The parable of the trees! (Judges 9:8-15

by slimboyfat 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  slimboyfat

  Do you recall reading this passage before? I came across this it yesterday while preparing a Bible presentation on trees. I had no idea this passage existed. It’s a great wee story. How come I never heard about this at the Kingdom Hall? I looked it up in the index and there is only one brief mention of it in the Insight book and one brief mention in a Watchtower from 2008. Neither goes into detail. I suspect Rutherford probably had a “prophetic” interpretation of it however.

  Judges 9:8 The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ 9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ 12 And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 13 But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ 14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 15 And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
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  Sea Breeze

  I came across this it yesterday while preparing a Bible presentation on trees.

  SBF,

  Are you an active JW or was this for other purposes?
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  FFGhost

  I suspect Rutherford probably had a “prophetic” interpretation of it however.

  If you look up the passage on wol.jw.borg, you can see references to a lengthy (6+ pages in the large-format WT) covering all these verses in the 1935 Watchtower. In their numbering system it is pages 100-105.

  Of course they did not include the 1935 WT in their publications that can be linked to online.

  I don't remember if the large-format magazines were 16 or 32 pages long so I can't figure out the date of the issue. If 16 pages each it would be the April 1 1935 edition, if 32 pages each it would be the February 15 issue.
  
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  Earnest

  As FFGhost reported, there was an article in the 15th March 1935 Watchtower entitled "Prophecy of the Trees" (pp.83-90). In part it says (para. 7) :

  Both good and bad trees appear in this prophetic parable recorded in Judges nine. In symbol the inanimate objects represented the following :

  The olive tree in the parable symbolically pictured Gideon, Christ Jesus, the Greater Gideon, and the faithful remnant.

  The fig tree symbolically pictured Jether, the first-born of Gideon, and the “holy nation”.

  The vine symbolically pictured Jehovah’s royal house, Christ Jesus the Head thereof in charge of the royal house, together with the others who will have a part in the vindication of Jehovah’s name.

  The bramble, or thorn tree, in the parable symbolically pictured the visible rulers of this world that constitute the official element of Satan’s organization in the earth.

  Abimelech, the bastard son of Gideon by his concubine, played in the drama the part of the active and visible ruling elements of the world since 1914.

  Shechem, the city and the residents thereof, particularly the Levites, pictured the religious element, that is, the clergy element of “Christendom”, including “the man of sin” class.

  The “seventy sons” of Gideon pictured the followers of Christ Jesus engaged in doing the Elijah work of the church prior to and up to 1918.

  Jotham, the son of Gideon who uttered the prophecy of the trees, pictured the remnant.
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  EverApostate

  I thought the snake and Donkey were the only non human things that were talking in the Bible

  Adding trees now
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  waton

  Adding trees now

  EA: yeah, like the tree of life singing, "---here am I , eat me, eat me---" to the tune of a later k melody.
  
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  shepherdless

  I had heard or read of that passage ages ago. I see from Earnest’s post above, that Rutherford (as usual) came up with a pile of pseudo-mystical nonsense, in interpreting it.

  An interpretation in “Christendom” would likely be along the following lines. The first and most obvious point is to look at the context. Someone called Jotham gave a speech that included the tree allegory. It is clear in context that Jotham was not reporting an event; he was just being allegorical. Further, Jotham was speaking in order to persuade a crowd that Abimelech (who had just made himself king by force and murder) should not be accepted as king. The idea of brambles (a low-lying plant) offering shade is a joke, and brambles being a plant of no virtue, and also flammable (ie dangerous) is part of the allegory.

  Thus, the explanation and interpretation of the passage is relatively simple and straightforward; ie don’t choose a morally corrupt person as your ruler. (Also, notice how the least worthy tree/plant is the one to demand to be the ruler, or else.)
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  slimboyfat

  It was not JW related! But a Zoom Bible meeting. I made a presentation about trees in the Bible and included this passage that I have never noticed before.

  Great find Earnest! Trust old Rutherford to find the deeper meaning of the passage! Rutherford seem to follow a formula for reading OT passages along the lines: identify the Catholic Church in the story, identity the Protestant churches, and identify the true Christians/JWs. Either that or identify an anointed/other sheep distinction in the passage.

  My initial reading of the parable was that the fig tree, olive and vine shirked their responsibility and it fell to the humble bramble bush who ironically said he would accept kingship it the other trees crouched down under his shade. Probably totally wrong! I didn’t read the context. Don’t know why the cedars of Lebanon are mentioned for destruction at the end

  Worth pointing out that this is not a case of “talking trees” in the Bible because it’s obviously a story, or a “parable” as some seem to describe it.

  I just thought it was an excellent wee story that I’ve never heard mentioned in the Kingdom Hall.

  Waton tress are said to sing praises to Jehovah in 1 Chronicles 16:33.
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  FFGhost

  the deeper meaning of the passage

  Well. something was pretty deep in Rutherford's ramblings writings.
  
  
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  JoenB75

  I find it pretty remarkable that the Bible does not recommend having kings ruling (1 Samuel 8).