Are you ready to become a bountiful Tamar?

Just over a week ago we invited you to join us for the Feast of Tabernacles. Our theme this year is focused on the date palm or its Hebrew title: tamar. In this article we explore how this key, Bible-lands tree demonstrates our transformed life and the rejoicing that overflows from us to Yahusha for His love, commitment and power.

Even now, as this year’s Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) draws to a close, Jews all over the world are holding up the ‘lulav’ (a closed date palm leaf) and waving it as a key part in their celebrations. Sukkot represents the final ingathering of the harvest, brought in to dwell with Yahusha, and we are to be like that palm branch - waving in worship before Him (Ex. 23:16, Matt. 13:24-43).

What can we learn from the date palm itself though that can help us make this journey? Let’s take a deeper look.

The date palm is a phenomenal tree. They can survive the harshest of conditions; extended drought, extreme heat and even hurricane force winds. Storms that would topple the mighty oak, a palm tree takes in its stride. But how? - I hear you say! We’ll get there shortly.

However, you can’t look up the palm tree in Scripture without spending some time with two women named after this ‘tree of life’. The first of these Tamars is the daughter-in-law of Judah who bore him the twins Perez and Zerah (Gen. 38) and the second is a daughter of David (2 Sam. 13).

Both of these women were harshly treated by the men in their lives. Judah broke his word to his son’s wife, leaving her without the promised husband when his first two sons were struck down by God for their wickedness. And David’s daughter was raped then thrown out by her half-brother Amnon! Just like these two Tamars, many of us have been badly treated, some sexually and/or physically abused, many left broken and kicked to the kerb by what they have experienced in their lives. So what is our hope?

According to the Strong’s Bible dictionary, ‘tamar’ means ‘erect’ in Hebrew (Strong’s H8558). But the question then begs: how do we move from being bent, broken and bruised to this place of uprightness and flourishing?

Yahusha, our Messiah, came to turn lives around, including lives like the Tamars. He takes the abused, those left washed out and hopeless and sets them in a place of honour. He heals lepers, opens blinded eyes, un-stops our ears and offers a home to all who are cast out (Luke 7:21-22, Matt. 11:28-30).

So what is our hope? Transformation!

We get there by being transformed.

Although this transformation begins when we repent and accept Yahusha as our Saviour, are baptised and receive His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) - it doesn’t stop there. It cannot - because it is a process that must continue throughout our walk of faith (2 Cor 3:18, Rom. 12:1-2).

Even as we answered Yahusha’s call at the start, we need to continue to seek His word in our lives, following His instructions in obedience until every area of bitterness, heartache and anguish is fully surrendered to Him (Matt.. 7:24-27, 1 Peter 5:7). Many struggles require us to cry in prayer until we receive deliverance (Psalm 51:17). Some will need help through counselling.

Let’s go back to the natural tamar now (ie. the date palm). One of the main reasons that the palm tree can survive the storm is because its ‘trunk’ is made up of a dense structure of tiny straws able to both drink in all the moisture available and bend without breaking. This straw structure is what makes the trees so flexible - able to bow up to 50 degrees before snapping.

To deal with the storm surges of life our only hope is to draw nearer to Yahusha and learn to drink in every word He gives us (John 7:37-38). This is how we can get to the place where we are able to bow in worship before Him (without snapping!) as the storm rages around us.

Another way that the trees survive the hurricane is that the palm leaves (called fronds) are able to fold up like a paper fan in the storm. Instead of being fully exposed to the wind’s destructive force they envelop in for protection.

Perhaps this folding in aligns to David’s times of introspection / self-examination that we see him do with Yahuah in such psalms as 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

David was certainly no stranger to the hurricanes of life, especially the times he was fleeing Saul. In fact one of the places he sought refuge was in En Gedi whose ancient name was Hazazon Tamar (see 2 Chr. 20:2), meaning division (perhaps ‘pruning’) of the palm tree.

Our ultimate goal as believers is to hear the voice of our Saviour saying: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25:21). But this is dependent on us surviving the storm. More than this, it’s dependent on being faithful with what Yahuah gives us to do. And if the storm destroys us then we can’t bring in the harvest that He’s given to us to reap. Satan constantly seeks to destroy us by separating us from Yahusha, getting us to break our promises to Him (John 10:10). Part of how we survive these storms is by re-doubling our efforts to keep our promises and vows - drawing closer to Him instead (Ecc. 5:4-5).

THE central theme of palm trees in Scripture is triumph, accomplishing a great victory. This is why it was the palm branches that were waved and laid before King Yahusha on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (John 12:13). We see them again at the great victory of surviving the tribulation in Rev. 7:9. We also see the palm trees depicted throughout Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6) - perhaps depicting how each of us must triumph over tragedy in order to live and serve in Yahuah’s Temple, in other words in His Kingdom.

Another theme of the palm branches is that of rejoicing. Coming back now to this feast time of Sukkot, here’s the command that was given in Lev. 23:40: “And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.”

This wasn’t an instruction that just applied to the Israelites of the day. Verse 41 says that it was to be “a statute forever in your generations”. The word ‘forever’ in Hebrew is ‘olam’ (H5769) and means ‘eternal’. It’s the same word used to describe Elohim. The reason that Jews wave the lulav is to fulfil this command, but it goes much deeper than this. Yahuah wants us to overcome every hurricane of life that tries to destroy us and make it into His final ingathering - rejoicing that Yahusha has brought us through.

Yahusha came to “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Is. 61:1, Luk. 4:18). Our job is to let Him. As we follow His instructions and permit Him to heal us we move from being damaged goods to becoming His treasured possession. We are transformed from barren wastelands into bountiful tamars (Is. 35:1-7), withstanding every storm aimed at us and bearing great fruit for Him.

So, are you ready to take the steps needed to become a bountiful Tamar? No matter what our starting point, every one of us is called to be as bountifully fruitful as the date palm. It’s time to begin or recommit to our transformation process to be made into Yahusha’s image so that we can be found rejoicing at our time of ingathering.