Good morning,
Besides having a cup of coffee every morning ( Today I am drinking Door County Highlander Grog) I listen to the radio and one of my favorite stations broadcasts a daily Bible verse. This week I listened to Isaiah 55:13. It peaked my curiosity to finally look up and find out what a Myrtle tree was. Myrtle was also the name of my grandmother.
Isaiah. 55: 13
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
The myrtle (Myrtus communis) grows as either a shrub or a tree and is common in Israel and Lebanon, growing well in stony soil. It is capable of reaching a height of 9 m (30 ft) but is usually found as a shrub 2 to 3 m (7 to 10 ft) high. An evergreen, it is quite bushy in branch structure and has thick, shiny, dark-green leaves; it blossoms with clusters of fragrant white flowers that mature into blue-black berries. Almost the entire plant has a fragrant spicy oil used in perfumes. The berries, though aromatic, are edible. The myrtle is found today particularly in Upper Galilee and the valley of the Jordan, but it also grows in the Jerusalem area, as it evidently did at the time of Zechariah’s vision recorded at Zechariah 1:8-11, 16.
Fragrant branches of myrtle were used along with the branches of other trees to cover the temporary outdoor huts or booths used by the Hebrews during the Festival of Booths. (Ne 8:14, 15) In the restoration prophecies the myrtle tree with its fragrance and beauty is foretold to grow in place of the stinging nettle and to spring up even in the wilderness.—Isa 41:19; 55:13.
The significance here in the verse is that among places with thorns and weeds something beautiful can grow. As Jesus came to Earth as a man he grew in sinless beauty among us just as the Myrtle tree does. The tree is very fragrant as we are to be. Fragrant with the love of Jesus.
So! Now you know and so do I.
God bless,
Marty
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