Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(hand-leaved). The date-palm. Once grew luxuriantly in Palestine. Evergreen and stately, often rising to 100 feet (Ex. 15:27; Deut. 34:3; Judg. 1:16; 1 Kings 6:32; Song of Sol. 7:7).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
Date Palm – Phoenix Dactylifera
This is a lofty tree without lateral branches, with a large tuft of leafy branches clustering at the top several feet long. At the base of the branches grow the dates in large clusters (Ex. 15:27; Num. 33:9; Judg. 4:5; Song of Sol. 7:7-8; Jer. 10:5; Joel 1:12). The branches were used to construct the booths at the feast of tabernacles (Lev. 23:40; Neh. 8:15); and were strewn in the path on the Lord’s last entrance into Jerusalem (John 12:13). There were many representations of palm-trees in the decorations of the temple, as there will also be in the future temple (1 Kings 6:29-35; 1 Kings 7:36; 2 Chron. 3:5; Ezek. 40:16-37; Ezek. 41:18-26). The palm-tree is used as an emblem of fertility in Psalm 92:12: some trees will bear yearly more than a hundred-weight of dates and for a period of about seventy years. The palm-branches are a token of rest and peace after sorrow (Rev. 7:9). The palm is the Phoenix dactylifera.
Date Palms by the Dead Sea
CITY OF PALM-TREES. Name given several times to Jericho because of the palms that grew there (Deut. 34:3; Judg. 1:16; Judg. 3:13).
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Revelation 7:9. Clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.
Palm-branches were used on occasions of festivity. See Leviticus 23:40; Nehemiah 8:15. They were regarded as tokens of joy and of triumph. Kings and conquerors were welcomed by having palm-branches strewn before them, and waved in the air, with shouts and acclamations of joy. Thus they were waved before the Messiah on the occasion of his entry into Jerusalem. See John 12:13. Conquerors in the Grecian games returned to their homes triumphantly waving palm-branches in their hands. Thus in the New Jerusalem John sees the triumphant followers of the Messiah with “palms in their hands.”
Related Books and Articles: