Palm-Tree

PALM-TREE. This was a Tree very common in Palestine. The Hebrews called it Thamar, and the Greeks Phœnix¹. The finest and best Palm-Trees were about Jericho and Engeddi. There were many also along the Banks of the Jordan, and towards Scythopolis. Jericho is sometimes called the City of Palm- Deut. xxxiv. 3.Trees. Besides Dates the Palm-Tree produces also a kind of Honey, which was little inferior to the common Honey²; and they likewise drew a Wine from it, which was much used in the Eastern Countries. St. Chrysostom and Theodoret think it was this Palm-Wine that Moses mentions by the Name of Sicera. See SICERA afterwards.

It is said in Job xxix. 18. Vulgat. Sicut palma multiplicabo dies. I shall multiply my Days as the Palm-Tree. Some Ancients read, I shall live as long as the Phœnix, But the Hebrew has³, I shall multiply my Days as the Sand. We have taken notice above, that the Greek Word Phœnix signifies a Palm-Tree; it is also put for a Phœnix or a Phenician. See our Dissertation, upon this Passage, printed before the Commentary upon Job.

The Palm, or a Branch of the Palm-Tree, is a Symbol of Victory, and was carried before the Conqueror in Processions and Rejoycing for having obtained a Victory. They also used to 1 Macc. xiii. 51. 2 Macc. x. 7. John xii. 13. 1 Macc. xiii. 37. 2 Macc. xiv. 4.send a golden Branch of a Palm-Tree to the Kings of Syria, as a kind of Tribute or Present. This they call baina in Greek. They also offered them in the Temple of Jerusalem. I conceive that all these Customs were derived from the Greeks; for I can find nothing of them in the Old Testament before the Maccabees.

The City of Palms⁴ is Jericho, as may be seen by the second Book of Chronicles; the Palm-trees of the Plain of Jericho are famous throughout the whole Scripture, and even in profane Authors. In the Temple of Jerusalem Solomon caused Pillars or Pillasters to be made, in the Form of Palm-trees; probably in Imita- 1 Kings vi. 29, &c. tion of the Egyptians, who had such Pillars in their Temples⁵.

Palm-trees from the same Root produce a great Number of Suckers, which form upwards a kind of Forest by their Spreading⁶: Procerioribus sylva, arbore ex ipsâ. ‘Twas under a little Wood of Palm-trees of this Kind, that the Prophetess Deborah Judg. iv. 5. Ps. xcii. 12.dwelt between Ramah and Bethel. ‘Twas probably to this Multiplication of the Palm-tree, that the Prophet makes Allusion when he says; The Righteous shall flourish like a Palm-tree.Eccl. l. 14. And Ecclesiasticus represents the Priests, the Sons of Aaron, round about the High-priest Onias, as so many young Palm-trees, that proceed from the Root of an old Palm-tree.

Jer. x. 5.Jeremiah says, speaking of the Idols of the Heathen which were carried in Procession, that they were made in the Shape of Palm-trees: In similitudinem palmæ fabricatæ sunt. The Cant. vii. 7. Cant. v. 11.Spouse in the Canticles is compared to a Palm-tree as to Stature. Statura tua assimilata est palmæ. This was a noble Comparison. The Palm-tree is upright and tall. The Antients, before the Art of Carving was carried to its Perfection, made their Images all of a Thickness, strait, having their Hands hanging down and close to their Sides, the Legs joined together, the Eyes shut, with a very disagreeable Attitude, and not unlike to the Body of a Palm-tree. Such are the Figures of those antique Egyptian Statues that still remain. ‘Twas the famous Architect and Carver, Dedalus that set their Legs at Liberty, opened their Eyes, and gave them a freer and easier attitude⁷.

The Spouse in the Canticles compares the Hair of her Lover to the Fruit of the male Palm-tree, and to the Blackness of the Raven. Comæ ejus quasi elatæ palmarum, nigræ quasi corvus. The Palm-tree produces its Leaves, or if you please its Hair, at the Top of its Trunk: Coma omnis in cacumine, says Pliny⁸. The Male Palm-tree makes the Female fruitful, by Means of a Flower which is inclosed in its Fruit. ‘Tis this Fruit of the Male Palm-tree which in Greek is called Elatæ⁹. The Comparison of a Head of Hair to the Branches of the Palm-tree is so much the more just, as these Leaves turn round like Curls, and their Extremities hang down towards the Ground. They are long, double, and strait like a Sword; its Flowers are fastened by a very small Stalk, they grow in Clusters, and resemble those of Saffron, except that they are smaller and white.

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