Talking Trees

One of the questions most often debated among amateur

philosophers is whether or not a tree falling in the woods makes

any noise is no one is around to hear it? From a biblical

perspective there is never a time when the trees are not being

heard, for if we take seriously the Lordship of Christ over all

creation, then we know he hears not only the music of the spheres,

but the songs of the forests as well. They are perpetually making

sound, even when they are not falling.

Trees are very musical in the Bible. In I Chron. 16:33 we read,

"then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord." In

Ps. 96:12 we read again, "Then shall the trees of the wood sing for

joy before the Lord." Isaiah mentions the trees getting excited

several times. In 44:23 they break forth in singing, and in 55:12 all

the trees of the field clap their hands. All of this is figurative and

poetic language, but trees do literally make a variety of noises.

Bark peels off some with noise; bamboo grows so fast it whines.

The canon-ball and shotgun trees actually have fruit that explodes

and send seed flying up to 200 ft. There are crying trees on Pacific

Ocean islands. The flowers make a peculiar crying sound when

they open. The tropical Asian tree called the woman's tongue

rattles like mad from the seeds in a foot long pod as the wind

blows.

We seldom think about it, but trees do have more than a poetic

connection with music. Many of the musical instruments of the Old

Testament were made of wood, just as they are today. Man in his

dominion over the trees has used them to produce music for the

praise of God. We have modified trees in our piano and organ.

Trees have other connections as well, for they have inspired men to

write great music. One of the greatest examples is Beethoven.

Listen to his prayer to God in the woods. "Almighty One, in the

woods I am blessed...Every tree speaks through Thee, O God!

What glory is in the woodland! On the heights is peace, peace to

serve Him."

Bernard of Clairvoux wrote a number of hymns. The best

known is Jesus The Very Thought Of Thee. He wrote this in the

12th century. "What I know of the divine sciences and Holy

Scriptures, I learned in the woods and the fields. I have had no

other masters than the beeches and the oaks." Many true lovers

claim to learn much from the trees. This should not be surprising

to the Bible student, for the first reference to knowledge in the

Bible is connected with a tree. God filled the Garden of Eden with

trees of beautiful and delicious fruit, and one of them was the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil. Another unique tree that was

there was the tree of life. All who love Jesus Christ will one day ear

of this tree in heaven. It is the most unique tree ever, for Rev. 22:2

says it has 12 kinds of fruit, and yields its fruit each month. It will

be a perpetual fruit of the month club to have access to this tree in

heaven.

There is so much in Scripture about trees that we can only

survey the subject in one message. There are over 500 reference to

trees, and they play a major role in God's revelation. The text we

are looking at in Judges 9 is not the most important, but it is the

most conspicuous. There are only two fables in all of the Bible, and

both of them re fables of talking trees. Here and the other one is in

II Kings 14:9. The one here has a powerful political message.

Gideon, the great judge of Israel had 70 sons, and when he died one

of his sons by the name of Abimelech decided to eliminate all the

competition. He killed all of the sons of Gideon except Jotham. He

was the youngest, and he hid. The people then made Abimelech

their king by a great oak tree.

Jotham heard of this, and he came and stood on the side of the

mountain overlooking them. He spoke this fable as a political

speech. It has many valuable implications we cannot get into now,

but the gist of it is this: The highest places in the state should be

given only to the best of men. The tragedy, however, is that the

best men are often content to let someone else do the job. The

result is the greedy and unscrupulous get into places of leadership

and everyone suffers. Bad men become leaders because good men

would rather not get involved. The end result is they are involved