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Bible Dictionaries
Palm Tree
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or PALM.—Palm trees, though frequently referred to in the OT, are mentioned in connexion with the life of Christ only once: viz. in the account of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem (John 12:13). The English name (Lat. palma) is due to the similarity of the leaves of some kinds to the open hand. The term in Greek (applied only to a genus) is φοίνιξ, which gave its name to a town in Crete (Acts 27:12). The word also means ‘a Phoenician,’ ‘a purple colour,’ and the fabulous phœnix. In Revelation 7:9 it is used of the leaf (or so-called branch), which is usually called βαΐον
The palm tree is amongst the foremost both in beauty and in utility. It grows with uniform trunk, straight like the mast of a ship. The trunk is in some kinds smooth, in others clearly annulated, in others rough with the roots of former fronds. At the top the leaves (or fronds) spring out in a spreading circle or crown, while beneath them the flowers and clusters of fruit are formed. The tree is endogenous, without bark and without branch. The leaves vary in length from three to ‘thirty feet. And along the stalk on either side long leaflets grow close, presenting in many kinds (pinnated) the shape of an enlarged feather, in others, including most of the fan-shaped palms, a rounder, broader form of palmate or webbed configuration, while in the bi-pinnate caryota and the mauritia they have a triangular (or fish-tailed or wedge-shaped) appearance. The fruit is often valuable, and by incision the juice is obtained that makes palm wine. Palm trees are tropical and semi-tropical. Some grow near wells, as the palms of Elim (Exodus 15:27), but this may be attributed to culture; others flourish in sandy deserts; some are found in mountainous regions, and many rear themselves erect on wind-swept ridges. Besides yielding food, drink, and oil, they afford house-building material, and many are highly serviceable for the various uses to which fibres are applicable.
Palms have been divided into five tribes, over a hundred genera, over a thousand species: but there is a limited number of main kinds. The palm of Palestine is the date-palm. This tree (phœnix dactylifera, date being a contraction of dactylus, ‘finger’) rises gracefully to a height of from fifty to ninety feet. It grows in various climates and latitudes, but its fruit fails both in Europe and in India. The female tree (for the phœnix, unlike most others, is not hermaphrodite) bears a cluster which may contain 200 dates, and it may continue to bear for two hundred years. These fruits, which are half sugar, are a chief article of food in Arabia and North Africa. From an incision near the top the fermenting sap flows so as to yield in one month twenty gallons of wine or toddy. The pinnated leaves, which are of a deep) green colour and from 9 to 12 feet in length, are used to make mats and baskets, and the fibres of their stalks make cordage. The leaves also make thatch, and the trunk is useful timber. This tree abounded in the valley of the Jordan, but Jericho was specially the city of palm trees (Deuteronomy 34:3). A group of palms, with their magnificent crowns, might afford ample shade. Accordingly, we find that early in the history of Israel Deborah dwelt under her palm tree (Judges 4:5), while in the time of our Lord many of the Essenes were said to live in palm groves. Fructification is artificial or accidental; and forests may be cultivated that in years of famine will support the population of a country.
The palm, being upright, green, fruitful, and imposing, was an emblem of the righteous in their prosperity (Psalms 92:12). In appreciation of the beauty of its form it was carved on the walls and doors of the Temple (1 Kings 6:29; 1 Kings 6:32, cf. Ezekiel 40:16; Ezekiel 41:18). Its leaves were borne as symbols of rejoicing at the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:40) and also at the Maccabaean Feast of Dedication, of which the special feature was the illumination. This tall, firm, unbending tree, with its magnificent crown of fronds, with fruit and leaves that served for sustenance and ornament, was readily reckoned emblematic of moral qualities—rectitude, constancy, gracefulness, usefulness—such as are the constituents of success. The palm came to be regarded specially as the symbol of victory and triumph. It is in that sense that the name has acquired its metaphorical meaning. The winner (we say) carries off the palm. A period of exceptional prosperity is remembered as ‘palmy days’. ‘Another race hath been, and other palms are won’ (Wordsworth).
The carrying of palm leaves (τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων) by the people in honour Of the Messiah (John 12:13) was in accordance with the custom observed at feasts and on great public occasions. Jesus was saluted as a king proceeding to His coronation. The palms symbolized His triumph and the people’s joy. He allowed the homage of the multitude as the spontaneous expression of pure-minded loyalty. On the other hand, the Pharisees and officials regarded it as a challenge of their authority. The incident has been commemorated since the 5th cent. by the Greek and Latin Churches in the Palm Sunday (dominica palmarum, or feast of palm-leaves), immediately preceding Easter, at which palms are consecrated and a procession takes place.
The supreme expression of the palm as the symbol of triumphant homage is in the Apocalyptic vision, where the innumerable multitude who nave come through the great tribulation, and who serve God day and night, stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands (Revelation 7:9; Revelation 7:14).
Literature.—Artt. in Encyc. Brit.9 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , Chambers’s Encyc., the EBi [Note: Bi Encyclopaedia Biblica.] , and Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible ; Historiœ Palmarum by Martius; Griffiths’ Palms of British East India is a volume of illustrations.
R. Scott.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Palm Tree'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/palm-tree.html. 1906-1918.
