Seven Trees of Divine Grace in the Wilderness

When Elohim promises to plant the wilderness with trees, He speaks of concrete botanical mercy. The cedar of Mount Lebanon towers with extended branches offering shade. The shittah (acacia) grows abundantly in Egypt and Arabia, its hard wood black-thorned and valuable. The myrtle rises eight or ten feet with dense foliage. The olive provides oil for sustenance. The cypress stands evergreen. The pine—whether poplar or elm—spreads wide. The box tree offers shelter.

Each species shares one characteristic: they provide welcome shade. In Eastern lands, the sun's fierceness makes shadow a most grateful possession. A missionary from the South Seas testified: "The one thing we wanted to hide from was the sun. Its glare was intolerable!"

Yet observe the number: seven kinds. In Hebrew, seven denotes abundance, diversity, and perfection. Elohim's promise sketches not a single oasis but a well-watered grove displaying the plenitude of Divine grace vouchsafed in deepest perplexity and sorrow.

The beauty lies in adaptation. Adonai bestows grace varied in its manifestations—sustaining grace for one, restraining for another; strengthening grace for one, sanctifying for another; comforting grace for one, dying grace for another. Each "tree of God" remains "full of sap," from the lowly nabk (mountain-thorn) to the cedar of Lebanon which He hath planted. Every tree embodies clusters of Bible promises, meeting the particular wants and necessities and trials of His suffering people.