THE PALM TREE. 271 



The root of the palm tree produces a great number of suckers, 

 which, spreading upward, form a kind of forest. It was tinder a 

 little wood of this kind, as Calmet thinks, that the prophetess Deb- 

 orah dwelt between Ramah and Bethel, Judg. iv. 5. And probably 

 to this multiplication of the palm tree, as he suggests, the prophet 

 alludes, when he says, ' The righteous shall flourish like a palm 

 tree,' (Psal. xcii. 12. com p. Psal. i. 3,) rather than to its towering 

 height, as Dr. Shaw supposes. 



The palm is much fonder of water than many other trees of the 

 forest, and this will account for its flourishing so much better in some 

 places than in others. When Moses and his people, on their way, 

 to the promised land arrived at Elim, they found twelve wells of 

 water by the side of seventy palm trees, Exod. xv. 27. 



The prophet Jeremiah, describing, in a fine strain of irony, the 

 idols of the heathen, says, 'they are upright as the palm tree,' (chap. 

 ix. 5,) which Calmet takes to be an allusion to their shape, remark- 

 ing, from Diodorus Siculus, that the ancients, before the art of carv- 

 ing was carried to perfection, made their images all of a thickness, 

 straight, having their hands hanging down, and close to their sides, 

 the legs joined together, the eyes shut, with a very perpendicular 

 attitude, and not unlike the body of a palm tree. Such are the fig- 

 ures of those ancient Egyptian statues that still remain. 



The straight and lofty growth of the palm tree, its longevity and 

 great fecundity, the permanency and perpetual flourishing of its 

 leaves, and their form, resembling the solar rays, make it, says Mr. 

 Parkhurst, a very proper emblem of the natural, and thence of the 

 Divine, light. Hence in the holy place or sanctuary of the temple 

 (the emblem of Christ's body) palm trees were engraved on the 

 walla and doors between the coupled cherubs, 1 Kings vi. 29, 32, 

 35. Ezek. xli. 18, 19, 20, 25, 26. Hence, at the feast of Taberna- 

 cles branches of palm trees were to be used, among others, in mak- 

 ing their booths. Comp. Lev. xxiii. 30. Neh. viii. 15. Palm 

 branches were also used as emblems of victory, both by believers 

 and idolaters. Believers, by bearing palm branches after a victory, 

 or in triumph, meant to acknowledge the supreme Author of their 

 success and prosperity, and to carry on their thoughts to the Divine 

 Light, the great Conqueror over sin and death. Comp. 1 Mac. xiii. 

 51. 2 Mac. x. 7. John xii. 13. Rev. vii. 9. 



In Cant. vii. 7, the stature of the bride is compared to a palm 

 tree, which conveys a pleasing idea of her gracefulness and beauty. 



It is probable that Tamar, (Ezek. xlvii. 19, &c.) or Tadmor, (t 

 Kings ix. 18) built in the desert by Solomon, arid afterwards called 

 Palmyra by the Greeks, obtained its name from the number of palm 

 trees which grew about it. Mr. Parkhurst has a long and interest- 

 ing article on the subject, to which the reader is referred. 





