Among The Myrtle Trees

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet:
I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white.
Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” So the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”
[Zechariah 1:7-9 NKJV]

This passage from Zechariah has fascinated me, ever since I first read it. It describes the first vision of the prophet Zechariah

The angel who — who is standing among the Myrtle trees — promises to answer the prophet’s question, saying that ‘all the earth is resting quietly.’ In the verses that follow, The Lord gives the angel a message of ‘good and comforting words’.

The picture is completed when we know that trees in scripture represent the saints and myrtle has many properties including healing and a sweet calming scent. Myrtle leaves were also used to form the ‘victor’s crown’, and as such was thought to symbolise glory, power and eternity.

So to see ‘the man’ among the Myrtle trees can be seen as Christ amid the saints, glorifying God, having become a ‘sweet-smelling savour’ to Him.

Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.

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