Trees for Travelers

Walsh makes this helpful point concerning the trees of ISaiah 41:19: “Vv. 18-19 depict the transformation of the desert into a lush land well supplied with water and a wide variety of trees. The identifications of the trees range from fairly certain to very tentative. To the extent that they are reliable, however, it is striking that none of the trees is a fruit tree, whereas all are shade trees. This suggests that the images of water and vegetation are not to be understood as an allegory of the restoration of the land of Israel; in that case, one would expect metonyms of fecundity, not just of shade. Rather, the transformation of the desert is to make it not habitable but traversable: in the new creation, water and shade are supplied in the desert for the imminent return of Israel to its homeland.” Water and trees turns the wilderness into a cool and shady walk in the forest. Fruit trees and vines await in the land.

There are trees for the way, and trees for the destination. There are already trees and not yet trees, trees for the saeculum and trees for the eschaton, trees for weekdays and trees for Sabbath, trees for travelers and trees for those who have crossed the Jordan.