BEMA Episode Link: 28: Images of the Desert — Ar'ar and Tamarisk
Episode Length: 22:01
Published Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2017 01:00:00 -0700
Session 1
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings continue the series on images found in the desert, discussing the ar'ar and tamarisk trees and what they teach us about living in our own deserts.

Images of the Desert — Ar'ar and Tamarisk Presentation (PDF)

Discussion Video for BEMA 28

BEMA Schedule (no longer active) — See our current Groups page

Noga Hareuveni — Wikipedia

Written Works of Noga Hareuveni

Hebrew University — Wikipedia

BEMA 24: Creating a Space

Transcript for BEMA 28

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

Review

  • We’ve been talking about desert images.
  • We are coming toward the end of Torah
  • We went through Genesis
    • We talked about the Preface and the Introduction
    • The big ideas like who is G-d, who is man, what is this world like and what is G-d up to?
    • The Introduction Gen 12-50 then took us into the Family of G-d.
    • When we take these big picture ideas and apply them to real-life practical situations, this is what it looks like to partner with G-d as we wrestle with the story.
  • Exodus
    • Rescue from the plagues
    • Wedding at Mt. Sinai
    • The Honeymoon Suite called the Tabernacle (a retelling of Gen 1 where the priests will work)
  • Leviticus
    • People were previously told that if they partnered with G-d and entered into a covenant with him that they would become an entire Kingdom of Priests
    • Leviticus describes what it’s like to be a priest and what it means to be a priest as well.
    • The book becomes a manual for priesthood.
  • Numbers aka “Honeymoon in the Desert”
    • This is a time where the Israelites spend a honeymoon period in the desert.
    • In order to truly understand Numbers, the “Images of the Desert” episodes attempt to acquaint listeners with what the desert is really like.
    • Images
      • Shepherd
        • You learn about what it means to lead
        • What it means to listen to the voice
        • Two types of leadership: Empire (stick) vs Shalom (shepherd and voice)
          • Instead of leading with fear, coercion, and a stick, the desert teaches how to lead with our voice as a shepherd taking care of flocks of sheep.
      • Rotem Tree
        • We learned about the importance of shade.
        • Shade is something that you will never miss again as you read through scripture.
      • Acacia Tree

Ar’ar

  • There are images in the presentation.
  • The Ar’ar bush
  • This bush is a bright green, luscious bush with large fruit.
    • “It’s got to be delicious.”
  • This bush is in fact toxic
  • The fruit feels full and firm like a normal fruit however it’s mostly empty and makes a popping sound when it’s opened.
    • Its actual contents are mostly empty but also contains a toxic milky substance and some spider web looking material.
  • There is a lot of discussion and argument about the actual species of the trees and bushes that are mentioned in the Text.
  • Marty works off of the work of Noga Hareuveni.
    • Noga has taught the teachers that have taught him.
    • Noga believes that the bush mentioned in Jeremiah 17:5 is the Ar’ar.

      [Jer 17:5-8 NIV] 5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 That person will be like a bush (Hebrew says כְּעַרְעָר pronounced kuh-awr-awr meaning "like bush" or "like a bush") in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

      • Toward the end of this passage, we see the author mention another tree that resembles what we read about in Psalm 1.
      • When Noga identifies these two trees, he juxtaposes the ar’ar with the acacia.
      • Jeremiah is talking about two different people
        • One trusts in man, the power and strength of their own flesh. They do not trust in the Lord.
        • The other one trusts in the Lord rather than what they themselves are able to make and produce.
        • Jeremiah uses metaphor to illustrate the differences between the two people by describing these two trees.
        • The ar’ar bush, the one who trusts in man and looks great on the outside. It appears that he has it all together.
        • “The one who trusts in flesh is like an ar’ar bush. He looks amazing on the outside but inside he’s just full of death and toxic emptiness. However, the one who trusts in the Lord is like an acacia tree. He can look completely dead and then ten years later when the rain comes, it bursts to life. One looks alive on the outside but is actually the opposite inside. The other looks dead on the outside but deep down actually has what it takes to bring life and become the gift of the desert.”

Tamarisk

  • There are lots of different kinds of tamarisk. Trees, bushes, shrubs.
  • The tree though, is almost always planted.
  • It can grow naturally in its own habitat but it’s usually planted especially if you find it in the desert.
  • It is planted because it requires some work and cultivation.
  • The foliage of the tree absorbs the little bit of moisture that’s in the air and puts it out in its shade which is significantly cooler, 15% maybe, than the shade found elsewhere in the desert.
  • The other stunning thing about a tamarisk tree is that it takes 80 years to grow.
  • This means these trees are not typically planted for the person who planted the tree or even for his children.
  • Tamarisk trees are typically planted for grandchildren.
  • A rabbinic teaching that exists asks the question, “How many tamarisk trees did you plant today?”
    • How many things are you doing daily that will live beyond you? That your grandchildren will reap the benefits of?
    • Marty recalled the passionate discussion about spiritual disciplines and doing then whether he feels like doing them that day or not.
    • One of things that we learn in the desert is how to do things that will live far beyond us. To do things that we might never see the benefit of.
    • Hebrews 11, The Hall Of Faith: All the people that saw G-d’s promise and welcomed it from a distance because they knew that it would be together with us that their sacrifices would be made perfect.
    • A passage that we might normally read over but that Marty finds very moving is at the end of Genesis 21, Abimelek and Avraham make a treaty and at the end of the passage, Avraham plants a tamarisk tree.

      [Gen 21:32-34 NIV] 32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

    • Without studying the tamarisk tree, we would never realize the statement Avraham is making both internally and externally that even in his old age, he plants a tamarisk tree because he plans to be there for a long time. Even when his grandchildren come around, they will still be there. That is how much he trusts in the promise of G-d.
    • Brent asks if Jacob ever returns to the tree. If not, what does that say about Jacob?

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