Parable of the Trees

I want to share something that many of you have probably never read or if you have it was just in passing it is the Parable of the Trees found in Judges 9:7-15,;

” ⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted his voice and cried out. And he said to them: “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, That God may listen to you!⁸“The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’⁹ But the olive tree said to them,‘ Should I cease giving my oil, With which they honor God and men, And go to sway over trees?’¹⁰“Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us!’¹¹ But the fig tree said to them,‘ Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, And go to sway over trees?’ ¹²“Then the trees said to the vine ‘You come and reign over us!’¹³ But the vine said to them,‘ Should I cease my new wine, Which cheers both God and men, And go to sway over trees?’¹⁴“Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us!’¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me as king over you, Then come and take shelter in my shade; But if not, let fire come out of the bramble And devour the cedars of Lebanon!’

Now you wonder what I can be trying to share. Well this scripture takes place after Gideon has passed and is buried with his fathers and Abimelech has been set-up as King over Israeli. As we look at the parable and we apply it to our lives we must wonder who we have set up as our King. You know each of us has chosen to serve someone be it God or the devil. And if you say no you have not chosen either, than by default you are working for the devil.

 The olive tree represents service to the rightful king. In the middle east olive trees are believed to live as long as 1500 years so today there are olive trees that are older than most of the civilizations on our planet. The bramble or thornbush is a representation of the worst possible leader you could choose to put in charge it’s a lot like Kudzu it grows everywhere and has no real purpose it does not promote anything good .Another thing that I know about a field full of thorn bushes it sucks all the nutrients out of the ground until it can no longer support anything that produces real fruit. But this is where most of us really live we are so wrapped up in the world that we are slowly allowing it to destroy us. We must be careful about who we give the control of our lives to. One choice wants to see us prosper and live the other desires to see us destroyed as he sucks the life out of us.