received the Greatest Commandment back in the Garden Paradise and failed to keep it. After he was driven out, his charge was to take the Greatest Commandment and the one like unto it, unto the world, and that was his own Great Commission, and he did it with Seth’s line!

  With that said, the Garden of Eden was a metaphor for a “Garden of Living Souls.” Adam became a “living soul” when God breathed life unto him (Gen 2:7). Eve became a living soul when Adam breathed the Spirit of God unto Eve. (I wrote recently that it was not definitely Adam’s rib that made Eve, but perhaps a leaf covering a side chamber (Strong’s Dictionary). With that alternate translation, perhaps Adam breathed his life from God into Eve, and Eve received the Holy Spirit which is Life unto her.

  Throughout the Bible, trees are often metaphors for men as well as are vines. Homer’s metaphors were for Trees and Vines as People. Of course, the “Vine” in scripture is Jesus Christ. Jesus said:

¹ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. ² Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. ³ Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (John 15:1-3)

  The Trees and Vines in Cenchrea were great people. It had been that way for eight centuries. Now there was a new Way for the Greeks. Homer would be diminished by Paul. His vow was surely a way to sacrifice for those who looked up to Homer. There was a new “Tree” in town, and it was not the Tree of Homer but the Tree of Life.

  Note that Jesus calls himself the “Vine” and that people are the “branches.” That is a metaphor for their positions in life, but also metaphors for the Garden of Eden. Jesus was not concerned with the flesh of people but their souls. Israel is symbolic if not actually the location, is considered the Garden of the World — the Garden of Eden.

  Paul’s vow was surely to serve and preserve the Greeks in Cenchrea. It was there that he burned his hair as if purifying the people there. Paul’s vow and sacrfice of his hair worked. The Church at Cenchrea was established and Phoebe was a servant there (Rom 16:1). Paul worried about them no longer because they were not one of the seven churches that God had something against, nor were they one of the “seven spirits” of the Apocalypse. It seems that Homerian “trees” were uprooted and replanted with God’s “Trees.”

  Hopefully, my thoughts about the vow makes sense from scripture. One mere passage: Paul, shorn, and vow; may not mean much, but Jesus is the Word and every Word in Scripture is there for a reason. That Paul cut his hair seems insignificant until the purpose is revealed. It was a vow he made, and specifically for the Gentiles of Cenchrea.

  That should and did raise the question: What is so significant about Cenchrea and why the vow there? Why not somewhere else? Perhaps it was indeed to rid Cenchrea of the myth of “trees” and replace myth with the reality of God!

  By the way, Paul’s shaven hair was a metaphor for a tree shedding its leaves.

(picture credit: Elephant Journal)