August 3, 2024 • 37 mins
Welcome back to the KJV Bible Teaching Podcast! In this episode, we delve deep into the significance of trees mentioned in the Bible, focusing on the juniper tree in 1 Kings 19 and the bramble in Judges 9. Our exploration begins with Elijah's encounter under the juniper tree and the profound lessons it offers about God's provision and sustenance.
We then shift our attention to the parable of Jotham in Judges 9, where he uses the imagery of various trees to highlight the folly of the Israelites in choosing Abimelech as their king. Through these accounts, we uncover the deeper meanings and symbolic representations of trees in scripture, enriching our understanding of God's Word.
Join us as we uncover the spiritual insights and practical applications of these biblical narratives, and be encouraged to explore the scriptures further on your own.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Welcome back once again to my KJV Bible Teaching Podcast.
I'm thankful once again, as I always say, for the opportunity to be able to
dive into God's Word and just want to thank all my listeners that have been
eagerly tuning in and eagerly listening and awaiting another episode.
Just want to appreciate all your guys' patience with everything.
My son had a tonsil surgery that really kind of threw off my whole entire month,
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and so I do apologize for the lack thereof of content that I've uploaded this
month, but we're definitely looking to get right back into it and to dive into
more scriptures and upload more content.
And I'm kind of hoping as well, you know, I had mentioned earlier on when I
first started this podcast, which was over two years ago now,
you know, where I had mentioned that I was wanting to get other people involved
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with this, you know, as well, and hopefully other preachers.
So, you know, I'm definitely praying about that.
And I ask you guys to help me, those that are listening as well,
to help me pray about that as well.
You know, I've got plenty of options and just want to do, you know,
just want to pick the right one.
And, you know, I can already think of like several that I'm sure would be willing to do it.
But, you know, but anyway, you know, it would be really exciting to be able
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to get them on these episodes.
So, you know, this topic, you know, I know that we had been earlier on,
we had been going and studying and diving into the misconceptions with,
you know, basically what it means to be once saved, always saved.
You know, we were typing into those things.
And but for a moment, I do want to sidestep.
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Studying something for a while now and, you know, just how good God's been with this is,
I mean, the way he's opened my eyes on this topic has been absolutely astounding,
you know, and it's given me like a new perspective of, you know,
gospel accounts and different accounts in these scriptures of,
you know, what, with what, you know, these plants and these trees mean,
you know, so I know what you're thinking right off the bat is,
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you know, right off the bat, it's so easy to, you know, think like, man, you know, trees,
you know, there's not really going to be that much to it, you know,
when you start thinking about those things.
But the truth about it is that there is actually the trees that are mentioned
in scripture, majority of them do have a very deep meaning and all that.
It's not over spiritualizing them, but you can kind of see just how with God,
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with every single detail of the scripture, you know, intentionally,
you know, brought these trees and these plants into play for a reason,
you know, just real quick example,
the tree of life, you know, completely intentional, you know,
when you dive into those, but there's a lot of And then, of course,
too, I will say just like any other topics, you know, there's some trees that
were, yeah, they were intentionally placed in there, but they don't really have a lot of meaning.
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They're just a tree that appeared in the scriptures, you know,
so you do have that as well.
But there's one particular account that might be quite familiar to you that
I kind of want to dive into. It's actually over here in 1 Kings chapter 19.
And I just, you know, I kind of wrestled with this because I was like,
you know, I had started listening.
I do listen to other content very frequently and, you know, on scripture,
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you know, because I just, I just have that strong, earnest desire in me to learn
more about God's word and to understand it more.
And, you know, and, and really even some small details, I'll say that,
you know, are they, they're not only intentional, but they have a very deep
meaning to them, you know?
So the first account, like I said, very familiar, first Kings chapter 19.
And, you know, the two actually trees that I would like to focus on during this
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study are the juniper tree and the brambles, you know, that are mentioned in
two different accounts.
And, you know, we'll go and expound, you know, on the details of these.
And then what I will, where I'm going to task you to do is to kind of hear,
you know, the different,
you know, what I'm going to task you to do is to actually dive in the first
off, you know, hear kind of what I have to say with these things and what God
has shown me, but I'm going to task you to go and dive into the scriptures so
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you can see these things for yourself,
you know, and I'm telling you, you know, God will open your eyes to a lot of
different things that you never really knew were in scripture.
You know, but, you know, I'm not
saying that this knowledge is anything of hidden that can't be obtained.
No, no, that's not at all what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is definitely
look at these for yourself and, you know, and see what God chose you with them
is what I'm trying to say.
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So 1 Kings chapter 19, we'll go ahead and start reading and then we'll start
expounding on, you know, the juniper tree actually is what we're going to dive into.
So this was actually when Elijah had already, what he had done is he had already
slew the prophets of Baal and Jezebel was Phoenician, you know, princess.
You know, she was the daughter of Ephbaal, but also too, she was married to
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King Ahab, the king of Israel at that particular time.
But what we do know in history is that these two were like, you know,
Ahab was one of the most wicked kings that you read about in history of Israel.
And Jezebel was obviously a wicked queen, obviously. leave. So anyway,
let's go ahead and dive in.
It says, And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had
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slain all the prophets with the sword.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me,
and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
And when he had saw that, he arose and went for his life, and came to Beersheba,
which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree.
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And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough now,
O Lord, take away my life for I am not better than my father's.
And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched
him and said unto him, arise and eat.
And he looked and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise
of water at his head. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again.
And the angel came to again to him a second time and touched him and said,
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arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee.
And he arose and did eat and drink. And he went in the strength of that meat
40 days and 49 Sunday horror of the Mount of God.
You know so you know we'll definitely read
further into this for sure you know because it's too good not to you
know I mean for when he goes into the cave but what I
really want to focus on in this account is the juniper tree and the details
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about it so the juniper tree I'm just going to dive in right in you know so
the juniper tree I'm just going to go ahead and expound some details that I
had learned about this juniper tree you know first off you know I think it's
important to understand you know what it's also referred to as you know the
Hebrew the Hebrew and the Greek definition,
I can't remember if it was the Hebrew or Greek interlinear. It was one of them.
It's also, it's referred to as the Rotem tree is actually what you'll find,
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you know, with the Hebrew and Greek, but also too with this Rotem tree,
what was beautiful about it is, and amazing about it is it's also referred to
in scripture as a broom tree,
which is literally the same thing as a juniper tree.
But, you know, basically some characteristics of this tree, I think are very
important to understand.
And it really will give you some more perspective on what's going on in this account right here.
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So first off, oftentimes it would reach into heights of like up to like 10 feet high.
The canopy, and this is kind of where I would always stop whenever I would even
attempt to try to look at the juniper tree, is the canopy, the way it would
bloom up, it had very sheltering properties.
It would bloom very lush, very thick.
And, you know, the nice part about it is when Elijah had sat down under this
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tree, basically the beautiful part about it is obviously he immediately had
shelter because of the way that the canopy was.
So then, you know, something else that I found a little interesting that I had
kind of dug up is that oftentimes this tree can grow in rocky places.
You know, I thought that was very interesting. And we'll expound on that a little
more on just kind of what God showed me with that.
Oftentimes, you know, with the juniper tree, it'll have white blooms.
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You know, so this is kind of where we get into,
you know, this characteristic is kind of where we really, really get into the
nitty gritty of, you know, what, so what, how this ties into the canopy and
how this ties into the tree and how it's so of importance.
And so I just encourage you, you know, just to hang in there with me.
So the roots, you know, the roots are very important here.
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And the roots, one thing that I found in Israel over there is actually,
you know, one thing I found very interesting is oftentimes that the roots,
they were actually used as a fuel source over there in Israel.
And actually, and I'll show you kind of how, you know, they would actually,
and you might be saying, well, how would they use it as a fuel source?
Well, the nice part about it is they would actually make coal over there in biblical times.
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And I don't know if they still do or not, but, you know, in biblical times,
they would actually make coal out of these roots because they would burn for a very long time.
But they it wasn't. And again, with coal, you know, you know that if you're
familiar with any type of grilling at all, you know, obviously with coal, it's not about flame.
It's all about, you know, the heat that they put off and how long the coal will actually last.
You know, something else that I found interesting, too, is, you know, this coal.
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The thing that I found that was amazing about this coal is that like it would
oftentimes, you know, because of the type of climate that they were in,
And, you know, the roots would sometimes burn from the inside,
but the outside wouldn't appear that way at all.
You know, so immediately one thing that God kind of reminded me of scripturally
is, you know, how Jeremiah, what did Jeremiah say about, you know, the word of God?
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He said, the word of God is as a fire shut up in my bones.
So I immediately thought the roots, you know, being rooted in Christ,
you know, his word to me being him being the word, like what in the very first
chapter of the gospel of John talks about, you know, I immediately thought,
man, you know, that's awesome. him.
You know, I'm rooted in Christ, but the best part about it is he's my fuel source.
You know, he's the one that, you know, he burns inside of me,
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but most of all too, he's the one that gives me everything that I need to keep on going.
And just kind of leave that detail in the back of your mind as we kind of continue
to dive into this on what's going on with Elijah.
So oftentimes too, you know, the broom trees, you know, so as far as the geographical
location, you know, and these are all things that you can look up on your own
again, you know, they were often found in the wilderness of Beersheba.
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And I think this detail is extremely, very, very important too.
So kind of bookmark that and make a mental note of that if you would.
So it was found in the wilderness of Beersheba. Actually, if you look over there
in Numbers chapter 33, verse 18, you'll also notice that there was a place called Rithma.
Now, Rithma, actually, you know, one thing I found very interesting while digging
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in and researching this tree is that Rithma was also known as,
you know, the place of the brooms. And this was a place that the children of
Israel had stopped and camped, you know, while they were journeying into the promised land.
You know, I thought that was awesome. You know, they imagine that they stop
and they camp at a tree that provides shelter.
Now they have a fuel source. course, you know, the main thing that I'm going
to say this, you know, kind of a spoil alert is that, you know,
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with this juniper tree, Elijah had everything that he needed just by sitting under this tree.
You know, and you might say, well, where are you getting that preacher?
Well, let's go ahead and continue to dive into it. So first off,
you know, to expound a little more, you know, Elijah is running for his life
in this particular time.
And at this point, you know, he's discouraged, you know, clearly he's very abundantly
discouraged at this particular time.
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And he sits under this tree, you know, basically asking the Lord to die,
you know, pretty much at this point, as it says in verse four.
And what he's basically saying that, you know, for he's not better than his
father's, you know, he's over critiquing himself.
You know, he's he's being very hard
on himself. You know, don't we have a tendency to be like that at times?
You know, we'll you know, we'll over critique every little thing that we do.
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We say and we do, you know, as a Christian.
And I'm not saying that we shouldn't care about those things,
but we'll over critique ourselves to the point to where and I can definitely
say this. I am extremely guilty of this. us.
We over critique ourselves to the point to where it's almost like a stumbling block to us.
You know, we're harder on ourself than what we even God wants us to be at times.
You know, we have a tendency to be that. And I feel like, you know,
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kind of Elijah was most certainly, you know, and I believe God was also teaching
him some things here as well. You know, absolutely.
But we see right here, you know, on how, you know, that Elijah is sitting under
this tree, you know, so now he's got shelter.
So then he says in verse five, and as he lay and slept under of the juniper
tree, behold, there an angel touched him and said, arise and eat.
And he looked and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise
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of water at his head. So don't you find it a coincidence?
You know, I'm just going to throw this out here now. Granted,
you know, when I say this, I want you to understand that God can work through
the supernatural, you know, the coals, you know, the angel, he could have made
the angel, you know, bring.
You know, the angel of the Lord could have brought, you know,
the coals, you know, there already, but it just, it just so happens to be why
Elijah is sitting under this tree that all of a sudden now he's baking this cake over the coals.
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Imagine that, you know, because again, just like we had said,
you know, one of the, the roots of this tree were oftentimes they were used as a fuel source.
My goodness, you know, that's awesome. So we see the angel is even taking advantage,
you know, the angel of Lord is taking advantage of the coals here and he's making
a cake over it because Elijah, you know, at his weakest and lowest point,
he's trying to give them strength.
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So now we're, you know, you see how the story is building here,
you know, right. You know, first off, you know, Elijah's at his weakest moment. He wants to die.
He's under this tree, not even realizing it at the particular time.
He might have known that it provides shelter, but my question is,
did he know that it was actually a fuel source? Now...
We have shelter. Now we have, he's getting strength. We have sustenance. We have fuel.
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Are you seeing how this is building? Like, it's amazing, you know,
and how God just kind of completely changed this account for me.
And then he said, he laid down again and it says, and the angel of the Lord
came again a second time and touched him and arise and eat for the journey is too great for thee.
And he arose and did he and drank and went into the strength of that meat for 40 days and 49.
So the horror of the Mount of God, you know, so I'll tell you,
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you know, oftentimes, you You know, I know there's kind of a stigma out there
where people try to say, well, man, you know, sometimes, you know,
people have a tendency to over-spiritualize scripture.
But the truth is, though, is that, you know, just like in Revelation,
you know, he turned and was in the spirit in the Lord's day.
You know, I mean, what other way do you read the scriptures?
You know, it's kind of my challenge to that point is, you know,
so you read it through and by the spirit.
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I can't help but see Jesus Christ all over this, I guess is what I'm trying
to say, just through this juniper tree alone, because think about it.
You know, first off, you know, another, and we'll get into that point over there too.
But first off, you know, everything again, and I'm going to reiterate this again,
everything Elijah needed was right under this tree, you know,
and I'll just throw this out here, too.
And this is kind of another detail that I found that was interesting.
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Actually, turn over here to Job and just keep your thumb in this chapter over
here because we're going to come back.
But Job chapter 30 actually, you know, kind of mentioned a detail that I thought
was rather important. So Job chapter 30, verse 4.
Now, these roots of this juniper tree, Job kind of makes a point,
and I know that there's usually a deeper meaning here about this tree,
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you know, and there's probably a deeper meaning as to what Job is actually saying
here, but just to prove the point that you can actually eat the roots of this tree.
And you might be saying, well, why on earth would I do that?
Well, in a time of disparity, kind of like similar like Elijah would be in,
in a time of disparity, you know, if you needed, you know, sustenance,
imagine that you could sit under this tree and you can actually get sustenance by eating the roots.
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So Job chapter 30, oh, I turned to chapter four. It probably helped if I went to the right chapter.
Job chapter 30, verse four. So he kind of talks about this, you know,
actually Job kind of mentions, and like I said, I know there's a deeper meaning
here, but he had talked about and made reference to basically using the juniper roots as meat.
So he says right here, who cut up the mallows by the bushes in the juniper roots for their meat.
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So you can see right here immediately that you can actually eat these roots, you know.
So while diving into this and researching this even more, one thing that I found
is I thought it was quite interesting that, and again, in a time of disparity,
you know, these roots, they have a tendency, they have a bitter taste to them,
but the nutritional properties of these roots and all that was actually enough
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to actually kind of help sustain somebody in their time of need.
So again, you know, isn't that again a big picture?
Don't you to see Christ all over that because Christ, what is he?
He sustains us. We need him.
So he sustains us in our time of need. We need him all day, every day.
He is able to sustain us in those things.
Let's go to actually Psalms chapter 120, and I just kind of want to further
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solidify on how, you know, how the writer kind of wrote in this song,
how, you know, you can use the roots as coals, you know, so I found this reference
to be quite interesting.
So Psalms 120, verse four, again, I know, I understand that,
you know, there's, you know, probably a deeper meaning here,
but again, it just goes to show on how there's a reference on how they could
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use some of these roots as, you know, of the juniper tree as coal.
Coal so anyway the writer wrote you know and this is a
psalm of they call it a
song of a psalm a song of accents or a song of
degrees but anyway he says sharp arrows
of the mighty with coals of juniper so i just wanted to the whole point of that
is i just wanted to use scripture to show you that look you know there's even
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scriptural references where it was a known fact that you could use these coals
as you know a fuel source and as coals i thought that was amazing but But isn't it amazing that,
you know, Elijah here, now going back over to 1 Kings chapter 19.
You know, isn't it amazing that, you know, when, you know, you read accounts
like this, you know, these are things that we would typically,
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I'm just going to say this and I'll just speak for myself, you know,
maybe you're not like that.
And if you are, bless your heart, you know, but these are often things that
you just read past and just overlook, right?
You know, so who would have thought, you know, that, you know,
you could use the roots as a fuel source, but then here's also the beautiful
part about it too, all right?
So they can use these roots, you know, so my question is, okay,
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so use them as coals, you know, we know that coal puts off heat.
Heat so again you know if you're cold you know you can be heated
back up you know my goodness that's awesome isn't it you know just
like you know you read there's i i think it's actually over there in
revelation actually there's a letter over there to one of the churches where
it whole blood and says you know that if you're lukewarm he'll spew you out
him out he would rather you be either hot or cold beautiful part about it is
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if you're hot you're on fire for god if you're cold you know you could be warmed
back up but he doesn't want you to just be kind of so so and in between is basically
kind of what i get out of that you know beautiful part about it is in our weakest moment,
you know, when we're cold, you know, we have a way to be heated up.
You know, Elijah had a way to definitely be heated up, you know,
but again, just so happens that Elijah, you know, sat under this tree and I
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can't help but believe and think, you know, that maybe he sat under this tree
knowing, hey, I got shelter here.
But if he wanted to die, my thing is I don't think he was really focusing on,
oh, well, how do I survive?
That seems a little contrary to what But this account is saying, right?
So he sits under this tree unknowingly, and God completely uses everything around
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him to basically sustain him.
And it says right here in verse 8 that it was enough meat and strength to sustain
him for 40 days and 40 nights to get to Mount Horeb, you know, the Mount of God.
You know, I thought that was absolutely amazing. The fact that,
you know, again, this tree, the significance of this tree, you know,
it was absolutely amazing to dive into. to.
So just to finish up the chapter before we move on, you know,
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that's a, I will say, you know, that's something that I found quite amazing,
you know, diving into the juniper tree, but to finish the account and it says,
and, you know, look how much farther, you know, it's like, I'm just going to
throw this out here, just kind of thoroughly examining, you know,
this account a little bit.
It almost seems like he had enough strength to get to Mount Hor,
but he still kind of continues to go in this little bit of a downward spiral until he finally,
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you know, eventually God God encourages them enough to keep going and lets them
know in verse 18 that he has 7,000 in Israel that did not bow a knee unto Baal,
you know, so how encouraging God is sustaining him for the journey and him really
not even knowing it, but on top of it, you know, and maybe he did know it.
We don't know, you know, but the point that I'm trying to make,
though, is how I can't help but think how many times in our journey,
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in our walk, do we get to places where like We're so focused on,
we fixate on one particular detail in our weakness.
We focus on one particular detail on what's making us weak and how hard it is and how awful it is.
But God in the behind the scenes is working the entire time.
My goodness, I can't help but think that.
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You know, so anyway, it says in verse nine, and he came to there under a cave
and lodged there and behold, the word of the Lord came on him.
And he said on him, what doest thou here, Elijah?
And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts,
for the children of Israel have forsaken my covenant, thrown down my altars
and slain my prophets with the sword.
And I, even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away.
And he said, go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord.
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And behold, the Lord passed by in a great and strong wind, rent the mountains
and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord.
But the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake of fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire is still small voice.
And it was so when Elijah heard it, that he had wrapped his face in his mantle
and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave.
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And behold, there came a voice unto him and said, what doest thou hear Elijah?
So how many times in our life do we get to these certain points or pinnacles in our life?
And we step back and we kind of ask ourselves, you know, God's asking us,
what are you doing here? Why are you still here?
Just like there was a time over there in Deuteronomy where God had told them,
you've come past this mountain enough, it's time to move on.
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Sometimes we get into states like that.
So anyway, obviously we hear, we know that God wasn't in the wind or the earthquake
or those things, but then the still small voice is what got Elijah's attention.
I'm thankful for that still small voice, aren't you? I trust and pray that you are.
But to continue on, just to keep going a little bit further,
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there's actually one more particular tree slash bush that I kind of want to focus on.
And the account is actually mainly over there in Judges chapter nine.
So this is just what God put on my heart to teach and to expound on.
And I think this account is extremely important, too, because God actually used,
I believe that God uses Jotham in this particular instant.
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You know, Jotham actually presents, he shouts it actually down from Mount Gerizim.
He's shouting this parable, you know, basically to the people to kind of show,
you know, and in the parable, just imagine this,
he uses trees in the parable to basically address, rest, you know,
their painful and worthless mistake that they had made, you know,
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with putting Abimelech in as their king,
you know, so we'll go ahead and start expounding on that.
But, you know, basically it's the bramble that I want to focus on over here,
you know, so we'll start in Judges 9.1 and it says,
And Abimelech, the son of Jerubabbel, went to Shishim unto his mother's brethren
and communed with them and with all the family of the house of his mother's
father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shishim.
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Weather is better for you either that or
either that all the sons of jerubal jerub yeah
i think i'm saying that right which are three score and ten
persons reign over you or that one reign over you remember also that i am your
bone and your flesh and his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all
the men of shisham all the all these words in their hearts inclined to follow
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abimelech for they said he is our brother and they gave him three score and
ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-Bareth,
where Abimelech hired vain and light persons which followed him.
So just to kind of understand, you know, kind of the background of this.
So first off, who is Abimelech?
You know, obviously, or so earlier on in the actually the last chapter,
one thing I want to point out too, is that the people had wanted to put Gideon
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in basically as ruler and Gideon actually full-blown said no,
you know, because he said, it says in Judges 8 verse 23,
it says, and Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you,
neither shall my son rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you.
So it's abundantly clear that Abimelech probably obviously wasn't supposed to
be in this particular place, you know, in this particular position,
(23:12):
you know, so who Abimelech was, he was obviously Gideon's son,
but his mother, you know, so this kind of gives you a little more understanding
as to who, you know, Abimelech was and kind of gives you a little more perspective
as to why he was doing what he was doing.
But his mother was actually, you know, one of Gideon's concubines that actually
came from Shishim. And I thought that detail was quite interesting and it kind
(23:33):
of put it in perspective as to why he was so passionate about having,
you know, this particular throne.
So anyway, you know, what does Abimelech do in result of this? What does he do?
And, you know, first off, you know, they gave him, you know,
money out of the house of Baal.
I want to throw that out there, you know, Baal-Bareth, you know,
so immediately you could kind of see just real quick, right,
right, real quick in a hurry.
(23:54):
They just, they put him in just because it was their brother,
you know, but then look what he does.
It says in verse five, and he went unto his father's house at Ophira and slew
his brethren, the sons of Jerubabbel, being three score and ten persons upon one stone.
Notwithstanding at Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubabbel was left,
for he hid himself himself.
And all the men of Shisham gathered together in all the house of Milo and went
(24:16):
and made Abimelech king by the plane of the pillar that was in Shisham.
So, you know, obviously Abimelech, you know, he wanted to ensure that his spot was in that throne.
You know, he was, so what did he do? He removed basically all the people that
would technically be heirs to the throne.
He killed all of his own brothers, you know, killed every single one of them,
but he missed one and that was Jotham.
So then as we get further into this account, now we start getting into like,
(24:40):
you know, the parable that Jotham, you know, screams on the top of Mount Gerizim.
So some, another detail that's important to this too, is like geographically,
you know, if you actually kind of, I actually heard this in a podcast and I
thought it was quite interesting.
Is that, you know, first off where Mount Gerizim was, you know,
basically Shisham lied in a valley is basically where it was.
And Gerizim was way up high, you know, kind of a little toward the left,
(25:02):
I guess you can say, you know, it was up at a higher point to where,
you know, actually when he begins to shout down this parable,
you know, he's standing, Jotham is standing on the top of Mount Gerizim shouting
down to Shisham, you know, so I kind of see him, you know, just
given this parable with power and, you know, and with, you know,
even with the power of God, I'll go that far.
I believe wholeheartedly that he's trying to do it to get these people to think
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and to understand, you know, the mistake that they had made.
So without further ado, let's get in the parable. And it says in seven,
and when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim
and lifted up his voice. So I don't believe that he was doing it quietly.
I believe he was yelling it from the top of the mountain.
And cried and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shisham,
that God may hearken unto you.
(25:46):
The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them. And they said unto
the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness wherewith by me?
They honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees.
And the tree said to the fig tree, Come thou and reign over us.
But the fig said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit,
(26:07):
and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine,
Come thou and rain over us.
And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and
man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
Then said all the trees unto the bramble, you know, so this is the bramble is
actually kind of what I want to start diving into.
Come thou and rain over us. And the bramble said over the trees,
(26:27):
If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow.
And if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
Now, therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely in that ye have made Abimelech king,
and if ye have dealt well with Jerubal in his house, and have done unto him
accordingly to the deserving of his hands,
(26:48):
for my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you
out of the hand of Midian, and ye are risen up against my father's house this
day, and have slain his sons, three score and ten persons, upon one stone,
and have made Abimelech the son of his maidservant king over the men of Shishun,
because he is your brother.
If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jeroboam and with his house this
(27:08):
day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.
But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shishum,
and the house of Milo, and let fire come out from the men of Shishum,
and from the house of Milo, and devour Abimelech.
And Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer, Beer, actually is how it's pronounced,
I found out, and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother.
(27:32):
So, he's presenting this parable, and there's really deep meaning in here.
First off, you know, as he goes through the parable, he's kind of talking about
the previous judges that they kept continuing to try to put in rule with them,
but it seemed like every time one of the judges would pass away,
it would seem like they'd go right back down and turn into idolatry.
You know, there's like a repetitive cycle.
They would have a shepherd for a moment, and they would do good for a moment,
(27:54):
but then they would go right back down.
So, Abimelech, you know, they put him in power, you know, just because he was
their brother, but we can see the heart of Abimelech, you know,
he obviously killed, you know, I mean, he clearly didn't deal with,
you know, his father's house very well, you know, in fact, if anything,
he brought shame to it. Now, how did he bring shame to it?
He, you know, by what he's doing, you know, his father, if he was anything like
(28:16):
his father, you know, and that's kind of what the parable is basically talking
about, he would understand the value in serving God instead of God having to
continuously raise up judges and kings for them to follow.
You know, Gideon wanted them to look towards God, you know, because he said,
you know, in 23 of Judges 8, and Gideon said, I will not rule over you,
then neither shall my son rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you.
(28:37):
So he wanted God to rule over their life.
You know, sometimes as God's people, we have a tendency to put things above our life.
You know, I guess you could say a priority in our life that we shouldn't be
given, and too much power or sanctity to.
And we kind of bring dishonor to God with those things. And how do we do that?
By putting those before him.
So we have a tendency to do that. But anyway, he's using these trees.
(29:00):
So he's talking about first the olive tree.
We know all of these trees minus the bramble.
You know, are all trees of high value to Israel, you know, so the olive tree,
obviously, you know, you go through the grocery store, and I think I've said
this in a previous episode,
you walk through a grocery store, and you buy olive oil, olive oil is not cheap,
you know, it's not, you know, and olive oil obviously had a lot of,
you know, significant value to Israel as well, because, you know,
(29:23):
they would make obviously the anointing oil out of the olive tree,
you know, and then the olives, you know, you would get the fruit off of those
things, you know, so they had olive oil had a lot of significance.
It was a very high value oil, you know, especially for like the olive presses,
you know, like olive presses, they had olive presses all throughout Israel.
It was a very high value, but it basically was saying, should I leave my fatness
(29:45):
wherewith, wherewith by me, they honor God and man and go to be promoted over the trees.
So basically he's saying, you know, should I lift myself up and,
you know, to where they promote me over God, you know, is kind of what I'm getting out of that.
But then he goes to the fig tree, you know, of the figs, you know,
they were used for a lot of different things.
They would use the figs to make cakes and different things, you know,
so it's saying, should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit and go to be
(30:07):
promoted over the trees?
So it's basically like this, he's bringing in all these trees of value and they're
basically kind of saying the same thing,
you know, it's talking about previous judges is kind of what I'm getting out
of that, you know, should they go and leave their place of value to go and do
something that they don't need to be doing? I think it's so important as God's people.
Again, we learn to appreciate what we do have in God and not put things above
(30:33):
Him and leave the value of God and put things above Him.
I can't talk tonight, but basically, it's so important as God's people that
we don't put things above Him and make those of higher value than of God is
basically the overall point.
The vine, you know, so obviously off the vine, you know, they would obviously,
you know, they would get, you know, grapes, they would get different things
(30:54):
saying, should I leave my wine, which cheereth God a man to go and be permitted over the trees,
you know, so we know scripturally and spiritually with the wine had a significant
meeting, you know, but wine was also, you know, it was a lot different than
what a lot of people think it was to a lot, you know, obviously,
you know, I'm not saying they didn't have alcoholic beverages back then,
you know, but the wine oftentimes in Israel was non-alcoholic.
(31:16):
Like it was fruit juice is what it was, you know, and, you know,
and I'm not saying they didn't have fermented wine back then,
but I don't believe that, you know, I just can't help but not believe,
especially being that the way the Bible teaches to abstain from strong drinks,
you know, how the Bible teaches that I can't help but believe on the last supper
that the wine, you know, meant something totally different than what people make it out to be.
(31:37):
You know, a lot of people take the significance of what the last supper stood
for and meant on how Jesus Christ was going to be, his body was going to be
broken and battered, you know, But on top of it, too, the wine stood for the
blood that he was going to shed on Calvary for us sinners, for the sin of man.
So a lot of people take that and they think, oh, well, he was just drinking
around the table with his disciples. No, he was breaking bread.
(31:58):
All of it was symbolic of what he was getting ready to go through.
But on how that we, when we take part in communion, when we commune with him, we take part in that.
We are baptized, just like you go and read about baptism.
It's not the water that saves us. It's a figure like over there in first Peter,
actually chapter two or three, if I remember correctly, it's a figure of how
(32:18):
we die out to our sin, but we're raised up in the newness of life.
You know, we are crucifying this flesh daily through Jesus Christ.
We are dead in Christ, but also alive in him through his resurrection.
You know, we take part in that resurrection.
You know, how is that? Because we are born again into the spirit.
So anyway, now the last but not least, you know, in 14, um.
(32:39):
All the trees basically look at the bramble. Now the bramble,
you know, the Hebrew, the Greek definition of it is an atad,
you know, an atad tree, or it's a thorn bush or a thorn tree.
And so the bramble, some characteristics of this, I think are very important. Okay.
So first off, some characteristics of this is, you know, basically it was a
very thorny bush that can grow tall like a tree, you know, it could grow real tall.
(33:00):
I will say too, you know, if you look at pictures of this, you know,
and these are also one thing in Israel, there was two types of species of jujubee
trees, you know, so that's one thing you'll find.
But there were some particularly characteristics of this.
And I think it's quite fascinating that, you know, Jotham here is comparing
a bemalik to this atad tree, you know, to this bramble.
(33:20):
Because think about it, it was a thorny tree, though, so that,
you know, it was a beautiful tree, though. I do want to throw that out there.
It was thorny, but it was beautiful, you know, and I begin to think and compare
it to the juniper that we were just talking about.
And it had a lot of similar characteristics. But the difference here,
though, is the characteristics of this tree are way different than the characteristics of the juniper.
(33:40):
You know, although they're similar, there's still a difference, you know, in them.
So obviously one difference is this one was thorny. You know,
it would, you know, there was one species in Israel that would bear fruit that
actually, you know, it would bear fruit.
But the thing is, though, is this fruit, it didn't really have any nutritional value.
So imagine that, you know, this basically this bramble was of no value.
(34:02):
You. It was basically worthless.
And that's kind of what he was saying. He was saying that you basically,
you brought upon your, you brought your own destruction upon yourselves through,
for, through a worthless and stupid decision, basically.
I mean, I don't know any other way to say it, but he's saying it obviously in
a more friendlier manner, but he's basically telling them, you know,
so again, the fruits of this ATAD, you know, they're basically very bitter.
(34:22):
They're very, you know, they're very tart.
You know, they're not, you know, they weren't really, didn't really have much
nutritional value like, you know, the juniper tree did or like the fig or like
fig tree or like the olive tree and those things.
So anyway, he goes and he basically says, you know, notice the difference in
demeanor, you know, when he compares Abimelech to the bramble,
you know, he said, if ye in truth anoint me king over you, then come and put
(34:45):
your trust in my shadow, you know, so put trust in me.
But, you know, he obviously, you know, he had obviously a different agenda,
clearly, you know, when he killed all of, you know, his brothers and all those
things of Gideon's house, you know, so anyway, the point that I'm another point
that I kind of want to make too is, you know, think about it.
If you were to try to pick any of the fruit off this tree, you know,
you're going to get hung up in these thorns, you know, it's going to cut you
(35:07):
up, you know, so complete polar opposite of what the juniper was like, right?
You know, so basically the point that he's trying to make here and,
and he's basically showing them that, look, you know, you've really messed up
by putting a beam like in power here.
And later on, actually a little spoiler alert later on, when you dive into this,
you know, you come to find out, you You know, Shisham, you know,
(35:27):
Abimelech only reigned over Israel for three years.
But then God, you know, after this parable, God, you know, and after,
you know, Jotham ran over to Be'er.
You know, basically what happened was God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech
and the men of Shisham. So he caused a massive amount of problem.
You know, think about this too. You know, you start, you know,
when you're walking through the woods and you get caught up on thorns,
(35:49):
what do they do? They hang on you.
And, you know, sometimes, you know, we don't understand that our decisions.
You know, sometimes we got to learn the hard way that our decisions,
you know, those are things that can really hold us up and hang us up.
You know, those are things that can really do more damage than any good,
you know, and that's basically why he's being compared to this bramble tree.
You know, something else, one last detail about this bramble that I had dug
up that I found interesting is it is very widely believed and thought that the
(36:14):
crown of thorns that was plated on top of Jesus Christ's head was made from
the branches of this bramble tree,
you know, is actually what a lot of people, and honestly,
you know, reading into the characteristics, it makes total sense as to why,
you know, that scholars believe that they would actually that they use the bramble
tree to plate, you know, the crown of thorns onto his head, you know, and those things.
(36:38):
So the point that I'm trying to make here is that, you know,
these trees, you know, when you start looking at the significance of them,
you know, and the characteristics of them, you know, there is a very big,
there's a deep meaning to them and a purpose for why they're being brought into the scripture.
And in this parable, you could see, you know, all these trees have,
why would they leave the things of value to go and do, you know,
(37:00):
basically king of Israel, you know, and I think what it boils down to is Gideon,
you know, and he even asked them, basically, you know, are you really bringing
honor to, you know, which,
you know, are you really bringing honor, you know, verse 16,
now, therefore, if you have done truly and sincerely in that you have made Abimele king.
So if you didn't do it just out of, just because he wanted you guys to and was
your brother, then is your decision dealing well with Gideon and his household,
(37:25):
you know, clearly it's not, you know, it's not, but that's all that I really feel.
I know a little bit of a shorter episode here tonight, you know,
because like as we dive into more of these trees and stuff, you know,
this is definitely not going to be a one parter, I guess you could say.
But, you know, those are the only two that I really feel led to dive into tonight.
But, you know, as always, you know, if you if the platform that you listen from
allows you to add questions or comments, I do click on those to see,
(37:48):
you know, if anybody has any of those things. So feel free.
But either way, you know, I
just want to once again thank everybody for tuning in and until next time.
Welcome back once again to my KJV Bible Teaching Podcast.
I'm thankful once again, as I always say, for the opportunity to be able to
dive into God's Word and just want to thank all my listeners that have been
eagerly tuning in and eagerly listening and awaiting another episode.
Just want to appreciate all your guys' patience with everything.
My son had a tonsil surgery that really kind of threw off my whole entire month,
(00:22):
and so I do apologize for the lack thereof of content that I've uploaded this
month, but we're definitely looking to get right back into it and to dive into
more scriptures and upload more content.
And I'm kind of hoping as well, you know, I had mentioned earlier on when I
first started this podcast, which was over two years ago now,
you know, where I had mentioned that I was wanting to get other people involved
(00:43):
with this, you know, as well, and hopefully other preachers.
So, you know, I'm definitely praying about that.
And I ask you guys to help me, those that are listening as well,
to help me pray about that as well.
You know, I've got plenty of options and just want to do, you know,
just want to pick the right one.
And, you know, I can already think of like several that I'm sure would be willing to do it.
But, you know, but anyway, you know, it would be really exciting to be able
(01:03):
to get them on these episodes.
So, you know, this topic, you know, I know that we had been earlier on,
we had been going and studying and diving into the misconceptions with,
you know, basically what it means to be once saved, always saved.
You know, we were typing into those things.
And but for a moment, I do want to sidestep.
(01:24):
Studying something for a while now and, you know, just how good God's been with this is,
I mean, the way he's opened my eyes on this topic has been absolutely astounding,
you know, and it's given me like a new perspective of, you know,
gospel accounts and different accounts in these scriptures of,
you know, what, with what, you know, these plants and these trees mean,
you know, so I know what you're thinking right off the bat is,
(01:47):
you know, right off the bat, it's so easy to, you know, think like, man, you know, trees,
you know, there's not really going to be that much to it, you know,
when you start thinking about those things.
But the truth about it is that there is actually the trees that are mentioned
in scripture, majority of them do have a very deep meaning and all that.
It's not over spiritualizing them, but you can kind of see just how with God,
(02:07):
with every single detail of the scripture, you know, intentionally,
you know, brought these trees and these plants into play for a reason,
you know, just real quick example,
the tree of life, you know, completely intentional, you know,
when you dive into those, but there's a lot of And then, of course,
too, I will say just like any other topics, you know, there's some trees that
were, yeah, they were intentionally placed in there, but they don't really have a lot of meaning.
(02:28):
They're just a tree that appeared in the scriptures, you know,
so you do have that as well.
But there's one particular account that might be quite familiar to you that
I kind of want to dive into. It's actually over here in 1 Kings chapter 19.
And I just, you know, I kind of wrestled with this because I was like,
you know, I had started listening.
I do listen to other content very frequently and, you know, on scripture,
(02:49):
you know, because I just, I just have that strong, earnest desire in me to learn
more about God's word and to understand it more.
And, you know, and, and really even some small details, I'll say that,
you know, are they, they're not only intentional, but they have a very deep
meaning to them, you know?
So the first account, like I said, very familiar, first Kings chapter 19.
And, you know, the two actually trees that I would like to focus on during this
(03:13):
study are the juniper tree and the brambles, you know, that are mentioned in
two different accounts.
And, you know, we'll go and expound, you know, on the details of these.
And then what I will, where I'm going to task you to do is to kind of hear,
you know, the different,
you know, what I'm going to task you to do is to actually dive in the first
off, you know, hear kind of what I have to say with these things and what God
has shown me, but I'm going to task you to go and dive into the scriptures so
(03:35):
you can see these things for yourself,
you know, and I'm telling you, you know, God will open your eyes to a lot of
different things that you never really knew were in scripture.
You know, but, you know, I'm not
saying that this knowledge is anything of hidden that can't be obtained.
No, no, that's not at all what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is definitely
look at these for yourself and, you know, and see what God chose you with them
is what I'm trying to say.
(03:55):
So 1 Kings chapter 19, we'll go ahead and start reading and then we'll start
expounding on, you know, the juniper tree actually is what we're going to dive into.
So this was actually when Elijah had already, what he had done is he had already
slew the prophets of Baal and Jezebel was Phoenician, you know, princess.
You know, she was the daughter of Ephbaal, but also too, she was married to
(04:16):
King Ahab, the king of Israel at that particular time.
But what we do know in history is that these two were like, you know,
Ahab was one of the most wicked kings that you read about in history of Israel.
And Jezebel was obviously a wicked queen, obviously. leave. So anyway,
let's go ahead and dive in.
It says, And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had
(04:37):
slain all the prophets with the sword.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me,
and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
And when he had saw that, he arose and went for his life, and came to Beersheba,
which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree.
(05:00):
And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough now,
O Lord, take away my life for I am not better than my father's.
And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched
him and said unto him, arise and eat.
And he looked and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise
of water at his head. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again.
And the angel came to again to him a second time and touched him and said,
(05:23):
arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee.
And he arose and did eat and drink. And he went in the strength of that meat
40 days and 49 Sunday horror of the Mount of God.
You know so you know we'll definitely read
further into this for sure you know because it's too good not to you
know I mean for when he goes into the cave but what I
really want to focus on in this account is the juniper tree and the details
(05:45):
about it so the juniper tree I'm just going to dive in right in you know so
the juniper tree I'm just going to go ahead and expound some details that I
had learned about this juniper tree you know first off you know I think it's
important to understand you know what it's also referred to as you know the
Hebrew the Hebrew and the Greek definition,
I can't remember if it was the Hebrew or Greek interlinear. It was one of them.
It's also, it's referred to as the Rotem tree is actually what you'll find,
(06:08):
you know, with the Hebrew and Greek, but also too with this Rotem tree,
what was beautiful about it is, and amazing about it is it's also referred to
in scripture as a broom tree,
which is literally the same thing as a juniper tree.
But, you know, basically some characteristics of this tree, I think are very
important to understand.
And it really will give you some more perspective on what's going on in this account right here.
(06:29):
So first off, oftentimes it would reach into heights of like up to like 10 feet high.
The canopy, and this is kind of where I would always stop whenever I would even
attempt to try to look at the juniper tree, is the canopy, the way it would
bloom up, it had very sheltering properties.
It would bloom very lush, very thick.
And, you know, the nice part about it is when Elijah had sat down under this
(06:53):
tree, basically the beautiful part about it is obviously he immediately had
shelter because of the way that the canopy was.
So then, you know, something else that I found a little interesting that I had
kind of dug up is that oftentimes this tree can grow in rocky places.
You know, I thought that was very interesting. And we'll expound on that a little
more on just kind of what God showed me with that.
Oftentimes, you know, with the juniper tree, it'll have white blooms.
(07:16):
You know, so this is kind of where we get into,
you know, this characteristic is kind of where we really, really get into the
nitty gritty of, you know, what, so what, how this ties into the canopy and
how this ties into the tree and how it's so of importance.
And so I just encourage you, you know, just to hang in there with me.
So the roots, you know, the roots are very important here.
(07:36):
And the roots, one thing that I found in Israel over there is actually,
you know, one thing I found very interesting is oftentimes that the roots,
they were actually used as a fuel source over there in Israel.
And actually, and I'll show you kind of how, you know, they would actually,
and you might be saying, well, how would they use it as a fuel source?
Well, the nice part about it is they would actually make coal over there in biblical times.
(07:57):
And I don't know if they still do or not, but, you know, in biblical times,
they would actually make coal out of these roots because they would burn for a very long time.
But they it wasn't. And again, with coal, you know, you know that if you're
familiar with any type of grilling at all, you know, obviously with coal, it's not about flame.
It's all about, you know, the heat that they put off and how long the coal will actually last.
You know, something else that I found interesting, too, is, you know, this coal.
(08:20):
The thing that I found that was amazing about this coal is that like it would
oftentimes, you know, because of the type of climate that they were in,
And, you know, the roots would sometimes burn from the inside,
but the outside wouldn't appear that way at all.
You know, so immediately one thing that God kind of reminded me of scripturally
is, you know, how Jeremiah, what did Jeremiah say about, you know, the word of God?
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He said, the word of God is as a fire shut up in my bones.
So I immediately thought the roots, you know, being rooted in Christ,
you know, his word to me being him being the word, like what in the very first
chapter of the gospel of John talks about, you know, I immediately thought,
man, you know, that's awesome. him.
You know, I'm rooted in Christ, but the best part about it is he's my fuel source.
You know, he's the one that, you know, he burns inside of me,
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but most of all too, he's the one that gives me everything that I need to keep on going.
And just kind of leave that detail in the back of your mind as we kind of continue
to dive into this on what's going on with Elijah.
So oftentimes too, you know, the broom trees, you know, so as far as the geographical
location, you know, and these are all things that you can look up on your own
again, you know, they were often found in the wilderness of Beersheba.
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And I think this detail is extremely, very, very important too.
So kind of bookmark that and make a mental note of that if you would.
So it was found in the wilderness of Beersheba. Actually, if you look over there
in Numbers chapter 33, verse 18, you'll also notice that there was a place called Rithma.
Now, Rithma, actually, you know, one thing I found very interesting while digging
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in and researching this tree is that Rithma was also known as,
you know, the place of the brooms. And this was a place that the children of
Israel had stopped and camped, you know, while they were journeying into the promised land.
You know, I thought that was awesome. You know, they imagine that they stop
and they camp at a tree that provides shelter.
Now they have a fuel source. course, you know, the main thing that I'm going
to say this, you know, kind of a spoil alert is that, you know,
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with this juniper tree, Elijah had everything that he needed just by sitting under this tree.
You know, and you might say, well, where are you getting that preacher?
Well, let's go ahead and continue to dive into it. So first off,
you know, to expound a little more, you know, Elijah is running for his life
in this particular time.
And at this point, you know, he's discouraged, you know, clearly he's very abundantly
discouraged at this particular time.
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And he sits under this tree, you know, basically asking the Lord to die,
you know, pretty much at this point, as it says in verse four.
And what he's basically saying that, you know, for he's not better than his
father's, you know, he's over critiquing himself.
You know, he's he's being very hard
on himself. You know, don't we have a tendency to be like that at times?
You know, we'll you know, we'll over critique every little thing that we do.
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We say and we do, you know, as a Christian.
And I'm not saying that we shouldn't care about those things,
but we'll over critique ourselves to the point to where and I can definitely
say this. I am extremely guilty of this. us.
We over critique ourselves to the point to where it's almost like a stumbling block to us.
You know, we're harder on ourself than what we even God wants us to be at times.
You know, we have a tendency to be that. And I feel like, you know,
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kind of Elijah was most certainly, you know, and I believe God was also teaching
him some things here as well. You know, absolutely.
But we see right here, you know, on how, you know, that Elijah is sitting under
this tree, you know, so now he's got shelter.
So then he says in verse five, and as he lay and slept under of the juniper
tree, behold, there an angel touched him and said, arise and eat.
And he looked and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruise
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of water at his head. So don't you find it a coincidence?
You know, I'm just going to throw this out here now. Granted,
you know, when I say this, I want you to understand that God can work through
the supernatural, you know, the coals, you know, the angel, he could have made
the angel, you know, bring.
You know, the angel of the Lord could have brought, you know,
the coals, you know, there already, but it just, it just so happens to be why
Elijah is sitting under this tree that all of a sudden now he's baking this cake over the coals.
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Imagine that, you know, because again, just like we had said,
you know, one of the, the roots of this tree were oftentimes they were used as a fuel source.
My goodness, you know, that's awesome. So we see the angel is even taking advantage,
you know, the angel of Lord is taking advantage of the coals here and he's making
a cake over it because Elijah, you know, at his weakest and lowest point,
he's trying to give them strength.
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So now we're, you know, you see how the story is building here,
you know, right. You know, first off, you know, Elijah's at his weakest moment. He wants to die.
He's under this tree, not even realizing it at the particular time.
He might have known that it provides shelter, but my question is,
did he know that it was actually a fuel source? Now...
We have shelter. Now we have, he's getting strength. We have sustenance. We have fuel.
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Are you seeing how this is building? Like, it's amazing, you know,
and how God just kind of completely changed this account for me.
And then he said, he laid down again and it says, and the angel of the Lord
came again a second time and touched him and arise and eat for the journey is too great for thee.
And he arose and did he and drank and went into the strength of that meat for 40 days and 49.
So the horror of the Mount of God, you know, so I'll tell you,
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you know, oftentimes, you You know, I know there's kind of a stigma out there
where people try to say, well, man, you know, sometimes, you know,
people have a tendency to over-spiritualize scripture.
But the truth is, though, is that, you know, just like in Revelation,
you know, he turned and was in the spirit in the Lord's day.
You know, I mean, what other way do you read the scriptures?
You know, it's kind of my challenge to that point is, you know,
so you read it through and by the spirit.
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I can't help but see Jesus Christ all over this, I guess is what I'm trying
to say, just through this juniper tree alone, because think about it.
You know, first off, you know, another, and we'll get into that point over there too.
But first off, you know, everything again, and I'm going to reiterate this again,
everything Elijah needed was right under this tree, you know,
and I'll just throw this out here, too.
And this is kind of another detail that I found that was interesting.
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Actually, turn over here to Job and just keep your thumb in this chapter over
here because we're going to come back.
But Job chapter 30 actually, you know, kind of mentioned a detail that I thought
was rather important. So Job chapter 30, verse 4.
Now, these roots of this juniper tree, Job kind of makes a point,
and I know that there's usually a deeper meaning here about this tree,
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you know, and there's probably a deeper meaning as to what Job is actually saying
here, but just to prove the point that you can actually eat the roots of this tree.
And you might be saying, well, why on earth would I do that?
Well, in a time of disparity, kind of like similar like Elijah would be in,
in a time of disparity, you know, if you needed, you know, sustenance,
imagine that you could sit under this tree and you can actually get sustenance by eating the roots.
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So Job chapter 30, oh, I turned to chapter four. It probably helped if I went to the right chapter.
Job chapter 30, verse four. So he kind of talks about this, you know,
actually Job kind of mentions, and like I said, I know there's a deeper meaning
here, but he had talked about and made reference to basically using the juniper roots as meat.
So he says right here, who cut up the mallows by the bushes in the juniper roots for their meat.
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So you can see right here immediately that you can actually eat these roots, you know.
So while diving into this and researching this even more, one thing that I found
is I thought it was quite interesting that, and again, in a time of disparity,
you know, these roots, they have a tendency, they have a bitter taste to them,
but the nutritional properties of these roots and all that was actually enough
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to actually kind of help sustain somebody in their time of need.
So again, you know, isn't that again a big picture?
Don't you to see Christ all over that because Christ, what is he?
He sustains us. We need him.
So he sustains us in our time of need. We need him all day, every day.
He is able to sustain us in those things.
Let's go to actually Psalms chapter 120, and I just kind of want to further
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solidify on how, you know, how the writer kind of wrote in this song,
how, you know, you can use the roots as coals, you know, so I found this reference
to be quite interesting.
So Psalms 120, verse four, again, I know, I understand that,
you know, there's, you know, probably a deeper meaning here,
but again, it just goes to show on how there's a reference on how they could
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use some of these roots as, you know, of the juniper tree as coal.
Coal so anyway the writer wrote you know and this is a
psalm of they call it a
song of a psalm a song of accents or a song of
degrees but anyway he says sharp arrows
of the mighty with coals of juniper so i just wanted to the whole point of that
is i just wanted to use scripture to show you that look you know there's even
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scriptural references where it was a known fact that you could use these coals
as you know a fuel source and as coals i thought that was amazing but But isn't it amazing that,
you know, Elijah here, now going back over to 1 Kings chapter 19.
You know, isn't it amazing that, you know, when, you know, you read accounts
like this, you know, these are things that we would typically,
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I'm just going to say this and I'll just speak for myself, you know,
maybe you're not like that.
And if you are, bless your heart, you know, but these are often things that
you just read past and just overlook, right?
You know, so who would have thought, you know, that, you know,
you could use the roots as a fuel source, but then here's also the beautiful
part about it too, all right?
So they can use these roots, you know, so my question is, okay,
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so use them as coals, you know, we know that coal puts off heat.
Heat so again you know if you're cold you know you can be heated
back up you know my goodness that's awesome isn't it you know just
like you know you read there's i i think it's actually over there in
revelation actually there's a letter over there to one of the churches where
it whole blood and says you know that if you're lukewarm he'll spew you out
him out he would rather you be either hot or cold beautiful part about it is
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if you're hot you're on fire for god if you're cold you know you could be warmed
back up but he doesn't want you to just be kind of so so and in between is basically
kind of what i get out of that you know beautiful part about it is in our weakest moment,
you know, when we're cold, you know, we have a way to be heated up.
You know, Elijah had a way to definitely be heated up, you know,
but again, just so happens that Elijah, you know, sat under this tree and I
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can't help but believe and think, you know, that maybe he sat under this tree
knowing, hey, I got shelter here.
But if he wanted to die, my thing is I don't think he was really focusing on,
oh, well, how do I survive?
That seems a little contrary to what But this account is saying, right?
So he sits under this tree unknowingly, and God completely uses everything around
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him to basically sustain him.
And it says right here in verse 8 that it was enough meat and strength to sustain
him for 40 days and 40 nights to get to Mount Horeb, you know, the Mount of God.
You know, I thought that was absolutely amazing. The fact that,
you know, again, this tree, the significance of this tree, you know,
it was absolutely amazing to dive into. to.
So just to finish up the chapter before we move on, you know,
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that's a, I will say, you know, that's something that I found quite amazing,
you know, diving into the juniper tree, but to finish the account and it says,
and, you know, look how much farther, you know, it's like, I'm just going to
throw this out here, just kind of thoroughly examining, you know,
this account a little bit.
It almost seems like he had enough strength to get to Mount Hor,
but he still kind of continues to go in this little bit of a downward spiral until he finally,
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you know, eventually God God encourages them enough to keep going and lets them
know in verse 18 that he has 7,000 in Israel that did not bow a knee unto Baal,
you know, so how encouraging God is sustaining him for the journey and him really
not even knowing it, but on top of it, you know, and maybe he did know it.
We don't know, you know, but the point that I'm trying to make,
though, is how I can't help but think how many times in our journey,
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in our walk, do we get to places where like We're so focused on,
we fixate on one particular detail in our weakness.
We focus on one particular detail on what's making us weak and how hard it is and how awful it is.
But God in the behind the scenes is working the entire time.
My goodness, I can't help but think that.
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You know, so anyway, it says in verse nine, and he came to there under a cave
and lodged there and behold, the word of the Lord came on him.
And he said on him, what doest thou here, Elijah?
And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts,
for the children of Israel have forsaken my covenant, thrown down my altars
and slain my prophets with the sword.
And I, even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away.
And he said, go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord.
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And behold, the Lord passed by in a great and strong wind, rent the mountains
and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord.
But the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake of fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire is still small voice.
And it was so when Elijah heard it, that he had wrapped his face in his mantle
and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave.
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And behold, there came a voice unto him and said, what doest thou hear Elijah?
So how many times in our life do we get to these certain points or pinnacles in our life?
And we step back and we kind of ask ourselves, you know, God's asking us,
what are you doing here? Why are you still here?
Just like there was a time over there in Deuteronomy where God had told them,
you've come past this mountain enough, it's time to move on.
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Sometimes we get into states like that.
So anyway, obviously we hear, we know that God wasn't in the wind or the earthquake
or those things, but then the still small voice is what got Elijah's attention.
I'm thankful for that still small voice, aren't you? I trust and pray that you are.
But to continue on, just to keep going a little bit further,
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there's actually one more particular tree slash bush that I kind of want to focus on.
And the account is actually mainly over there in Judges chapter nine.
So this is just what God put on my heart to teach and to expound on.
And I think this account is extremely important, too, because God actually used,
I believe that God uses Jotham in this particular instant.
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You know, Jotham actually presents, he shouts it actually down from Mount Gerizim.
He's shouting this parable, you know, basically to the people to kind of show,
you know, and in the parable, just imagine this,
he uses trees in the parable to basically address, rest, you know,
their painful and worthless mistake that they had made, you know,
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with putting Abimelech in as their king,
you know, so we'll go ahead and start expounding on that.
But, you know, basically it's the bramble that I want to focus on over here,
you know, so we'll start in Judges 9.1 and it says,
And Abimelech, the son of Jerubabbel, went to Shishim unto his mother's brethren
and communed with them and with all the family of the house of his mother's
father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shishim.
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Weather is better for you either that or
either that all the sons of jerubal jerub yeah
i think i'm saying that right which are three score and ten
persons reign over you or that one reign over you remember also that i am your
bone and your flesh and his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all
the men of shisham all the all these words in their hearts inclined to follow
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abimelech for they said he is our brother and they gave him three score and
ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-Bareth,
where Abimelech hired vain and light persons which followed him.
So just to kind of understand, you know, kind of the background of this.
So first off, who is Abimelech?
You know, obviously, or so earlier on in the actually the last chapter,
one thing I want to point out too, is that the people had wanted to put Gideon
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in basically as ruler and Gideon actually full-blown said no,
you know, because he said, it says in Judges 8 verse 23,
it says, and Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you,
neither shall my son rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you.
So it's abundantly clear that Abimelech probably obviously wasn't supposed to
be in this particular place, you know, in this particular position,
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you know, so who Abimelech was, he was obviously Gideon's son,
but his mother, you know, so this kind of gives you a little more understanding
as to who, you know, Abimelech was and kind of gives you a little more perspective
as to why he was doing what he was doing.
But his mother was actually, you know, one of Gideon's concubines that actually
came from Shishim. And I thought that detail was quite interesting and it kind
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of put it in perspective as to why he was so passionate about having,
you know, this particular throne.
So anyway, you know, what does Abimelech do in result of this? What does he do?
And, you know, first off, you know, they gave him, you know,
money out of the house of Baal.
I want to throw that out there, you know, Baal-Bareth, you know,
so immediately you could kind of see just real quick, right,
right, real quick in a hurry.
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They just, they put him in just because it was their brother,
you know, but then look what he does.
It says in verse five, and he went unto his father's house at Ophira and slew
his brethren, the sons of Jerubabbel, being three score and ten persons upon one stone.
Notwithstanding at Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubabbel was left,
for he hid himself himself.
And all the men of Shisham gathered together in all the house of Milo and went
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and made Abimelech king by the plane of the pillar that was in Shisham.
So, you know, obviously Abimelech, you know, he wanted to ensure that his spot was in that throne.
You know, he was, so what did he do? He removed basically all the people that
would technically be heirs to the throne.
He killed all of his own brothers, you know, killed every single one of them,
but he missed one and that was Jotham.
So then as we get further into this account, now we start getting into like,
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you know, the parable that Jotham, you know, screams on the top of Mount Gerizim.
So some, another detail that's important to this too, is like geographically,
you know, if you actually kind of, I actually heard this in a podcast and I
thought it was quite interesting.
Is that, you know, first off where Mount Gerizim was, you know,
basically Shisham lied in a valley is basically where it was.
And Gerizim was way up high, you know, kind of a little toward the left,
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I guess you can say, you know, it was up at a higher point to where,
you know, actually when he begins to shout down this parable,
you know, he's standing, Jotham is standing on the top of Mount Gerizim shouting
down to Shisham, you know, so I kind of see him, you know, just
given this parable with power and, you know, and with, you know,
even with the power of God, I'll go that far.
I believe wholeheartedly that he's trying to do it to get these people to think
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and to understand, you know, the mistake that they had made.
So without further ado, let's get in the parable. And it says in seven,
and when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim
and lifted up his voice. So I don't believe that he was doing it quietly.
I believe he was yelling it from the top of the mountain.
And cried and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shisham,
that God may hearken unto you.
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The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them. And they said unto
the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness wherewith by me?
They honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees.
And the tree said to the fig tree, Come thou and reign over us.
But the fig said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit,
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and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine,
Come thou and rain over us.
And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and
man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
Then said all the trees unto the bramble, you know, so this is the bramble is
actually kind of what I want to start diving into.
Come thou and rain over us. And the bramble said over the trees,
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If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow.
And if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
Now, therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely in that ye have made Abimelech king,
and if ye have dealt well with Jerubal in his house, and have done unto him
accordingly to the deserving of his hands,
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for my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you
out of the hand of Midian, and ye are risen up against my father's house this
day, and have slain his sons, three score and ten persons, upon one stone,
and have made Abimelech the son of his maidservant king over the men of Shishun,
because he is your brother.
If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jeroboam and with his house this
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day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.
But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shishum,
and the house of Milo, and let fire come out from the men of Shishum,
and from the house of Milo, and devour Abimelech.
And Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer, Beer, actually is how it's pronounced,
I found out, and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother.
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So, he's presenting this parable, and there's really deep meaning in here.
First off, you know, as he goes through the parable, he's kind of talking about
the previous judges that they kept continuing to try to put in rule with them,
but it seemed like every time one of the judges would pass away,
it would seem like they'd go right back down and turn into idolatry.
You know, there's like a repetitive cycle.
They would have a shepherd for a moment, and they would do good for a moment,
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but then they would go right back down.
So, Abimelech, you know, they put him in power, you know, just because he was
their brother, but we can see the heart of Abimelech, you know,
he obviously killed, you know, I mean, he clearly didn't deal with,
you know, his father's house very well, you know, in fact, if anything,
he brought shame to it. Now, how did he bring shame to it?
He, you know, by what he's doing, you know, his father, if he was anything like
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his father, you know, and that's kind of what the parable is basically talking
about, he would understand the value in serving God instead of God having to
continuously raise up judges and kings for them to follow.
You know, Gideon wanted them to look towards God, you know, because he said,
you know, in 23 of Judges 8, and Gideon said, I will not rule over you,
then neither shall my son rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you.
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So he wanted God to rule over their life.
You know, sometimes as God's people, we have a tendency to put things above our life.
You know, I guess you could say a priority in our life that we shouldn't be
given, and too much power or sanctity to.
And we kind of bring dishonor to God with those things. And how do we do that?
By putting those before him.
So we have a tendency to do that. But anyway, he's using these trees.
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So he's talking about first the olive tree.
We know all of these trees minus the bramble.
You know, are all trees of high value to Israel, you know, so the olive tree,
obviously, you know, you go through the grocery store, and I think I've said
this in a previous episode,
you walk through a grocery store, and you buy olive oil, olive oil is not cheap,
you know, it's not, you know, and olive oil obviously had a lot of,
you know, significant value to Israel as well, because, you know,
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they would make obviously the anointing oil out of the olive tree,
you know, and then the olives, you know, you would get the fruit off of those
things, you know, so they had olive oil had a lot of significance.
It was a very high value oil, you know, especially for like the olive presses,
you know, like olive presses, they had olive presses all throughout Israel.
It was a very high value, but it basically was saying, should I leave my fatness
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wherewith, wherewith by me, they honor God and man and go to be promoted over the trees.
So basically he's saying, you know, should I lift myself up and,
you know, to where they promote me over God, you know, is kind of what I'm getting out of that.
But then he goes to the fig tree, you know, of the figs, you know,
they were used for a lot of different things.
They would use the figs to make cakes and different things, you know,
so it's saying, should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit and go to be
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promoted over the trees?
So it's basically like this, he's bringing in all these trees of value and they're
basically kind of saying the same thing,
you know, it's talking about previous judges is kind of what I'm getting out
of that, you know, should they go and leave their place of value to go and do
something that they don't need to be doing? I think it's so important as God's people.
Again, we learn to appreciate what we do have in God and not put things above
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Him and leave the value of God and put things above Him.
I can't talk tonight, but basically, it's so important as God's people that
we don't put things above Him and make those of higher value than of God is
basically the overall point.
The vine, you know, so obviously off the vine, you know, they would obviously,
you know, they would get, you know, grapes, they would get different things
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saying, should I leave my wine, which cheereth God a man to go and be permitted over the trees,
you know, so we know scripturally and spiritually with the wine had a significant
meeting, you know, but wine was also, you know, it was a lot different than
what a lot of people think it was to a lot, you know, obviously,
you know, I'm not saying they didn't have alcoholic beverages back then,
you know, but the wine oftentimes in Israel was non-alcoholic.
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Like it was fruit juice is what it was, you know, and, you know,
and I'm not saying they didn't have fermented wine back then,
but I don't believe that, you know, I just can't help but not believe,
especially being that the way the Bible teaches to abstain from strong drinks,
you know, how the Bible teaches that I can't help but believe on the last supper
that the wine, you know, meant something totally different than what people make it out to be.
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You know, a lot of people take the significance of what the last supper stood
for and meant on how Jesus Christ was going to be, his body was going to be
broken and battered, you know, But on top of it, too, the wine stood for the
blood that he was going to shed on Calvary for us sinners, for the sin of man.
So a lot of people take that and they think, oh, well, he was just drinking
around the table with his disciples. No, he was breaking bread.
(31:58):
All of it was symbolic of what he was getting ready to go through.
But on how that we, when we take part in communion, when we commune with him, we take part in that.
We are baptized, just like you go and read about baptism.
It's not the water that saves us. It's a figure like over there in first Peter,
actually chapter two or three, if I remember correctly, it's a figure of how
(32:18):
we die out to our sin, but we're raised up in the newness of life.
You know, we are crucifying this flesh daily through Jesus Christ.
We are dead in Christ, but also alive in him through his resurrection.
You know, we take part in that resurrection.
You know, how is that? Because we are born again into the spirit.
So anyway, now the last but not least, you know, in 14, um.
(32:39):
All the trees basically look at the bramble. Now the bramble,
you know, the Hebrew, the Greek definition of it is an atad,
you know, an atad tree, or it's a thorn bush or a thorn tree.
And so the bramble, some characteristics of this, I think are very important. Okay.
So first off, some characteristics of this is, you know, basically it was a
very thorny bush that can grow tall like a tree, you know, it could grow real tall.
(33:00):
I will say too, you know, if you look at pictures of this, you know,
and these are also one thing in Israel, there was two types of species of jujubee
trees, you know, so that's one thing you'll find.
But there were some particularly characteristics of this.
And I think it's quite fascinating that, you know, Jotham here is comparing
a bemalik to this atad tree, you know, to this bramble.
(33:20):
Because think about it, it was a thorny tree, though, so that,
you know, it was a beautiful tree, though. I do want to throw that out there.
It was thorny, but it was beautiful, you know, and I begin to think and compare
it to the juniper that we were just talking about.
And it had a lot of similar characteristics. But the difference here,
though, is the characteristics of this tree are way different than the characteristics of the juniper.
(33:40):
You know, although they're similar, there's still a difference, you know, in them.
So obviously one difference is this one was thorny. You know,
it would, you know, there was one species in Israel that would bear fruit that
actually, you know, it would bear fruit.
But the thing is, though, is this fruit, it didn't really have any nutritional value.
So imagine that, you know, this basically this bramble was of no value.
(34:02):
You. It was basically worthless.
And that's kind of what he was saying. He was saying that you basically,
you brought upon your, you brought your own destruction upon yourselves through,
for, through a worthless and stupid decision, basically.
I mean, I don't know any other way to say it, but he's saying it obviously in
a more friendlier manner, but he's basically telling them, you know,
so again, the fruits of this ATAD, you know, they're basically very bitter.
(34:22):
They're very, you know, they're very tart.
You know, they're not, you know, they weren't really, didn't really have much
nutritional value like, you know, the juniper tree did or like the fig or like
fig tree or like the olive tree and those things.
So anyway, he goes and he basically says, you know, notice the difference in
demeanor, you know, when he compares Abimelech to the bramble,
you know, he said, if ye in truth anoint me king over you, then come and put
(34:45):
your trust in my shadow, you know, so put trust in me.
But, you know, he obviously, you know, he had obviously a different agenda,
clearly, you know, when he killed all of, you know, his brothers and all those
things of Gideon's house, you know, so anyway, the point that I'm another point
that I kind of want to make too is, you know, think about it.
If you were to try to pick any of the fruit off this tree, you know,
you're going to get hung up in these thorns, you know, it's going to cut you
(35:07):
up, you know, so complete polar opposite of what the juniper was like, right?
You know, so basically the point that he's trying to make here and,
and he's basically showing them that, look, you know, you've really messed up
by putting a beam like in power here.
And later on, actually a little spoiler alert later on, when you dive into this,
you know, you come to find out, you You know, Shisham, you know,
(35:27):
Abimelech only reigned over Israel for three years.
But then God, you know, after this parable, God, you know, and after,
you know, Jotham ran over to Be'er.
You know, basically what happened was God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech
and the men of Shisham. So he caused a massive amount of problem.
You know, think about this too. You know, you start, you know,
when you're walking through the woods and you get caught up on thorns,
(35:49):
what do they do? They hang on you.
And, you know, sometimes, you know, we don't understand that our decisions.
You know, sometimes we got to learn the hard way that our decisions,
you know, those are things that can really hold us up and hang us up.
You know, those are things that can really do more damage than any good,
you know, and that's basically why he's being compared to this bramble tree.
You know, something else, one last detail about this bramble that I had dug
up that I found interesting is it is very widely believed and thought that the
(36:14):
crown of thorns that was plated on top of Jesus Christ's head was made from
the branches of this bramble tree,
you know, is actually what a lot of people, and honestly,
you know, reading into the characteristics, it makes total sense as to why,
you know, that scholars believe that they would actually that they use the bramble
tree to plate, you know, the crown of thorns onto his head, you know, and those things.
(36:38):
So the point that I'm trying to make here is that, you know,
these trees, you know, when you start looking at the significance of them,
you know, and the characteristics of them, you know, there is a very big,
there's a deep meaning to them and a purpose for why they're being brought into the scripture.
And in this parable, you could see, you know, all these trees have,
why would they leave the things of value to go and do, you know,
(37:00):
basically king of Israel, you know, and I think what it boils down to is Gideon,
you know, and he even asked them, basically, you know, are you really bringing
honor to, you know, which,
you know, are you really bringing honor, you know, verse 16,
now, therefore, if you have done truly and sincerely in that you have made Abimele king.
So if you didn't do it just out of, just because he wanted you guys to and was
your brother, then is your decision dealing well with Gideon and his household,
(37:25):
you know, clearly it's not, you know, it's not, but that's all that I really feel.
I know a little bit of a shorter episode here tonight, you know,
because like as we dive into more of these trees and stuff, you know,
this is definitely not going to be a one parter, I guess you could say.
But, you know, those are the only two that I really feel led to dive into tonight.
But, you know, as always, you know, if you if the platform that you listen from
allows you to add questions or comments, I do click on those to see,
(37:48):
you know, if anybody has any of those things. So feel free.
But either way, you know, I
just want to once again thank everybody for tuning in and until next time.
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