View Myrtus communis
In a vision the prophet Zechariah saw angel of the Lord standing among myrtle trees. In Leviticus 23:40 the phrase "the boughs of thick trees" refers to myrtle trees. Myrtle is prized for its fragrant leaves. It is a large evergreen that grows to over eighteen feet in height. It is abundant in certain localities of the Middle East.
This classical plant was sacred to Venus and the name was taken from the Greek word meaning "perfume." From it wreaths were made to crown nobility.
Today the Jews collect the boughs to adorn sheds and booths at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. It bears beautiful white flowers with plentiful stamens covering the centers. The scent of myrtle is considered more exquisite than that of the rose. Purplish-black berries known as mursins have medicinal value. The bark has a red color and the leaves are oval-shaped, shiny and smooth.
This tree was carefully cultivated by the Romans of ancient times. In modern times the leaves have been used in Italy as a spice, and in Syria all parts of the plant are dried for their perfume.
The prophet Isaiah compared the ugly thorns of the briar to the lovely myrtle tree. He promised those who were penitent that "instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree" in Isaiah 55:13. Its Hebrew name literally means "sweetness." It may be noted in the book of Esther 2:7 that the name was given to a woman..."And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his daughter."
Nehemiah 8:15 (KJV) And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
Isaiah 41:19 (KJV) I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Isaiah 55:13 (KJV) Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Zechariah 1:7-8 (KJV) Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, ... I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.
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