Everlasting Trees

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
Genesis 21:33 (NASB)

Genesis 21 is the 3rd time the verb נָטַע (natah) “planted” shows up in the Bible.

The first time, it’s when God planted a garden in Eden. (Genesis 2:8)
The second time, Noah planted a vineyard after the Great Flood. (Genesis 9:20)

This time, Abraham plants a tamarisk tree and calls God “El Olam,” or “God Everlasting.”

Why plant a tree? What does it have to do with “Everlasting?” The text doesn’t say, but it may be connected to the use of “olam” in the text.

Genesis repeats the phrase “everlasting covenant” or “everlasting” with “your SEED” (Genesis 13:15, 17:7, 17:8, 17:13, 17:19).

Perhaps Abraham associates “seed” with “everlasting,” so we should understand that he planted the tree from a seed as a remembrance.

Seeds in the Dirt

And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your [a]descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:7 (NASB)

[a] Lit seed

I’m charmed by the imagery of “seed in the land” that ties us back to the third day of creation.

Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Genesis 1:11 (NASB)

After the water was separated from land, plants began to grow.

Yes, “seed” refers to descendants and offspring, but the word choice gives us an echo.