By popular demand Israel Today presents a virtual study tour of the Flora and Fauna of the Hebrew Bible with our own Sharona Liman. 

Israel Today conducts regular virtual study tours of modern Israel and the biblical landscape for our Members. We want to let all of you taste that experience in hopes you’ll join us next time!

See full recording below ↓

Courtesy Sharona Liman

“And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, and herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth’: and it was so.” (Genesis 1:11)

The people of biblical times, living in nature and working as farmers, had intimate hands-on knowledge of all these trees, bushes, flowers, and weeds. They knew their qualities and their demands. So when the olive branch is found by the dove in the story of Noah’s ark, people knew that the water had receded knowing that olive trees never grow very high. And when the same tree is mentioned by Jeremiah, they knew just how beautiful the olive tree is. Just by mentioning a familiar tree in a prophecy or story, the speaker added so much more meaning and depth without needing to explain.

Courtesy Sharona Liman

More than 100 species of trees are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Of the plants mentioned, the most common varieties may be identified with certainty or high probability.

The identity and characteristics of plants are essential to understand many Bible stories, and even more are connected to rituals and Temple worship. Most plants and trees are used in parables or as allegories.

Beginning with the Greeks, centuries of translations and interpretations of biblical text has obscured more than a few references. Often, when a translator encountered an unfamiliar plant name, he or she assigned it a familiar name, but not necessarily that of a plant growing in Egypt or Israel. This has led to much confusion, and researchers going back to the original biblical Hebrew face the task of deciphering names long forgotten.