2,000 Year Old Seed Sprouts Into Full-Grown Palm Tree In Israel
Another incredible sign of the times:
In the 1960s archaeologists in Israel unearthed ancient pottery from Masada containing 2,000 year old seeds from a date palm - in other words seeds from around the time Christ first walked the earth. The seeds remained in containment until 2005 when an expert desert agriculturalist successfully germinated one of the seeds, naming the growing palm tree "Methuselah".
Here is Methuselah in 2008 at three years of age:
Fast-forward to today and Methuselah is now well over ten feet tall, standing proud in southern Israel, and some of the other seeds have germinated:
Besides the age of the seeds themselves, what makes this date tree so amazing is that it has provided further confirmation of the Exodus. Genetic investigation revealed that the tree is most closely related to ancient date palms from Egypt, not Mesopotamia as some would have expected:
It looks like God has now restored the ancient flock to Israel along with her ancient palm trees, all while he continues to preserve the remaining Jews in the diaspora. Hopefully it won't escape your attention that:
1. The palm leaf was the ancient flag of sorts for Israel and its image will be emblazoned all over the Millennial Temple.
2. Palm leaves were used to welcome the Messiah on His first kingly entrance into Jerusalem.
3. Palm leaves represent the Feast of Tabernacles and also the Great Multitude of resurrected saints in Revelation 7:9-14.
Sources:
One For Israel
National Geographic
Methuselah Tree in 2016 with Dr. Elaine Solowey
In the 1960s archaeologists in Israel unearthed ancient pottery from Masada containing 2,000 year old seeds from a date palm - in other words seeds from around the time Christ first walked the earth. The seeds remained in containment until 2005 when an expert desert agriculturalist successfully germinated one of the seeds, naming the growing palm tree "Methuselah".
Here is Methuselah in 2008 at three years of age:
Fast-forward to today and Methuselah is now well over ten feet tall, standing proud in southern Israel, and some of the other seeds have germinated:
"He is over three meters [ten feet] tall, he's got a few offshoots, he has flowers, and his pollen is good," she says. "We pollinated a female with his pollen, a wild [modern] female, and yeah, he can make dates."
...
In the years since Methuselah first sprouted, Solowey has successfully germinated a handful of other date palms from ancient seeds recovered at archaeological sites around the Dead Sea. "I'm trying to figure out how to plant an ancient date grove," she says.
Besides the age of the seeds themselves, what makes this date tree so amazing is that it has provided further confirmation of the Exodus. Genetic investigation revealed that the tree is most closely related to ancient date palms from Egypt, not Mesopotamia as some would have expected:
Genetic tests indicate that Methuselah is most closely related to an ancient variety of date palm from Egypt known as Hayany, which fits with a legend that says dates came to Israel with the children of the Exodus, Solowey says.
It looks like God has now restored the ancient flock to Israel along with her ancient palm trees, all while he continues to preserve the remaining Jews in the diaspora. Hopefully it won't escape your attention that:
1. The palm leaf was the ancient flag of sorts for Israel and its image will be emblazoned all over the Millennial Temple.
2. Palm leaves were used to welcome the Messiah on His first kingly entrance into Jerusalem.
3. Palm leaves represent the Feast of Tabernacles and also the Great Multitude of resurrected saints in Revelation 7:9-14.
Sources:
One For Israel
National Geographic
Gary,
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. I did not immediately realize that palm leaves were what the Israelites used to welcome Jesus at his first triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
Some thoughts as it prophetically relates to Revelation 7:9-14: Does it mean only this type of palm tree is suitable? There are not plenty of this type growing right now. We have some more years ahead of us to allow these palm trees to grow and multiply in abundance for the great multitude of Revelation 7:9-14.
Could the Rapture still be several more years away? Can these palm trees grow in abundance within the 7 years of Tribulation? Obviously these questions are pointless if other types of palm trees are suitable for use.
Good thoughts and questions - I can only speculate. I think to me there is not a specific requirement that they must be 'these' particular palm trees, or a specific flock of sheep in regards to my other post, but I do think it is fascinating that both the ORIGINAL Israelite species of flock and the ORIGINAL Israelite palms are now back in the land after some 2,000 years. Having said that, one of the articles I read mentioned that the botanist had cross-pollinated a number of other modern palms using Methuselah, so I imagine there are now probably dozens, even hundreds of palms and sproutlings across southern Israel with this ancient genetic material.
Delete