Cultures

The first tree to flower each year in Israel — and the source of a Hebrew wordplay linking Jeremiah's calling to God's watchful alertness.

The poor person's grain — cheaper and coarser than wheat, it fed landless workers and widows across the Bible world.

The great desert transport of the ancient Near East — and the largest, most unwieldy animal Jesus's listeners could imagine.

A massive, fragrant evergreen (Cedrus libani) from the mountains north of Israel. Its timber built Solomon's temple and became the Bible's s…

The working pack animal of the Bible world. Kings rode donkeys in peace, warriors rode horses in war — a contrast Jesus deliberately took up…

The rock dove (Columba livia), kept in dovecotes for food and offering. Scripture uses it for peace, purity, and at the Jordan for the Holy …

The great soaring bird of the Bible — symbol of God's carrying power, divine speed, and strength that comes from waiting on the Lord.

A long-lived tree (Ficus carica) prized for its sweet fruit and broad shade. To sit "under one's vine and fig tree" was the picture of peace…

A white tree resin burned as sacred incense in the Temple — its rising smoke was a symbol of prayer ascending to God.

The scapegoat of Leviticus 16 carried Israel's sins into the wilderness — the animal behind the Day of Atonement ritual.

A small bushy herb whose bundled stalks were used as a ritual sprinkler — from Passover doorposts to the foot of the cross.

A young sheep, central to the sacrificial system and to Passover. John the Baptist names Jesus by it: "Behold the Lamb of God."

A vast, scaly sea-creature in Job and the Psalms — part real animal (probably the Nile crocodile), part ancient chaos-monster which only God…

The Asiatic lion once roamed the wooded gorges of the Jordan. Scripture pictures it twice: as the noblest of beasts and as a prowling enemy …

The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), swarming in plagues that could darken the sky and strip a country in a day. Joel reads such a swa…

The seed of the black mustard plant (Brassica nigra), proverbially small but capable of growing into a shrub tall enough for birds to nest i…

A bitter-sweet tree resin used in anointing oil and to prepare the dead for burial — its double role foreshadowed Jesus's death.

A slow-growing, long-lived tree (Olea europaea) whose oil lit lamps, anointed kings, and fed households. Paul uses its grafting as a picture…

The working animal of the Bible world — it plowed the fields, threshed the grain, and gave the apostles an argument for fair pay.

The date palm — whose branches meant royal welcome and whose fruit fed the poor — stood at the centre of Palm Sunday.

The jewel-seeded fruit of the Promised Land — carved 400 times on Temple columns and sewn onto the High Priest's robe.

The all-black scavenging bird — first sent from Noah's ark, and the unlikely provider God used to feed Elijah in the desert.

The armoured venomous arachnid of the desert — its hidden sting made it a symbol of unexpected evil and extreme pain throughout the Bible.

The venomous snake of the Bible lands — vehicle of the Fall, instrument of judgment, and a type of the crucifixion in John 3:14.

The wool-covered grazing animal at the heart of the shepherd metaphor — the most-mentioned animal in the Bible.

The wide-branched fig relative that Zacchaeus climbed — a common tree of the poor, whose fruit had to be pierced before it could ripen.

The thorny shrub of the curse — from Eden's punishment to the crown pressed on Jesus's head, thorns mark the presence of sin and suffering.

A climbing plant (Vitis vinifera) trained over stones or wooden frames. Its fruit became wine, raisins, and a recurring biblical figure for …

The terraced hillside grapevine plot was Israel's greatest agricultural investment — and God's most persistent metaphor for his people.

The horse in the Bible is almost always a war animal — symbol of military power and human pride, never trusted by the prophets.

The staple grain of the Holy Land, sown in late autumn and reaped in early summer. A single grain falling into the ground becomes Jesus's im…

The main predator of sheep flocks in the Bible lands — its arrival meant death, and Jesus used it to warn of false teachers.