Abraham and Planting Trees

I was reading in Genesis the other day and came across this verse about Abraham planting a grove of trees in Beer-sheba:

And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.
 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days. (Genesis21:33-34)

Looking at other versions other than the King James’ Version and looking at the foot note for grove it looks like a better translation would be: tamarisk trees.

Now I never have heard of tamarisk trees, so looked up Wikipedia’s description:

tamarisk tree

They are evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees growing to 1–18 m in height and forming dense thickets. The largest, Tamarix aphylla, is an evergreen tree that can grow to 18 m tall. They usually grow on saline soils, tolerating up to 15,000 ppm soluble salt and can also tolerate alkali conditions.
 The tamarisk is used as an ornamental shrub, a windbreak, and a shade tree. The wood may be used for carpentry or firewood. It is a possible agroforestry species.

So why did Abraham plant tamarisk trees, and why is this significant enough to write about it in the Bible?

Reading in the ENSIGN, the First Presidency Message entitled The Best Time to Plant a Tree, has part of the answer (for me at least):

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
 There is something wonderful and hopeful about the word now. There is something empowering about the fact that if we choose to decide now, we can move forward at this very moment.
 Now is the best time to start becoming the person we eventually want to be—not only 20 years from now but also for all eternity.

Abraham was very, very old at this time.  He probably knew that he would not stay there in Beer-sheba for 20 years or however long it took for the trees to get big.  So why did he plant them?  I think for two reasons:

First, He planted the trees for his children.  He might not see the trees be full grown and beneficial but his children and grandchildren will.  God had promised this land for his inheritance and even if he would not permanently inhabit the land his children would.  Now was the time to start working on his children’s inheritance.

Now is the time to do all I can to help my kids.  I want my kids to become good, happy and God-fearing Adults.  And just like a tree, now is the time to make it happen.  I need to teach them and nurture them now at the age of 6 and 3.  So when they are 26 and 23 they will be good, happy and God-fearing adults.

Second reason,  I think can be found in last part of the verse. It says that he “called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God” there.  Obviously there was no temple there.  But just like our leaders to day tell us, Abraham made his home a heaven.  We are repeatedly told to make our homes like a temple.  Because home is where we want to invite the Lord to be.  Abraham did this by planting trees.  He wanted to invite the Savior to be there and knew that the Spirit will abide in clean and wholesome places.  So he made is home that way.

In my own life, my father has always loved trees.  (I guess that is what happens when your major in college is botany.)  Everywhere we have lived he has had us kids planning and watering trees—hundreds of them!  But we always seemed to move long before the trees got big.  I realize know how much like Abraham my dad always was.  I know my dad loves the Lord.  I know he will do whatever God tells him to do.  And just like Abraham, he was planting—and having his kids plant—trees to teach his children to be better people.  And to make his home a better place so the God’s Spirit would want to be there.

Prayer and Trees

Google Earth picture of the rough area for our land growing up, house had doubled in size since when we lived there

I lived for many of my childhood years in the country.  We had 10 acres of land in Richmond Utah that my siblings and I would run wild on.   We would build forts in the trees, go swimming in the canal behind our house.  We would take our BB guns and shoot everything that moved. The BB guns were so weak that the BBs would just bounce off the birds and the birds would just fly away.  I don't think we ever killed a bird with a BB gun.

Our House

 But it was not always fun and games, my dad loved trees and hard work.  It seemed that a week did not go by that we were not planting, transplanting, and watering trees.  Of course almost all of the land was on a dried creek bed, so it had tons and tons of rocks and gravel.   Water was scarce because our well did not produce that much water,  so we had to watch how much water we used to water the trees and used in the house or our well might run dry.  Because of these two issues we moved our garden down near the canal that ran in the back of our land.   This way we fill buckets of water to water the garden.  And there were not as many rocks.

It looked something like this.

This location had a lot of wild, non-useful trees and shrubs (which from Google Earth it looks like they have all grown back).  This meant that we had the pleasure of clearing all these trees and shrubs.  Most of it was relatively easy but there was one tree that was pretty big and was not easily moved.  My brothers said that we should just cut it down, but I wanted to dig it out because it was a nice tree and I thought we could transplant it to somewhere else.  Also if we were to cut it down we still had to deal with the stump and the roots which were in the way of the garden

Me and my Sister around 10 yrs old. 

I was little probably around 12 years old and the tree was big – by far the biggest tree that I have ever tried to dig out.  My brothers refused to help because they thought the tree was too big and that I was just wasting my time.  After a couple of hours working on digging it out, I realized that it was too much for me to do.  But I did not want to prove my brothers right so I had the idea that I would pray to have the tree moved.  I knew that God can move mountains so He can easily move this tree.  So I knelt down and start praying that the tree will be moved.  After praying for a little while, I step back expecting to see angels come down and magically move the tree.  But I soon realize that they were not going to come – at least not right then.  I decided that I should leave and that they would possibly come when I was not looking. Besides it was getting late,  so I went home for the rest of the day.

The next day I was disappointed to see that the tree was still there.   I started thinking: “God did not answer my prayer.” I had asked nicely I thought.  I was disappointed but I never did doubt that God could not move the tree.  Then the next Saturday my dad asked if I wanted help moving it.  Of course I said yes and we spent the next few hours digging out the tree.  I had a very nice time spending some one-on-one with my dad.  We talked the entire time and I really enjoyed it immensely. 

A little while later I realized that Heavenly Father had answered my prayer.  I had asked for the tree to be moved and it was moved.  He did not need to send angels down to do it.  He just sent my dad.  I might have enjoyed seeing angels come down and moving it but to be honest, I enjoyed spending the time with my dad more.  Also I had the satisfaction of moving the tree myself (with a lot of my dad's help) vice just watching it magically disappear.

My family around the time when I was 12 yrs old.  (I am the ugly boy with glasses on the right)

I know that Heavenly Father listens and answers ALL prayers.  It just might not be in the time or how we expect them to be answered but He will answer them.  I also know that He answers them in the best way for us – His children.  He loves us more that we possibly can imagine and He is standing by to bless us and help us in every way that He can.