Plants of the Bible
Plants of the Bible
Anonymous – Plants of the Bible
PLANTS OF THE BIBLE
This Book is in the Public Domain
The land which God promised to Abraham and his descendants was extremely fertile. Because of its diverse climate, the world of the Bible contained many varieties of plants. Botanists have identified 3,500 species of plant life in Palestine and Syria. Plants or plant products are mentioned in almost every book of the Bible.
The flora of the Bible has been the subject of much discussion and research. Accurately identifying many of these plants has taken many years of scientific research. The Bible writers were not botanists, and they seldom bothered to describe or identify the plants they mentioned.
In the 16th century Levinus Lemmens wrote the first book on the plants of Scripture. It was not until the middle of the 18th century, however, that a botanist traveled to Palestine for firsthand knowledge of its vegetation. Since then much valuable information has been learned about the plants of the Bible.
Many of the Bible writers often used general terms to refer to plants. Sometimes a reference is no more specific than “tree,” “grass,” or “grain.” Even if an individual grain such as “corn” or “wheat” is named, it is referring to all grains in general.
Although many types of flowers grow in Palestine and other Bible lands, very few are mentioned by name in the Bible. Some of the flowers found in the Holy Land are irises, roses, anemones, lilies, tulips, hyacinths, and narcissus.
Some of the other general terms referring to plant life include bush, herb, grass, cockle, fruit, and verdure.
The Hebrew people were certain that God provided the Promised Land for their use, but they were not careful to take good care of it. The land was cultivated continuously for thousands of years without rest until much of the soil was depleted and many areas became devastated wastelands. The great forests of Lebanon and Hermon were eventually destroyed and the soil was eroded. The people of that time did not know how to manage their environment intelligently. Eventually the land that once flowed with “milk and honey” became barren of much of its vegetation. Today many of these barren regions of the Holy Land are being turned again into fertile farmland. Effort is being made to restore the richness of the land as God intended it to be.
The following specific plants are mentioned in the Bible. This listing is keyed to the NKJV, but variant names from five additional popular translations– KJV, NASB, NEB, NIV, and RSV– are cross-referenced throughout the listing.
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