BibleProject - Is the Tree of Life Practical? Tree Q+R 2

Episode Date: March 9, 2020

View full show notes and images from this episode → Watch our video on the Tree of Life.Resources:Dr. Crispin Fletcher-Louis Jewish Apocalyptic and ApocalypticismShow Music: Defender Instrumental: TentsShow Produced by Dan GummelPowered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the Bible. Yep.

And we're going to look at a few questions that came in and respond to them. Yeah, absolutely. You picked them out. Yes. I did pick them out. Thank you, everybody. We've got so many great questions from the audience. So thank you.

And as always, we can't pick everybody's, but I try to notice patterns and repetitions and themes, and then I kind of pick representatives from all the different themes. So, as usual, I've picked out like a dozen. We usually don't only ever talk about like four. We'll see how many we get. Yeah, I may make it speed round today. Right?

I always ask you for speed round. Yeah, and then you can't do it. Yeah, I always ask you for speed around. Yeah, and then you yeah, I would say yeah, I'll try Do like instead of turtle speed round. Let's do not rabbit hair speed But like something else what's in between I think they call that a brisk jog So just a quick recap is we can't go over everything Yeah, but the story about begins with this cosmic tree in the center of a garden Bill, so just a quick recap is we can't go over everything. Yeah. But the story about what begins with this cosmic tree in the center of a garden,

that's God's eternal life to eat from. And next to that tree is another tree which we're forbidden to eat from. That's right. We're supposed to choice that is before God's human partners of whether they're going to do what's good in their eyes or choose wisdom, which is to fear God and obey his commandments. I think that's enough of a setup if you're not following along already with the theme. So let's just jump into the questions. Yeah, deal. Our first question is from Luke in Houston, Texas. You like that? Texas. Good work. No offense Luke. Hey Tim and John this is Luke from Houston, Texas.

If the tree of the knowledge of good and evil places the option before humans, if you're either receiving wisdom from God on his terms in his way or reinventing good and evil for themselves in a way that may be beneficial for them but dangerous for others, what does it mean practically to make that decision for yourself? How do biblical characters navigate this question? How can we do that today? Thanks. Yeah, as much as I enjoy tracing design patterns

and how the biblical story works and hyperlinks and the imagery, the purpose of a story about two characters named human and life, facing this choice about good and bad before God. This is, you know, the story's been speaking to every single reader of Genesis for millennia now, for a very good reason. It captures the dilemma of my everyday life in a very real way. And so I think that's what you're after, Luke, like what are the ways that our own lives bring us to moments of the choice between two trees? Yeah. What does that mean? Well, for the first audience, which was ancient Israel, I think isn't this very practically, they had a covenant code by which to be God's people and they were called to obey it and

By obeying that it's eating of of life. Yeah, that's right and and there's a blessing that comes with obeying it So very practically for them not eating of the tree of my own way of life Yeah, this one eating of the tree of life is just following the covenant. Following the terms of the covenant. The terms of the covenant, that's right. Obedience. So what you're drawing attention to is this story, it's about all humans, but it's an introduction

to the Hebrew Bible, which is gonna tell the human story by telling one particular family story. Yeah, so if you're an Asian israelite and it's what does it mean to abstain from the tree of knowing good and bad even to the tree of life? Yeah that's following the Torah follow. Yeah, the come and specifically following. Yeah, the wisdom of God's commands revealed in the Torah Yeah, so you could say that's a first First layer of application within the Bible itself right another way this goes actually is through the design patterns of Genesis where By echoing the language of Genesis 3, you're

going to see Abraham, or Sarah, or Isaac, and Rebecca, or Jacob. But they're all going to come to these moments in their lives, and they're going to do what's good in their eyes in a way that, as you say, Luke benefits them, but disadvantages other people. So I think part of what the tree imagery is so potent is because it can become an icon for almost like any scenario where I find myself in where I have a choice to make. And we've talked about this before. There are some choices that I make that I choose willful ignorance and willful selfishness. And usually it's only clear to me after the

fact that that's what I was doing. But then there are also some scenarios where I actually just I make a choice and it turns out that it was just you know a poor choice and You didn't understand all the variables, but I didn't know the variables and it was you know un-unintended harmed unto myself and other people and that's just what it means to be a human. Yeah To me, a huge light bulb moment for understanding the significance of how I face my own decisions at the tree was actually the wisdom literature conversation that we had in the How to Read the Bible series. Because in a way, the book of Proverbs picks all of the language up from the Eden story.

Remember this? Where Lady Wisdom says, she is the tree of life. Come and eat from me. And actually, I was just thinking about this the other day. Here, I wanted to show this to you, because I do think this is cool. You remember how in Proverbs 1 through 9 begins with all the speeches from Solomon to the Seed of David. And he is recommending, the fear of the Lord, is the very beginning of wisdom. That's from like opening paragraph of the book.

So there's this speech about Lady Wisdom that starts in verse 20 of chapter 1 of Proverbs and there's wisdom, she's like a salesperson roaming in the streets. Proverbs 1 verse 20, she's shouting, lifting her voice in the square. The streets are noisy. There's lots of voices competing for your attention. It's almost like an image of the tree of knowing good and bad. There's all these trees you could take from. Yeah, and so she says verse 22, oh, simple ones, how long will you love being simple-minded? How long will you, will fools hate knowledge? And so,

look at verse 23, turn to my correction. Look, I will pour out my spirit upon you. And I have you said thoughts. Oh, what? Really? Yeah, I'll pour my thoughts to you. What? So weird.

It's rock. It's ruch. I will pour out my spirit on you. Come now. So this is with God's wisdom, personified, metaphorically here, that is now being identified with God's spirit being given to someone. And when people receive God's spirit or God's wisdom, as you go on into the poems in chapter three, for example, you realize by taking wisdom,

you're taking from the tree of life. So the idea of living by God's wisdom, living and powered by God's Spirit is all of this is equated with choosing life and not doing what's good in my own eyes. So sometimes there are commands, do not murder, you know, 10 commandments. This is like what Jesus is after in the sermon on the mount. So good job, you haven't murdered anybody.

But what is the command? What kind of character trait is that command trying to form in me? And Jesus says it's about contempt. It's addressing issues of contempt and pride and self-aggrandizement that makes me look down and devalue other people. And so all of a sudden we're going really deep in the issues of character. And that's one way that the tree of knowing good and bad puts that kind of character choice before me. So even though the story in the garden is about a divine command, about a tree,

you actually have to let the biblical story deepen the significance of what those choices are in my own life. And even though for the ancient Israelite, it was about obedience to this covenant commands. Yeah. Underneath that is, this is a way for us to live in God's wisdom. Yeah, that's right. And so obedience to God's wisdom is really at the heart

of eating of the tree of life. Of life. Yeah, eating, yeah, that's right. Living by God's wisdom is taking hold of the tree of life. And so really, according to what we asked this question, then is how do you practically live by God's wisdom? Yeah, that's right. Living by God's wisdom is taking hold of the tree of life. And so really, according to the way to ask this question, then is how do you practically live by God's wisdom? Yeah, that's right. What's practical with it?

It's a rich image that leaves you with this awe and wonder, but then when you get practical, it's like, yeah. How do I eat of that? How do I live by God's wisdom? Yeah, that's right. And then I feel like you're in a conversation about how do you live by God's spirit.

Yeah, it becomes way more open-ended. Yeah. Right, isn't interesting. A story about a divine command, about not to do one thing. All of a sudden, inverts and becomes an open-ended question about. How do you become a disciple of Jesus? How do you live by the Spirit of God?

Yeah. How do you keep in step with the Spirit? Yeah, yeah. And by definition, the answer to those questions has to be discovered every day. I think. I can't make a rule for it. The only rule for Jesus is love God and love your neighbor.

Right. You know? But you can, it seems like you can train your heart or you can create an environment in which you're ready to be obedient when God tells you the thing to do. Or at least be open to that. That's at least something we can be practically doing. Yeah, no, I think that this is the function that the laws of the Torah had in life of Israel. This is a function that the laws of the Torah have as wisdom for followers of Jesus.

But then also, like the sermon on the Mount Mount is an introduction to messianic character formation. If I let the values and begin to shape life habits that fit with the values of the ethic of Jesus, I will find that I will begin to discern more easily the right choice when I have my moments in front of the tree, the trees of choosing. Yeah. It's like the most practical prayer is not my will, but your will be done. Yeah, that's right.

Figure out how to practice that prayer and mindset. I think so. Yeah. Which, I mean, that's... These are the things that I go to other people to get advice about. So basically look what we're saying is this is a great question. The only response we can give is just pointing to the teachings of Jesus. And like what does it mean to be faithful to Him and live by His wisdom?

And there you go. We're in the same boat as you look. Mitchell from Manhattan, Kansas. That's a great question. Hey, this is Mitchell Dixon from Manhattan, Kansas. I had a question regarding Genesis 3. After Adam and Eve take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they realized that they're naked, and they feel ashamed.

They cover themselves with leaves. And I might be grasping at straws, but what do it mean in the concept of trees for them to be covering themselves with things of trees, covering their shame with that? Thanks so much. Love what you guys do. Yeah. Yeah.

It's perceptive question. It is perceptive question. I love it. Yeah, me too. I actually just recently came across the first scholar I've ever seen draw attention to that little detail. Well, I mean, everybody notices. They took from a tree and they cover themselves with the leaves of a tree. Victory, actually, it says. And that's an interesting narrative detail that's iconic in, like, art history.

Well, it's hard to draw anemoneave without the leaves. The leaves, yeah, totally. But you're asking, is there some kind of symbolic connection there? And to be honest, I had never fully thought about it. However, once I had really worked out, and we talked about it earlier in this podcast, the idea of people as trees as a metaphorical scheme, it did start to just sit there in the text like, huh, they dress themselves up as trees after they break a divine command regarding a tree.

Yes. So it was a scholar, Crispin Fletcher Lewis, who we interviewed a year or so ago. He has done a lot of great work on the nature and origins of apocalyptic literature that we talked about. We're going to be working on a video about starting this week. And it was a little essay he had on apocalyptic literature and second-temple Judaism. Anyway, he made a reference to this

that all of a sudden I was like, yes, I think that's exactly right. There's two poems in the book of Psalms that are making fun of idols, and Psalm 115 is one of them. And, you know, it's just always good to read a Psalm, yeah? Psalm 115. Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to your name be

cavaud, glory, right? Waitiness, significance. Because of your loyal love and because of your faithfulness, that's from Exodus 34 or 6. Why should the nations say, where is their God? You know, it's a Babylon mocking Israel, so to speak. You know, we just trumped on your temple. Yeah, your God's absent.

Yeah, we're just Yahweh. Why didn't you protect you? Our God is in the skies. He does what he purposes. The idols, on the other hand, are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, they don't speak, they have eyes, they can't see, they have ears, they don't hear, they have noses, can't smell, they have hands, they can't feel, they have feet, they cannot walk, they can't even make sounds with their throats. Those who make them will become like them. Everyone who trusts in them. It goes on. Serious trash talk. Maybe it lands a little less for people who didn't grow up

with shrines and idols everywhere, but I didn't. So I have to imagine myself into another culture for this to land for me. So this line, those who make them will become like them, it's repeated in a couple of the places in the Hebrew Bible, one is another Psalm. So the whole thing is saying, listen, there's real humans, right? Who are the image of God?

Who are the image, exactly. They are the image of God and image of God humans. Well, they have mouths and they talk. They have ears. It's the whole list. Yeah, they have functioning Bop parts. Totally. So it's like, okay, you tell me there's the real images of God and then there's the images that the images of God make and they can't do any of the stuff that the real images can. And then the last line of that little trash talk is images of God who make these idols will start to become less human. Interesting. So Chris then drew attention to this in

light. And we talked about this how in the design patterns of the tree, all through the story of the monarchies in Israel, their trees of knowing good and bad are represented by the idols. The idol tree is on high places. And... They're going to show up in polls and such. Yeah, exactly right. Idols represent their failure at their moment of facing the choice of trusting God's wisdom or doing my own.

So, Chris Ben, this is a long answer to your question, Mitchell. But Chris Ben thinks that this idea that comes out in a number of Psalms is actually being hinted at right there in the Garden of Eden story. That those who idolize or deify their own search for wisdom on their own terms here in the form of a tree will become like the thing that they idolize. So they seek the wisdom of God more than honoring God's commands. And so they send at the tree and then they end up looking like trees. They become like the thing that they've idolized. Yeah. That's good. I think it's good. It is good. I like it. Can I poke a hole in it? Please. Well, I'm just thinking there's good trees and there's bad trees. Yes. And we're supposed to be like a tree.

Yeah. We're supposed to be like the tree of life. And someone... Early. Yeah, someone. Yeah, when you live by God's wisdom, you are like a tree, planted by a stream of water. Yeah, that's right. So in that way, having leaves on you would be the symbol of a beautiful thing living

by God's wisdom. Yeah, correct. So, are you saying saying then in this example, because they ate from the tree of knowing good and bad, they're becoming like that tree. Yeah. That's the wrong kind of tree that people like. That's right.

And they end up looking like trees precisely to cover over their shame in the vulnerability that they're now experiencing because they've broken the divine command. So it's a sad. There's happy human trees. there's sad human trees, happy face, sad face. And this is a sad face, human tree.

But it's this interesting inversion where the moment that the humans violate God's command by taking from this tree, the next thing in the narrative is they dress themselves up like trees. This is this little inversion in the story. It's a great observation. I want to keep thinking about it.

It is interesting. It's a way of talking about how the humans have, like, they've degraded themselves. They are more than trees. They're like trees, but they're meant to be more than trees. They're meant to be caretakers of the trees. Instead, they become like trees themselves, anyway. Very cool.

All right. We have a question here about the fruit of the vine from Shannon in Canada. Hey Tim and John, my name is Shannon. I'm from the sixth, also known as Toronto Canada. I have a question in regards to trees, specifically the fruit of the vine. I've noticed that there are a few mentions of the fruit of the vine, I've noticed that there are a few mentions of the fruit of the vine, one with Noah being a husband, men, and he drank the fruit of the vine, the Nazarene vow as well that says they're not supposed to eat anything of the vine. And there's quite a bit of mention about the fruit of

the vine as it also pertains to the blood of the grapes and how it also plays into the New Testament with the communion or the Lord's Supper. I just wanted to get your take on that as it pertains to this topic of trees, the fruit with the tree. Thanks so much for all you guys do. Now if I remember correctly, in Hebrew, the word for tree, what is that word? Eights. We have an English, we have a word for tree, and we have a word for bush, and we have a word for vine. Yeah.

And Hebrew, it's all eights, right? No, not necessarily. There are different words for different species of trees. More, it's that any of them in any given moment can be called by the most generic umbrella title tree. Which is eights, okay. Which is eights, that's right. So they can all be referred umbrella title tree. Which is eight, okay. Which is eight. So they can all be referred to a tree.

Yeah, that's fun. We would never look at a vine and refer to it as a tree. I understand. Oh yeah, it sounds funny in English. Yeah, that's right. So, in fact, a common phrase in biblical Hebrew for the vine is eights, hagefin, the tree of the vine. Hmm.

Referring to the, we've got one growing in our yard. It's like, it's thick. Yeah. It's tall. It's like, but it doesn't branch out like a tree. It's a great vine. Right. But it's eight. But yeah.

It's eight. So the fruit of the eights, which can go a lot of different ways. Yeah, I'm still working on this, but I've got a pretty, at least a compelling to me design pattern list that's just all about stupid things people do when they're drunk.

And Noah's the first one. So the humans eat at the tree and then that's breaking the divine command. But Noah is the first one who takes the gift of the garden and he abuses it such that it makes him stupid. He gets drunk. This is Genesis 9. And then that's where the shameful thing happens with a son and the tent. He exposes himself. So then what you can just follow through is just,

you know, do a little theme study on people who get drunk throughout the biblical narrative. And it can be positive or negative. Wine has kind of like a binary moral value for the Hebrew Bible authors. Yeah, because it's a gift of the garden. Yeah. Which means it's good. Genesis 1. It's good. So Psalm 104 says, God gives grass to the creatures

and makes crops grow out of the ground and vine to give joy to the human heart. Psalm 104. But then, the Proverbs will also say, wine is a mocker and strong drink is a brawler. And it'll make you get into fights and get hurt and then not remember it in the morning. So just like anything that's good, it can be taken one of two ways. So you can follow it through. There's this theme of people in the high place or in the sacred space who get drunk and

do something stupid. You know that strange story in Leviticus about Aaron's two sons who get roasted by the divine fire? Is that strange story? So with the weird offering they make or something? Yeah, it says they have strange fire or unauthorized fire. Okay. And that's the whole rabbit hole.

But when God's following up on it, right after their bodies, toasted bodies, get carried out of the holy place, the first thing God says is, hey, don't ever get drunk before you come into the tent. Oh, really? Yes. So they were drunk. So the Leviticus tent doesn't say they were drunk. It says that these two guys walked into the tent, got roasted for some reason that's not fully clear. The first thing God says after their bodies are carried out is, you guys don't get drunk when you enter into the tent. Brilliant.

Why is that brilliant? Well, in other words, it doesn't say that they were drunk. Yeah. It implies it. It infers it. Yeah, I didn't realize that. Yeah, it's really interesting. And then when you get to the place in the Viticus where it talks about what the priests

or the higher level of holiness are called to, one of them is that they're not supposed to drink. The Nazarite vow that you mentioned Shannon is what happens when your average Israelite wants to take on the ultra set apart life of a priest. A Nazarite is a normal, it's a non-line of errand, but you wanna live like you're a priest, basically. And so, Samson was famously one of these. He broke everyone, if you know him.

This was Vaz. And actually, he's an important figure in this design pattern, where it's precisely a strong drink that is constantly bringing him down, or the people around him. So, it's another way that the tree represents a choice for people. There's all these stories about often leaders who get drunk. And this being the fruit of the vine tree. Correct, yeah, totally. And so it's one of the ways the Genesis 3 design pattern

can get activated is by people abusing alcohol. And then that's how they make the wrong choice and choose death and sit alive. I think it's in Paul's mind when he says, don't get drunk on wine, but be filled with spirit. Totally. Oh, totally. Yeah, that's exactly right. Just comparing those two things, like you can be filled with God's spirit, his wisdom.

That's right. You can be under the influence of the spirit, in which case you have discernment to make wise choices that bring good to you and other people. And yeah, if your brain's not working right, especially if you caused your brain not to work right, you're gonna hurt yourself or hurt other people or both. And that's the way of folly. Do you want to see something else that's cool?

I just noticed this recently. This is in Proverbs 23. Okay. So think through. People eat from the tree, Adam and Eve, violation of divine commands, death, exile, Noah, drinks of the fruit of the garden, folly, exposure, vulnerability command, death, exile. Noah drinks of the fruit of the garden, folly, exposure, vulnerability, nakedness, shame. These stories are parallel in Genesis 1 through 11. In Proverbs 23, there's this sweet little poem about

alcohol. And it starts in verse 29, and it reads, who has woe, who has sorrow, who has woe, where you can see the stuff, that's it. Yeah, yeah, you're just like, I think it's a weird thing to say. Is it synonym and wassaro? Yes, yeah. Okay. Who has like, who's down trotting?

Who has trouble? Yeah, who's trouble? Who has trouble, who has sorrow? Who gets into fights a lot? Who's complaining? Who ends up constantly getting hurt for no good reason and has... And I have his needless bruises. Who's the one whose eyes are red all the time?

Yeah, it's those who love the linger over wine. Those who especially love the mixed wine, you know, mixing blends. Why is mixing the wine? I think it was a way of making even stronger alcohol content. I think I'm not a wine maker. Verse 31, Do not look on wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup is numeric standard.

Literally in Hebrew, when it gives its eye out of the cup, it's the turn of phrase meaning it's winking at you. It's like you look in there and it sparkles and it's like, come on, come on, take a cup. It's the turn of phrase, meaning it's winking at you. It's like you look in there, and it sparkles, and it's like, come on, come on, take a drink. It sure goes down smoothly, but verse 32, it will bite you like a nachash, like a snake. One can be your downfall. It will sting you like a ciphony, like a viper. Your eyes will start seeing very strange things, and your heart will utter distorted things. You'll be like somebody laying down in the middle of the sea

or like someone lying down at the top of a mast. Yeah. I think people call those the spins. It the spins? Yeah. Yeah. Or the feeling call those the spins. The spins? Yeah. Or the feeling of being hung over. Because look at how it concludes.

It's now quoting this person who drank too much. They hit me, but I'm not hurt. They beat me, but I don't even know anything about it. When should I wake up and get another drink? Yeah. That's the palm. But dude, dude, alcohol is like a snake that will bite you and send you into the heart of the sea. Tell me this isn't merging the Genesis 3. It's your design past story and the Noah story. Oh, the Noah story. I was just thinking of a catacletic water story, but

our catacletic water theme. Yeah, yeah, who is the iconic person who, you know, was survived through the heart of the sea, you know. I think what's happening is like this poem about the folly of drinking too much, but it's using the garden narrative and the Noah story and combining the imagery so that wine is like a snake. Could be your moment at the tree, could be having that second, third or fourth drink,

whatever that is for somebody. Anyway, I thought it was really clever. Yeah, this poem is very perceptive and it's amazing how it feels pretty contemporary style. Totally. Yeah, probably ancient it is. Yeah, that's right. Abusing Totally. Yeah, totally ancient it is. Yeah, that's right.

On a busing alcohol. Yeah, totally. Anyhow. So there you go, Shannon, you're onto something. There's a thing. Oh yes, you also asked about the Passover meal. For sure, that's a key piece. There's all kinds of other things too, because wine is red,

and so it can become an image for blood. And so the blood of the sacrifices, or the wine at a ritual meal can become associated images. So there's lots of wine and blood imagery that goes throughout the Torah and prophets, and Jesus is totally tapping into that with the last supper. But it all begins with the tree, the fruit of the vine that comes from the tree.

Oh, there's more there I want to think about, but I at least least that was cool. Can I ask you a random question about Passover, whether the Lord's supper wine, I think is it Paul quoting Jesus says, whenever you do this, whenever you take this cup, do it in this way or in. Or in remembrance of me,

is that the phrase you're thinking of or not? No, maybe. Jesus says in remembrance of me, but there's the phrase whenever you do it. That's the phrase I want to key in on. me, is that the phrase you're thinking of? No, no, maybe. Jesus says in remembrance of me. But there's the phrase, whenever you do it, that's the phrase I want to key in on. Oh, I see. Is Jesus saying that? Is Paul saying that?

For as often as you eat this bread, yeah, first Corinthians 11. First Corinthians 11, yeah, that's right. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. I always thought this meant, when you do it in this ritualistic way, whenever you do it in this ritualistic way, whenever you do it in this ritualistic way, then you're eating and drinking of the of Christ. And I was taking communion with

a friend and he, he made this point of, maybe it means whenever you eat bread and drink wine ever, you do it in remembrance. Yeah, yeah. Is there a clue to which one it is? Yeah, you know, it's interesting. Actually, that little phrase in Paul's account of it is unique to Paul's retelling of it whenever you drink of it. That little phrase is not present in the gospel accounts. I'm just looking, it's not in Luke's account. Luke's account, he just says,

this is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. That's all he says in Luke. Here, let me look up. In Matthew 26, he says, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for you. I won't drink of the fruit of the vine until the day I drink it, I knew with you and my father's kingdom. So in other words, what it looks like Paul's done there is he's Assuming that the thing that Jesus did the night before he was executed has now become a weekly rhythm. And so he adds that little phrase Whenever you drink of it. Mm-hmm. By which I think he means in the in the weekly gathering. Okay. Yeah. So I guess I'm disagreeing with your friends. Okay. Well, no, that's helpful. Well, because if it did happen to mean, if it did happen to mean whenever you do it,

it's the idea of like, when I'm drinking wine, I'm drinking it not to get drunk, but because it is from God and it symbolizes something, God sacrifice, you know, you said in the Bible the way that you come to wine or alcohol. Yeah, there's two different ways. Two different ways. You can gladden your heart and be a gift of God because it tastes amazing. But it can also destroy you, like most good things in life. But it's probably just talking about the weekly guy.

Yeah, sorry, I kind of rained on your parade. No, that's fine. Okay, from Maryland. Merrill from Maryland. That's a good alliteration. Has a question, ah, actually kind of a bigger question about images of chaos and disorder and order in Genesis 1 and 2. But we've talked about it recently.

And I think it, I don't know if we've talked about it on the podcast. So I thought we would hear a question and talk about it. Hi, John Atim. I love the Bible project. I love the new logo. I love the tree stories. Is Merrill from Millishville, Maryland? Got a question about. Way back when God created the earth and the dome over the earth and separated everything and created order from chaos. Does that mean his original creation was chaos and that outside the garden was chaos and inside was order? Or does that mean

that the whole place was ordered and when the first humans got exiled and brought the curse out into creation that they changed the order back into chaos. I'm trying to figure out if it was chaotic when they got there or if they brought chaos with them. Thanks, really enjoy everything that you guys are doing. This is a challenge for many readers. Let's first just go to the first sentence of the Bible. You first have the statement in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You're like, oh, great, everything exists now. But then the next sentence is, now the earth was formless and void and darkness. And so people who have the view that that's a linear sequence of actions that God made a good and ordered world,

and either the world that he made was chaotic, verse 2, or somehow for some untold story or reason, the good world of verse 1 got turned into chaos of verse 2. Another way to view it, that's very ancient, and actually I think it's the most compelling view because it fits with the literary design, is that the first sentence is a heading that's referring to everything that's about to happen, and that the real narrative begins in verse two. If that's the case, then the story begins with non-order of which the narrative images are darkness and a watery chaos. So on that reading, the waters and the darkness represent the uncreated world. Or an ordered world. The non-ordered world, which for the biblical authors to be ordered was to be created. So this is where we kind of have to adjust our sense of reality to the ancient biblical authors'

imagination. But then this has implications for how you go on and view the relationship of Eden and the Garden to the rest of the dry land. But I couldn't tell if you had a thought on that first point. So if Jesus once sets up this idea that the cosmos was unordered and chaotic, God comes, he speaks into it, creates order. That's right. By separating, by separating things, putting them in their place,

creating a place for humans, creating a place for everything. Dry land out of the waters. And then you get to Genesis 2, and you get the same sort of feeling when you've got this desert. It begins with a lifeless desert, which in a way is a way to think about chaos unordered desert.

Yeah, non-order. There's no life there. And then God creates a place, separates out a place where there is order. By providing water. By providing water. He provides water first. Yeah. Water's ground and then makes humans So the the narrative image about when God plants the garden and the trees is really key. This is in Genesis 2

So it begins by saying yeah, there's no plants no farming no humans But God did provide water and so then you get clay and then it says God formed a human and then God planted a garden in Eden so it assumes you got the dry land And then it says God formed a human and then God planted a garden in Eden. So it assumes you got the dry land, then you have a place called Eden, then you have the garden, and then you're told the tree of life is in the middle of the garden. And then God takes the human out of out here and puts him in the garden. That's the narrative sequence. You can just go read it. And the God's holy place, the temple.

That's right. So, Merrill, I think your intuition is right. Humans are taken out of the realm of dust, and dirt, and mortality, and non-order, and put into the realm of order and life. Do you remember one regret you had in all of our videos? Yes. Yes.

Is in this video called the Messiah. Yep. And we have an image of the Garden of Eden becoming, well, corrupting, I suppose. Yeah, it's like a shock wave goes out from the tree of non-goodness. So Adam and Eve, they take off the tree of an all-good evil and then the shock wave comes

and then all this desolation in its way. It turns the garden into a desert. It turns the garden into a desert. It turns the garden into a desert and then everything kind of flow. Yeah. And yeah, so you were like, oh, actually, that's not a great image. Yeah, that was not the image of the story.

The image of the story is that they are driven out of the ordered garden land back out into the realm of non-order wilderness, thorns and thistles and death. And so Merrill's question is, when the humans got exiled, did they bring the curse out into this beautiful ordered creation and changed the order back into chaos?

And so what I'm hearing is actually no, out there was chaos. That's right. And the implication of the commission of Genesis 1 is be fruitful and multiply, fill the land. It's as if Eden is like an outpost of heaven on earth. And the whole point is that it will spread. But what happens instead is the key agents that God placed in His presence to begin that process are compromised.

And so He exiles them out into the land of wilderness and death. So it's a way of thinking about the human condition as we know that we're made for more. We are the image of God, yet the environment, the earth that I experience, is like a compromised version of what I know it's capable of being. And even more so, I know that I'm a compromised version of what I'm capable of being. And then the whole story arc of the Bible then is about God reuniting heaven and earth. We made a video about it.

And which is why Garden imagery is so, and tree imagery is so connected to Jesus because he becomes this new bridge between heaven and earth to bring and restore the tree of life back to people. At least I think so. I hope that brings some clarity, Merrill. It's somehow it's taken me a long time to get clear about that whole sequence.

It now seems so simple, because it's right there, but... My head was full of other ideas about what the curse was, and I don't know, other stuff, and it made it difficult for me to read the biblical story. So in Genesis 2, then if the idea is God created order in Eden and sin in Eden, then the humans are placed outside. It seems like logically they're placed out into an unordered creation. Actually, this is important for Genesis 4.

They actually don't go outside of Eden. They don't leave Eden. They just go outside the Garden. We're told that they're sent to the east of the Garden. It's Cain who leaves Eden. So they're exiled from the Garden. But then they're hanging out right there at the door, which is where Cain and Abel are offering their sacrifices, but then it's Cain that's exiled from Eden. And that's why he says, listen, you're making me a wanderer out there and whoever finds me will kill me. So, once he leaves Eden out there, it's the realm of death and danger. And there's people out there who are going to kill him. He's afraid of that. That's a whole other topic. But so Cain recognizes that once he leaves Eden, he's going out into the realm of danger and death and mortality.

It's interesting. And outside of the garden, even in Eden, it's still mortality. I think what's strange about the way we're talking about this is what you're saying is something can exist without God having ordered it. Oh, I see. It's just a different frame of reference. In Genesis 1, you have, it's the cosmos as a sacred space. That's the 7-day scheme.

And so the dry land is just one big sacred space, I would speak. Genesis 2 comes in and it's almost more helpful to think of it now as going over the land from a vertical point of view, because it's concerned about the central space of God's life and presence that's meant to fill all of the dry land. But the dry land wouldn't even be there. Allah Genesis 1, if it wasn't ordered, but it's still not yet colonized with the life of heaven, which I think is what the humans then are supposed to be going to do. I think that's all the logic of those two narratives work.

Okay. What do you think about that? And the tradition I grew up in, there is this, creation was corrupted with that original sin. And so, was it that everything was good inside and outside the garden? And then, because of what humans decided to do, it became corrupted. Or was it that just in the garden, it was good. Outside was just unexplored, not good yet. Not yet ordered. Not yet ordered. We're commissioned to participate with God to do that.

Yeah. Yeah. By extending the boundaries of Eden. Yep. That's right. Our of the Garden was in Eden. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's right. And so when we decide not to do that and we're placed outside the Garden, is it that now we've corrupted the space or is it we've just missed an opportunity? How would you describe it? Yeah, in other words, the narrative, you've got to pay attention to all the details in the narrative. It doesn't say that all creation was the garden, or all creation was paradise. It very clearly marks off one area as the region of Delight, which is the Hebrew word Eden. And it says, within Delight,

God planted a garden. And then even that has kind of teared to it because the center is marked out, is the special spot. So humans are created out here in the dust, which is the most common biblical image for human mortality and frailty. Dust, Jobobes as it, abraham as it. So humans are taken out of the realm of frailty and mortality, put into the realm of eternal life and given a responsibility and an opportunity that they forfeit and are exiled back out into the disordered land. So yeah, it's important. But even that disordered land, according to Genesis 1, is sustained by that.

God's cosmic ordering. But it's not space that is permeated with the life and abundance of the heavens. Got it. Which is what the garden is. Ah, okay. It's not paradise lost. That's not the story of Genesis 2 and 3.

It's about paradise. This is a phrase from John Walton's, but it's paradise unguained or paradise forfeited. What's the difference between losing something and forfeiting something? Oh, well, if your idea is everything was paradise, human sinned, and there was like a cosmic shockwave that turned the whole thing into a desert. It's not actually how the story works. One spot was colonized with the life of heaven.

The life of heaven. Life of heaven. Humans were put into it and they forfeited their opportunity to stay there. And so they were exiled from it. That's how the story works. That's great. Can I say it one time to make sure I got it? Totally. Genesis 1, God orders the cosmos as a sacred place. And in that ordering is the dry land separated from the chaos waters for humans to flourish. And then you get to Genesis 2 and then God creates a hotspot of that land. That land is good, but it isn't yet God's throne room or it isn't yet. It's not yet the place where the ideal of Genesis 1 can be reached, which is God and humans, fruitful, multiply, image of God forever and ever.

So the land is good in that it was separated from the Catercodders. But it was not yet the ideal of where God and humans could live together in eternal life. But God creates a spot of that ideal, puts the humans in it, commissions them to extend that to all the land. We forfeit that opportunity, go out into the land that hasn't been developed that way. That's right. And it's dangerous out there. There's people that will kill you or there's animals that will kill you.

Or the ground will kill you slowly. And out there, we're talking about here. We're talking about the world. Yeah, the world is we know it. Outside of the garden. But this world is, you know it is God's good creation too. Yeah, exactly. In the Genesis one sense.

In the Genesis one sense. That's right. It's not yet in the Genesis 2 garden. That's when God's kingdoms fully realized where heaven and earth are overlapped. That's why the last pages of the Bible, Revelation 21 and 22, specifically pick up the garden imagery and apply it to the new creation.

Because it's the moment when that thing that was forfeited finally becomes reality, which is about heaven coming to earth, the reunion of heaven and earth. I don't know how long we've been gone. 55 minutes. I love it. We've gotten through four questions. That's just like I predicted. Speed round? Speed round you want to do it? All right, Elena from Bulgaria. Hi Tim and

John. This is Elena from Southeast Bulgaria. Thank you for everything you're doing. The Bible project is a huge blessing. My question. In Genesis 2133 after resolving an issue about a well with a bimmelic, Abraham plans a tamarisk tree in Bershiba supposedly by the well. Is there any significance to the fact that he doesn't build an altar or a pillar but plans a tree and specifically this type of tree a tamarisk tree. Thank you very much. Yes, for very perceptive, wonderful perception. Do you remember how we talked about in this Puthkya series how the story of Abraham being called out of his place in the east to go to Canaan and then he goes the first place he goes is high places and builds altars,

and calls on the name of the Lord, Genesis 12, or he goes and he sits under a tree, and meets with God, and calls on the name of the Lord. It's Genesis 12, and then in Genesis 22, God says, Hey, get yourself going up to the mountain, where it's the story about him and Isaac. So we talked about these two stories. What's interesting, the last sentence before God tests Abraham is the sentence that you're bringing up. What happens is that Abraham solves the conflict with this foreign king.

And to celebrate, he calls on the name of the Lord, which usually does. But every time he's called on the name of the Lord, before this point, in Genesis 12 and 13, he builds an altar, and he calls on the name of the Lord. In this story, he plants a tree, and then calls on the name of the Lord. And I think it's a design pattern that's giving you this bigger picture that building an altar is in effect in equivalent of planting a sacred tree because they are both places where God and humans commune together. This one and offering.

Two images, two images. Two images. Yeah, one is of a human offering up to God, what is most precious. And the other is a tree, and trees are where God provides for humans. And a tree is where tree, and trees are where God provides for humans. And a tree is where we choose to obey. Correct.

And exactly, which is a form of sacrifice. Totally. And so the point is that we're told that Abraham plants a tree and calls on the name of the Lord. The next sentence is, and after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, and then he says, go to Mount Mariah and offer up your son, well, where's Abraham sitting? He's sitting by a tree.

So he's, he faces his... He's facing a test. Exactly. Exactly. All of the moments where Abraham is by a tree fit into these Genesis 3 design patterns in really cool ways. Not just cool because it's artsy, but it's trying to show you that this is gonna be Abraham's ultimate test

of whether he's going to listen to the voice of God or listen or do what's good in his own eyes. Yeah, which yeah, anyway. So gold star, Plena, for noticing that. Daring from Washington. Hey Bible project, my name is Daring from Battleground Washington. My question has to do with the Humans Are Trees idea.

Ever since Watching Tim's Year of Torror videos due to Ronomy 20, verse 19 has really intrigued me. Do you think the Biblical authors are making a pun that is riffing off of the Humans Are Trees theme from Genesis 1, or see any connections there? Thanks. This is such an awesome little, this is awesome. So Deuteronomy 20 is a whole set of wisdom laws that Yahweh gives the people about how to conduct battles.

They're gonna exist as a nation state. They're gonna get into fights with people. So here's how God wants you either to or not to behave. And in verse 19, it says, let's say you're laying siege to a city. For a long time, fighting against it to capture it. Don't destroy the trees by putting an axe to them so that you can eat your fruit. You see that?

For is the tree of the field a human? That it should come under siege by you. Only the trees that you know are not fruit trees. Can you destroy your cut down to make your siege works against the city that's making war with you until it falls? But it's really random. Well, this is so perfect. But it's a cool way to do battle, I guess.

Like you're not going to destroy Something that's producing fruit. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Okay. So yeah one for sure one context of this is ancient warfare tactics When you beseech a city the whole point is you wipe out all of the agriculture of the whole region Just trying to make life miserable for them inside. Yeah, so they can never recover. Yeah economically So that's one thing. So God says none of that. But notice, first of all, that it's specifically fruit trees. If it doesn't produce fruit, okay, use it

to build your battering ram or whatever, your seach tower. But if it's a fruit tree, God, so God's giving a divine command about the fruit tree. Come on. Yeah. And then specifically, look at the fruit tree. Come on. Yeah. And then specifically, look at the question at the end of verse 19. Is the tree a human?

That it should come under siege by you? It's like the fruit tree is given the same dignity and value as a human made in God's image. That was happening. I think that's the logic here. Isn't the logic, look, you're not at war with the trees. Yeah, correct. Yeah. Because the tree's not a person. You're a war with the people. Ah, I understand. So is the tree the person you're a war with? No, no, no.

Yeah, tell it. Okay, all right. So at least you can say the trees are given a level of dignity. Yeah, they are given dignity. They are given dignity. That's for sure. And why is it? Because they represent the gift of God, the gift of God's life. Yeah. Because you can cut down trees that don't produce fruit, but don't cut down the fruit trees. Why? Well, they provide for people and they provide for animals, which is what Genesis 1 says. So you're right, I was overstating my case, but they are given a dignity and a value. It's remarkable. And so it doesn't necessarily assume the people is trees metaphorical scheme, but it's close. We're in the ballpark, and there's

Genesis 3 language all over this. Right. Well, it's one of those things where it's like, if there was out of all of the commands to have recorded in the Torah. Yeah, that's right. Of the how many five hundred, how many? 613.

613. Or 11. Yeah. Why this one? Yeah, that's right. Correct. And it seems like there's something here that's riffing on the tree theme. Correct.

That is more than just an army tactic. Yeah, oh for sure. Yeah, this is about a conception that any fruit tree you come across should remind you of Genesis 2 God's desire to bring the life of the heavens to the earth. And so if you see a tree that gives food freely, liberally, don't cut it down. Don't cut it down. It's not human.

It's not a war with the tree. That's not your problem isn't with anyway. All right, speed around. Peter from Netherlands. Hi, this is Peter from the Netherlands. I was wondering if there is a connection between trees on high places and highly placed people. Because the examples that you gave about people are like trees, it seems that they are always highly placed people involved.

And also when someone is making a decision at the high place, at a tree, at a high place, it seems that these decisions do not just affect our own lives, but also the lives of many other. Yeah, that's right. Adam and Eve are royal priests. Portrait is royal priests. Both the King Lee and Priestly Roles are representative roles. And their names mean humanity and life. So obviously they're representative. Yeah, this is how the biblical story works. All of the key characters represent larger people groups, whether it's Abraham or Moses or David or Joshua, but also like an advocate, right in the book of Daniel where he's like a big tree. So the way that the Genesis 3 design pattern will work is specifically, but not only focusing on people in high places. Because- By high places, I mean places of leadership.

Places of leadership or high social status. Yeah. Because people of any social status or low social status will also have their moments of testing. Mm-hmm. And are called to bear fruit totally and to be life for others. Yeah, that's right.

What? How much more so for people in leadership? Correct. So a big part of the testing at the tree on the high place motif is that it's often people in leadership positions, but not only that, but that is a legitimate observation. So Peter, a fun project would be to just scan through the biblical story and make a list of all of the people who have moments of decisions, tests of their character, somewhere in the vicinity of trees

or where trees are somewhere in the context and you'll get quite long list and then go for a long walk and have a cup of tea and think about these things. Should we keep rockin'? What should we do? Sure, we can do one or two more Garrett. Garrett from Tennessee.

Yeah. Hey Tim and John, this is Garrett from Shedding, at Tennessee. My question for the Tree of Life podcast is from the Book of Esther. In the Book of Esther, there's a galo's that set up for Mordecai by this evil character, Heyman, and that word gallows is the word eights from what I can tell, and it's the only

place that seems to be translated as gallows, but I think it's interesting. This evil character thinks that he's going to do away with this ruckus person instead meets his death on this tree That's translated instead as gallows. So I just wanted to get y'all thoughts on that. Appreciate all you'll do It's true the word gallows appears nowhere in the book of Esther. It's the word eights It appears four times in this connection here. It's a hangman platform. Oh, yeah, yeah So in other words, translations that interpret it as galos are not just translating, they're also interpreting what the tree was. What that tree was. Yeah. Literally what it said, Heyman says is, I'm going to build a high tree

for Mordecai to be hung upon. It's the word to hang or suspend. So it actually could refer to a variety of execution practices. This was from John Levinson, a scholar who wrote a commentary on Esther. The I first came across this, and he surveyed like ancient Near Eastern execution techniques, and crucifixion or hanging was not hot, common in ancient Persian Empire, but in Paling was. Yeah, and so in our re-scripture video, it's a big... In Paling. And the new international version translates the tree as a pole, and they translate hang as impaled.

So gross. Yeah, it's more fine. So what's significant though, notice, however, it's the wicked want to kill the righteous upon a tall tree, an exalted tree. And what happens is inverted is that, in fact, the wicked is killed upon that high tree that he made to kill the righteous. And there's a whole, I haven't worked this out yet.

I know all the texts, but I haven't pondered them enough. There's a whole design pattern theme about people dying on the tree. And Jesus' crucifixion is the culmination of that theme. But there's a bunch of kings in Joshua who get hung on trees. There's a law that says, Judas hangs himself on the tree, huh? Judas hangs himself, I don't remember it being on a tree. But he didn't hang himself and his guts spill out on the ground.

That's a gross scene. There's a law in Deuteronomy 23 about the one who hangs upon a tree as cursed by God. So these are all connected somehow in that the death upon the tree is this very shameful way to die and then it ends up being the way that Jesus dies. So I think the phrase hung upon the tree is like a phrase that could refer to many different kinds of execution. the tree. It's like a phrase that could refer to many different kinds of execution, but what's important is the design pattern meaning of that phrase that goes all the way back to the tree that caused death from the garden. I think that's how it's all connected,

but I haven't worked it out yet. Sounds like a long, interesting conversation. Totally. And yeah, it's kind of a gruesome way to end. Let's end on a high note. Lauren from Dallas, Texas. Hey, Tim and note. Okay. Lauren from Dallas, Texas. Hey, Tim and John. This is Lauren from Dallas, Texas. I love Bible project and I'm loving this current discussion. One tree that pops up in John 148 is when Jesus sees Nathaniel under the fig tree and that has always perplexed me and I've been wondering if there is significance there and if you could elaborate on that. Thanks so much

Do you know the story? The culmination of the opening chapter of John. The Samuel is the last disciple that Jesus calls out of the whole group, Andrews, Simon, and so on. In chapter one. And he comes up to Nathaniel, Jesus does. This isn't verse 47, and he says, Oh, look in Israelite, in whom there is no deceit, no treachery. Here's the son of Israel who's not treacherous. You're giving me blank stairs here. Well, I know this from Sunday school because it's just this classic like, how do you know anything about me? Oh, yeah, yeah. And then, oh, no, I'm going after something else. Okay. from Sunday school because it's just this classic like how do you know anything about me? Oh yeah yeah yeah.

And then oh no I'm going after something else. Okay. A son of Israel who's not treacherous. I feel like you're doing this you're like, I'm fishing please just pick that up. Who's the most treacherous person in the book of Genesis? A guy named Israel. Okay. Right? Okay.

Deseves is blind father, deceives his brother, deceives his uncle, after being deceived by his uncle. Deseat is the word associated with Israel in the book of Genesis. Okay. Jacob. Yeah. Well, Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel because he fights with God. Yeah.

And his name actually is a play on the word to see at all? It's a play on the word fighting with God. Israel is. Yeah. Oh, but Jacob means, yeah, he'll grab her. He'll sneak. Yeah. Somebody who trips other people by grabbing them.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, trickster. Okay. Trickster. God. Jacob means trickster.

Jacob means trickster. He gets his name, he gets changed to one who wrestles with God. Yeah, fights with God. Both, yeah, pretty brawly names. And every part of his life is marked by deceit. Oh, okay. Jesus is here to begin the renewal of Israel. And he sees in Israel in whom there is no deceit.

And so Nathaniel's like, what? How do you know me? Yeah, I guess that's not the point. Yeah, he says, listen, I saw you sitting under the fig tree. This is Jesus the Riddler, prophetic Riddler at work here. Yeah, there's a whole network of texts in Micah, Zechariah, and first kings that talk about the golden age of Solomon, or the golden age of Messianic kingdom,

where every Israelite will sit under their own vine and fig tree. So what Jesus is saying is, ah, here's an Israelite will sit under their own vine and fig tree. So what Jesus is saying is, ah, here's an Israelite who I can begin the renewal movement with. It's like, he's a picture of the things to come. Yeah, a picture of the renewed Israel, for sure. And then Jesus goes on and synothane, he's like, whoa, you're the son of God, you're the king of Israel. And Jesus is like, oh, you like that thing about the fig tree? You're going to see greater than that. Truly, truly, you'll see the skies open and the messengers of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. It's about Jacob's dream on the high place

of Bethel, which is the house of God. You're going to see God's space coming down. Yes, yeah. And the R space. Yeah, and so that story about Jacob, Trichster, in Genesis 28, what Jacob sees is a stairway uniting heaven and earth. And Jesus replays that but makes himself the stairway. He doesn't say you'll see the angels going up and down on the stairway.

Yeah. He says you'll see the angels going up and down on me. Oh, he. He says, you'll see the angels going up and down on me. Oh, he's the bridge. He's the tabernacle of God has become flesh. The word has become flesh and made a tabernacle on us. So there's such a great moment because it's highlighting, probably like half a dozen Hebrew Bible texts, and it's doing it all like in this subtle way

that it makes me smile. That's why I'm sorry I was fishing. No, no, that's great. Well, what's funny is it just gets so flattened out in Sunday school. Oh, I see. To just say, I was in that cute, how Jesus knew this guy.

Oh, supernaturally knew this guy. Yeah, and that's one part of what's going on, for sure. Like profit, he has, you know, supernatural knowledge. But that's not the whole of what's going on here. Yeah. We made it through nine questions. I think that's the most we've ever done. Yeah. Well done. Good work. I feel like with this theme, we dance around in a lot of different ideas. Yes, true. I think some themes seem to have this really tight unifying thing going on with the tree theme. It seems like there's so much.

We talked about sacrifice and obedience. We talk about wisdom and the fear of the Lord. We're talking about the sacrifice of Jesus and His blood. In my mind, I want to create this one concrete system for the steam to live in. And it feels like this one doesn't work so well that way. I mean, we talked about cursed as the one who dies on a tree. That seems like a whole thing. But anyways, I think what I've appreciated about this theme, what I've said is other people appreciate about this theme. What I've sensed other people appreciate about this theme is that it is rich and it gets you to think about so much in a fresh perspective. In the same way that we open talking about what does it mean to live, to eat from the tree of life practically. As soon as you open

that door you're into this whole world of a beautiful question. I feel like it does that in all these arenas. It keeps opening doors for you to contemplate. Well said, it's almost like a meta type of theme that can hold lots of other sub-themes that unite the storyline of the Bible. To me, the tree imagery throughout the Bible has become one of the best ways to show the poetic imagination of the biblical authors that through the image of a tree they can ignite so many sub-themes and ideas and plot twists all under the common imagery of a tree that can all of a sudden mean so many things and

It's clear that they want they don't want to shut down our so many things. And it's clear that they don't want to shut down our imaginations with this tree imagery. They want to ignite it, which to me has become a really exciting way to think about trees. Thanks for listening along. I think this is going to go out at the end of the tree series. So it means next week we will be talking about parables. Yeah, how to read the parables of Jesus. Now that video is already out, but we haven't released

the conversation, so that'll be next. What about parables? The next series. Jesus the Riddler. Jesus the Riddler. The Riddler is exactly right. Yeah, that's gonna be awesome. Thank you guys for listening to the Bauer Project Podcast.

Thank you for staying in your questions. We love hearing from you. We're so, so grateful for your enthusiasm and your support. Bible project is a nonprofit animation studio in Portland, Oregon. We make videos and resources that show how the Bible has unified stories at least to Jesus. Thanks for listening. My name's River, my name is Clarence. What's your favorite video in the Bible project? What's your favorite video about watching? I think it's when God talks about the mustard seed and how it grows into a huge tree thing. A mustard seed.

Yeah, it's like where God says there's a little mustard seed and that's how my dead stuff's my home gonna die and then I'm gonna spurn through huge thing or something. How did you first find out about the vital project? Oh, that was a long time ago. I don't even remember. I don't know, mom, I guess. We believe the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. We're kind of under the podger by people like me.

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