In God’s Garden Muestra

(All Scripture verses are taken from the King James Version Easy Read Bible.)

Rose of Sharon

On the third day of creation, God created plants, trees, and all manner of other leafy vegetation by the word of His mouth. From the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden of Eden to the Tree of Life with twelve kinds of fruit in the new Jerusalem, the story of God’s people has included plants of all kinds. As a particular people in a particular part of the world, the sons of Abraham, both of literal and spiritual descent in the Old and New Testaments, knew a particular flora. Our greater understanding of the same will not only illuminate details of their daily lives, but also imbue with meaning their poetic similes, prophetic proclamations, and practical proverbs. One striking example is this verse from Song of Solomon 2:1:

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

During the time of King Solomon, the Sharon Plain stretched for sixty miles along the Mediterranean Sea and was well-known for its abundant plant life and flourishing flowers. The rose of Sharon, unlike the common American shrub of the same name in the hibiscus family, was likely a flower in the tulip family. Once a wildflower that grew abundantly across Israel, the rose of Sharon is now hard to spot. Salt-resistant, it thrives where the summers are dry and the winters cold, and it grows eight to twelve inches tall. Its symmetrical, strikingly red petals leave no doubt why it would be included in a poem like Song of Solomon to symbolize the surpassing loveliness of the speaker. A traditional hymn based on this verse describes Jesus Himself as the “Rose of Sharon.”