Palm Branches Praise

Have you ever wondered about the palm branches repeatedly mentioned in God’s Word? Palm branches make several appearances in Scripture, always with a specific though somewhat elusive presence. Despite a little mystery, they are prominently featured in celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, adding their victorious stature as a horticultural hint to the triumphant nature that God intends for this party! However, with palm trees being out-of-reach tall, I always wondered how the Israelites carried out Moses’ and Nehemiah’s directive to “bring back branches:”

…they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters”—as it is written. Nehemiah 8:15 NIV

After all, those graceful-from-afar fronds are surfboard size in actuality—with spikey thorns, too. On a recent trip to Palm Desert, California, I was in close company with these exotic trees and gleaned marvelous insight to share, enlivening a few fun revelations just in time for Feast of Tabernacles beginning today, October 17 to 23, 2024.

Shields Date Garden

Shields date shakes are amazing! a unique desert treat to beat the heat! — *With their honeyed and spicy-pleasing taste, dates belong in desserts, a subtle play on words for their desert culture.*

My intriguing palm branches encounter happened at Shields Date Garden in Indio, just down the road from Palm Desert. Bible gardeners, this place is a must-see!

Located at the Shields 100-year-old date farm, Shields Date Garden was opened in 2012 in the original groves of E. Floyd Shields. He and his wife Bess imported their trees from Algeria, opened their operations on December 24, 1924, and helped establish America’s date production in this unique region—this one and only desert in all of our nation’s landscape has suitable conditions for cultivating dates.

Though the Shields had no children, and their production declined by the end of the last century, Greg and Heather Raumin teamed up with other local date farmers in the early 2000s, and have worked perseveringly to resurrect the land with loving, faithful care.

But we only went for the date shakes! Hoping to enjoy a sweet refreshment in hotter-than-Texas temperatures, my husband, son, and I wound up with a magnificent taste-and-see discovery.

Remember the palm trees that signaled water and rest during the Israelites’ desert exodus from Egypt (Exodus 15:27), their first success in Jericho, “City of Palms,” overcoming cities in the land promised to them (Joshua 6:1-21), and the yearly, joyful reminder of harvest and gathering in the Feast of Tabernacles festival (Nehemiah 8:15). Palm trees and their branches have played a celebratory part in God’s Word and guide our gardener’s hearts in Hosannas!
From “A Lenten Look at Trees: Palm,” Devotions Blog, www.gardeninDelight.com

The Walk at Shields Date Garden

Imagine my delight to discover that the old date palm groves are open to the public to walk among the towering beauties. We scooped up our shakes and headed out the back of the shop—with God’s exceeding abundance at work! Not only were the groves of trees accessible to explore, but The Walk at Shields includes a meandering path through the palms, highlighted by rustic, engaging, life-sized sculptures depicting the life of Jesus. Hosanna!

*The Life of Jesus, sculpted by Italian-born artist Severino Trinca (1927-2015)*

From Jesus’ birth in a sukkah-style shelter roofed with dried palm branches, to vignettes of his well-known stories, to his agony on the cross in front of a palm planting trio, The Walk amazed us with its forthright simplicity and earthy elegance. Our afternoon dessert turned into an appointment filled with praise, a date with the Lord, so to speak!

Palm Branches Mystery Solved

We learned much along the way, imprinted with the relatability of our Lord Jesus through the personable style of the artist’s handiwork. Date palm horticulture impressed us, too, as signposts noted various aspects of tree tending and keeping. Did you know that propagation is a key factor in date palm growing? A young date palm will produce shoots or “suckers” for the first two decades of its life. If left in place to grow roots of their own, which can take about 8 years, these offspring can then be divided and cultivated as new trees. It is much better to propagate by division than to grow a tree from seed, as dates will not grow true from seed.

“Date palms are like people – they too have their families during the younger years.”
E. Floyd Shields, The Romance and Sex Life of the Date, 1952, page 26

Younger date palms, then, are surrounded by offspring and very bushy-looking, with branches in easy reach, forming smaller and more manageable fronds than their elderly, established matriarchs emerging with slender, iconic forms. Mystery solved! Lulavs must have been made from such yearling trees.

palm branches reveal a shoot or sucker forming at the base of a more mature tree — Though date palms can bear fruit for most of their 100 year lifespans, Mr. Shields found that trees older than the 30 to 50 year mark became too tall to effectively manage pollination and fruit production. Raising up succeeding generations of fruit bearers was essential to his victory as a date grower.

Let’s raise those palm branches! Imagine the followers welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem and the elders surrounding His throne in the heavenly realm and let your heart fill with festivity while pausing in these precious Words:

Jesus' triumphal entry to Jerusalem - sculpture from The Walk at Shields Date Garden — *Jesus’ triumphal entry—I love his outstretched, welcoming arms!—tucked in the scale of towering palm trees*

The next day, the large crowd that had come for the Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Taking palm branches, they went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” John 12:12-13 EHV

I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing: Salvation to our God on his Throne! Salvation to the Lamb! All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing: Oh, Yes! The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, The honor and power and strength, To our God forever and ever and ever! Oh, Yes! Revelation 7:8-10 The Message

The Walk at Shields Date Garden depicts the life of Jesus - His cross is positioned among 3 palm trees (Luke 23:32) — *At The Walk,* Jesus’ *crucifixion is displayed among 3 palm trees (Luke 23:32)*

The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a Righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is right in the land. Jeremiah 23:5 NIV

But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him. 2 Corinthians 2:14 ISV

On the first day you shall gather fruit of majestic trees, branches of palms, and boughs of leafy trees and valley willows. Then for a week you shall make merry before the Lord, your God. Leviticus 23:40 NABRE

[Those who don’t love you] pushed me right up to the edge, and I was ready to fall, but you helped me triumph, and together we overcame them all. Lord, you are my true strength and my glory-song, my champion, my Savior! The joyful songs I now sing will be sung again in the hearts and homes of all your devoted lovers. My loud shouts of victory will echo throughout the land. For Yahweh’s right hand conquers valiantly! Psalm 118:13-15 TPT

…and I will bring them back to this place and cause them to dwell securely. 38 They will be My people, and I will be their God. Jeremiah 32:37-38 TLV

“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, and your tabernacles, O Israel! Like palm trees are they spread out, like gardens by the river’s side, like the aloe plant, which the Lord has planted, and like cedar trees beside the waters. He will pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed will be in many waters. Numbers 24:5-7 EHV

My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Ezekiel 37:27 NKJV

Beautiful! Beautiful! Beyond the sons of men! Elegant grace pours out through every word you speak. Truly God has anointed you, his favored one, for eternity! …In your glory and grandeur go forth in victory! Psalm 45:2, 4 TPT

O Lord, grant us salvation. O Lord, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Holding leafy branches, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. Psalm 118:25-28 NCB

Their buckets will brim with water, their seed will spread life everywhere. Numbers 24:7 The Message

From the days of the Tabernacles or Ingathering celebrations (Leviticus 23:40; Nehemiah 8:15) to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem seven days before his resurrection, with a crowd forming a procession, waving palm branches and joyously shouting “Hosanna!” (John 12:12 – 15), the palm tree and its evergreen branches remind us God has faithfully led his people to victory, bringing us out of bondage and blessing our harvests. The Lord is always leading us in triumphal procession (2 Corinthians 2:14). “Hosanna! Save, I pray!”
—from “Hosanna!” God’s Word for Gardeners Bible, page 229

God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge! Psalm 46:1 TPT

Then the Israelites arrived at Elim. There they found 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees. The Israelites put up their tents there, where there was water. Exodus 15:27 EASY

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for the blessings You put in our lives, especially Your Holy Word that is our life (Deuteronomy 32:47)—a Word filled with plants that You tucked in to attract our attention and keep us grounded in You. Like grapevines, date culture directs us to You and Your ways and immerses us in Your Fatherly devotion. You desire a sweet, fulfilling life for us surrounded by family, as young date palms display! Thank You for fresh revelations and deeper knowledge of You always at hand in garden and grove. I desire to walk with You…and follow and feast with You, too! May my praises overflow to You. In Jesus Name, Amen.

*Ripening dates must be sheltered from rain during their fall harvest season…yes, farm workers, called palmeros, ascend the soaring trees to cover every individual cluster of dates for protection*

“Look! God’s tabernacle is with human beings. And from now on he will tabernacle with them as their God. Now God himself will have his home with them—‘God-with-them’ will be their God!” Revelation 21:3 TPT

Date palm culture is fascinating, as intimate and hands-on as tending grapevines, wow! Read more about it in E. Floyd Shields booklet, Coachella Valley Desert Trails, The Salton Sea Saga and The Romance and Sex Life of the Date (Indio, Calif.: published by Shields Date Garden, I952). Available at ShieldsDateGarden.com Information in this post is also taken from Mr. Shields YouTube video – watch and enjoy – and a personal conversation with the owner.

sculpture from Shields Date Garden the Life of Jesus by Severino Trinca

The Walk at Shields Date Garden features life-sized vignettes from the life of Jesus, sculpted by Italian-born artist Severino Trinca (1927-2015), who had migrated to Canada. Originally commissioned for The Garden Chapel in Cariboo, Canada, Trinca’s work was unveiled on July 17, 1977. The collection was relocated to Shields in 2011, and The Walk was completed in 2013.

Do you love connecting God’s Word to your gardening work and the trees and plants around you? You will love my new book, My Father is the Gardener, Devotions in Botany and Gardening of the Bible, order at this link.

D is for Date Palm will teach you more about these victorious trees in the most delightful way! From A-to-Z Primer of Plants from God’s Word

fall feast begin with the Feast of Trumpets - like this decorative brass horn in a garden bed of wandering Jew

Read more from the Devotions Blog on Biblical Feasts

Find date palm in the 7 Species section of the Plant Guide

Try making your own date shake! See Date Palm Delights in the Devotions Blog

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