Palm Sunday is upon us. For many, it marks the week before Easter. Some churches celebrate Palm Sunday with their own special traditions, and others simply throw in an extra Hosannah song into worship. But whatever your level of observance, you may not know the significance of Palm trees in the Bible. Though Palm Sunday is arguably the most famous palm-centric Scripture passage, there are many earlier mentions of Palm trees. By the time Jesus entered Jerusalem on a colt for the Triumphal entry, the Jewish people had a long history with and appreciation for Palm trees. So, as you wave palms this Sunday or sing a worshipful Hosanna, these are the lesser-known Palm tree facts in the Bible you need to know first:
1. Palms were gathered for the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles is also known as Sukkot or the Feast of Booths. This annual Jewish holiday originated in Leviticus 23, where God tells the Israelites to spend eight days observing this feast, starting and ending with a sabbath day. The people would gather foliage and assemble small huts or “booths” where they would dwell. This was to remember the 40 years the ancient Jews wandered in the desert before God delivered them to the promised land. This was a feast that happened shortly after harvest time and allowed God’s people to both enjoy the fruit of their labor together and offer their firstfruits to God.
Leviticus 23:40 says, “And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.”
Later in Nehemiah 8:15, this concept is again referenced, stating, “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.”
During this feast, the people were also instructed to use a closed palm leaf called a “Lulav” in their daily prayers. The palm frond was bound together with leaves from three other plants and waved as prayers were recited.
Though there is a practicality to this because palms were prevalent in the region, the symbol of the Palm began to imprint itself on the Jewish mind as a symbol of triumph, provision, and peace.
2. Palm trees were all over the temple.
If you stepped into the ancient Jewish temple to worship Yahweh, you were bound to see a palm tree of two. Solomon’s temple was adorned with palm symbolism. In the Holy Place and the Holiest of Holies, the walls were covered with gold and adorned with palm trees and cherubim.
1 King 6:29 describes this, saying, “The walls on all sides of both the inner and the outer rooms had carved figures of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.” The carriages used for temple service were also decorated with palm trees. (1 Kings 7:36)
Ezekiel later depicts a similar image as he describes his angelic vision of the heavenly temple in chapter 41:25-26: “And on the doors of the main hall were carved cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls, and there was a wooden overhang on the front of the portico. On the sidewalls of the portico were narrow windows with palm trees carved on each side. The side rooms of the temple also had overhangs.”
You and I might associate palm trees with Florida or Palm Springs, which may carry with them slightly less “holy” connotations. But imagine what Palm trees meant to the ancient Jewish people! They would have associated these trees with the most sacred places on Earth!
3. Palm leaves represented victory.
Palm trees were a symbol of victory and triumph to the people of the ancient Near East. It might be helpful to associate the waving of palm branches with the way North Americans might wave the U.S. flag at a parade. It makes sense, then, that the Jewish people chose palm branches to welcome their Triumphal King into Jerusalem, where many of them expected He might overthrow the Roman empire and free their people from oppression. (Plot twist: He had something bigger in mind.)
Not only was the palm branch significant in Jewish tradition and religious practices, but it was also significant in the cultures and empires in power in that region. In ancient Roman culture, the word “palma” and the word victory were so closely related that they could be used interchangeably. A toga decorated with palms was worn as a sign of military victory, and lawyers decorated their doors with palm leaves after a triumphant legal battle. Palm branches were also awarded to Roman athletes after a win. The tree was considered sacred in ancient Assyrian culture, and the symbol was associated with many deities of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. So, in addition to the spiritual significance within the Jewish faith, the symbol would be even more culturally meaningful for Jews abiding in regions influenced by these peoples and empires.
4. Jericho was known as The City of Palms.
Though my midwestern roots rarely placed me on palm-lined streets, there are other areas of the U.S. where palms are commonplace. Residents of Florida or California might not give the trees a second thought, but there is still a visual brilliance to places where the palms are lush and flourishing. This was the case for the ancient city of Jericho. Though palms were common in the ancient Near East, the palms of Jericho must have made an impression because, according to Deuteronomy 34:3, Jericho was known as “the City of Palms.”
In a passage describing Moses’ travels around the plains of Moab, it says, “There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to him, ‘This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.’’”
There are a few other passages that also mention this title, showing us that palms were one thing the city of Jericho was known for.
5. Ash Wednesday ashes are made from the former year’s Palm Sunday palms.
For church traditions that don’t incorporate liturgical practices, this may need further explanation. Palm Sunday is fairly well known across church backgrounds, but Ash Wednesday may be foreign to some. Ash Wednesday falls on the first day of the season of Lent, which is 40 days before Easter Sunday. In preparation to celebrate the biggest Christian holiday, lent is a period of sacrifice and increased prayer and repentance which helps believers to meditate on their need for a savior and the joyful fulfillment of this in Christ’s death and resurrection.
On the first day of lent, many churches host a service in which ashes are spread on congregants’ foreheads along with a verbal reminder of their meaning, typically a version of, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Repent and believe the gospel.”
Several weeks later, churches gather to sing joyful songs on Palm Sunday in a procession where participants wave palm branches as they walk. The ashes for the following Ash Wednesday are made by burning these palm branches and mixing them with oil.
6. Palm trees can survive hurricanes.
Palms are incredibly resilient trees. They can survive harsh storms and strong winds that easily snap other trees in half like toothpicks. You’ve probably seen downed trees that were entirely uprooted or branches that split and fell during inclement weather. Most tree trunks are firm and unmoving. Though this is helpful for creating lumber, it also leaves tree trunks with very little flexibility as harsh winds push against them. At a certain point, the brittle wood splits or cracks under the pressure.
Palm trees are completely different. Their trunks are made from flexible fibers that can bend or sway. In fact, during hurricane winds, palms are known to bend almost in half without breaking. Their roots are also more flexible, so even though they are rotted in sandy soils, they are not easily uprooted by heavy wind. If we think of all that palms symbolize (victory, triumph, peace, fruitfulness, fertility, and eternal life) it makes sense that they are resilient to withstand life’s storms too.
7. Palm trees have many uses.
Not only can palms withstand crazy storms and grow tall even in desserts, they can also be used for dozens of things once harvested. Date palms, the palms most prevalent in the Middle East, can be used to produce dates, sugar, oil, wine, resin, honey, rope, thread, tannin, fuel, syrup, alcohol, vinegar, and wax. The leaves or fibers can also be used to make thread, rope, boat rigging, roof thatching, fences, house walls, mats, baskets, and even dishes. The date seeds are often ground up and fed to camels or cattle. It is a common Arab saying that the palm tree has as many uses as the year has days, and Syrians have numbered 360 different uses for the plant.
In addition to date palms, many other areas of the world have different types of palms that produce other fruit, like coconut. Chefs and scientists have found dozens of ways to use coconuts too – many of which you may use in your everyday life. They make coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream, and more!
8. You are like a palm tree.
Psalm 92 is one of my favorite psalms. It begins by acknowledging that sometimes it seems like the wicked are flourishing, which can be frustrating and unfair to people who are trying to live righteous lives. However, as the psalmist writes metaphors and allegories into the text, the wicked are compared to grass that springs up quickly but will be easily destroyed.
The verses go on to say, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.”
What does it mean to flourish like a palm tree? Read my last palm-centric post here to find out.
This passage emphasizes the same themes of resilience, victory, and peace we have discussed. But it also promises that when we root ourselves in God and find our rest in Him, we will truly flourish.
9. Palm trees get better with age.
The next verse in this psalm states, “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.” The Bible emphasises many themes of spiritual fruitfulness, but many plants only produce fruit in a single season. In contrast to this, the palm produces fruit all year long AND that fruit gets better with age. Dates from the date palm get sweeter as time passes. It bears its best fruit in old age. This is a wonderful thing to be compared to!
Because of their resiliency and fruitfulness, Palms have a long lifespan. They are known to live as long as 150 years! They begin bearing fruit after 4-5 years, so they can easily provide food and materials for over a century. A date palm is known to provide more than 1,000 dates in a single gathering, so imagine how many it might produce across its lifetime. We should all aspire to be as fruitful as she!
10. We will worship Jesus with palms in heaven.
If you thought the Triumphal Entry was just a Jewish story, think again! We will all one day wave palms before our Savior and King!
Revelation 7:9 says, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”
One day, we will celebrate the ultimate victory and triumph together! Not only have we seen the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (a victory the crowd of Palm Sunday had no knowledge of), but we will also gather together with believers of all eras and cultures to celebrate the complete fulfillment of this triumph. We will no longer suffer the side effects of sin and evil – they will be conquered forever, and we will wave those palms with everlasting joy in our hearts.
As you hear the Palm Sunday story this weekend or sing songs of Hosanna, the palm branch carries with it so much historical symbolism and spiritual significance to meditate on. My hope is that these fun facts and biblical references will help your Palm Sunday celebration go deeper this year and be filled with joy and hope for the future. The symbol of the palm branch was not just for ancient people – the symbol is for YOU today! God wants you to flourish like a palm tree and look to the day when you will worship Him in the same fashion. And that’s something to celebrate.
