"I the Lord have... made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it" (Ezek. 17:24).
Bristlecone pine trees, gnarled and weather-worn, are considered the oldest living things in the world. Many started growing as long as 4000 to 5000 years ago-some before the great pyramids of Egypt were built, others while the Israelites were crossing the desert. While some bristlecones are 100 feet or more tall, many are short and stubby, and each has a beauty of its own.
How do they survive in the mountains of California and Mexico at heights of 10,000 feet or more, where summers are extremely hot and winter storms bring subzero temperatures and fierce windstorms? A strong root system, clinging to patches of soil in the hard and rocky areas, is part of the answer.
Their tough, waxy needles help them survive as well. Where bristle-cones grow there is not much rainfall, but the Creator supplies some of their moisture requirements another way. At that high altitude summer fog and clouds blow over them. Enough tiny droplets of water collect on the needles to form drops that fall to the ground, providing moisture for the roots. The needles also prevent snow from piling up and breaking the branches. When the load gets too heavy they bend down and the snow slides off. As this snow melts, it gives further moisture to the roots. The needles also contain protective poison so that birds and animals stay away from them.
Older trees, and some younger ones, have survived lightning and severe storms that have killed sections of the trees, leaving some dead trunks and limbs alongside the living green ones-the dead sections actually sheltering the living. Over the years these dead sections have become polished, gnarled and twisted by severe weather, resulting in natural beauty. A visitor observing one of these ancient trees cannot help but wonder at their long survival under such conditions.
Bristlecones begin life as a seed dropped from a cone, that was perhaps blown from the parent tree and taking root in a sheltered bit of soil some distance away. Their rate of growth is so slow that the tiniest tree growing now is likely many, many times older than the person looking at it. While young they are usually straight and upright, but wind, rain and snow have made many of them bent and weathered while still small.
When we consider the beauty and majesty of these trees that God has created, we can understand the meaning of the Bible verse that says: "Let them praise the name of the Lord: for He commanded and they were created... mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars [related to the bristlecones]" (Psa. 148:5,95Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. (Psalm 148:5)
9Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: (Psalm 148:9)).