56 THE PALMS OF EUUOPE AND AFRICA. 



brancbes, and palm branches, and branches of 

 thick trees to make booths, as it is written." 



This feast was instituted in commemoration 

 of their dwelUng in tents during their sojourn 

 in the wilderness, to remind them of God's 

 merc3^ and of his dealings Avith them while 

 wandering from Egypt to Canaan. We know 

 not why the palm was appointed to be used ; 

 perhaps to denote their joy, perhaps in token of 

 their triumph over their enemies, possibly to 

 remind them how God had provided rest and 

 refreshment for them beside the fountains and 

 beneath the palm trees of Elim. ItAvas beneath 

 a palm tree that Deborah dwelt, or, as some 

 understand it, sat, when she administered judg- 

 ment among the children of Israel ; and the 

 " palm tree of Deborah " was well-known and 

 oft resorted to by the tribes, wliich were then 

 under the heavy yoke of the Canaanites. 



The straight and elegant stature of the palm 

 is used in Solomon's Song as the emblem of the 

 beauty and strength of the church. " This thy 

 stature is like the palm tree ;" and the delight 

 of Christ in his church, his kind purposes 

 toward it, are expressed under the same figure 

 in the passage, following, " I said, I will go up 

 to tlie palm tree ; I will take hold of the 

 branches thereof." Homer uses the same com- 



