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).