The Cosmic Tree

Many ancient texts speak of a giant tree that reached from its roots in the underworld to its foliage in the heavens, supporting and nourishing the whole world.
For those who still hold to the ancient understanding of the cosmos, the world tree forms a central part of that framework.
Many Biblical interpreters have speculated about the cosmic tree’s role in Judeo-Christian theology. Do we even have Biblical grounds for cosmic tree theology? And if so, where is the tree? Did it even exist?
The “cosmic tree” motif appears not in Genesis 1 as we might expect, but it is prominent in Ezekiel 31, where the prophet uses this imagery to denounce the Pharaoh of the day.
Ezekiel compares the Pharaoh to an ancient ruler who embodied the nature of the world tree - a man who controlled the world of his day by harnessing a dark power from the Great Deep. Ezekiel calls him “The Assyrian.” The writer of Genesis calls him that too - after he calls him “Nimrod.”
There is another historical figure in the Bible likened to the Cosmic Tree - King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, in the book of Daniel, chapter 4. The authority of the Babylonian king had a heritage that stretched back through Nimrod to the pre-Flood civilisation ruled by the Nephilim of Genesis 6.

When we read about the cosmic tree, we may often be tempted to see the text as literal; understanding the tree as real plant that formed a central anchor point to which the whole cosmos was tethered. But the text will always give us the answer to correct interpretation. The Bible uses comparative language or metaphor to tell us that the individuals being described had the properties of a great tree. Nebuchadnezzar was not a tree; he was a man.

Daniel 4:20-22 (NKJV) "The tree that you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens and which could beseen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and in whose branches the birds of the heaven had their home— it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth."

Again, in Ezekiel 31:2-11 we find the same concept at work, this time speaking of the Pharaoh of Egypt, comparing him to "the Assyrian," whom we shall know as Nimrod from Genesis 10. See how the tree imagery is used to describe power and influence:

Ezekiel 31:2-11 (KJV) "Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with  fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness."

The earthly manifestations of divine order and power were believed to be expressed through the kings of the ancient world. In many cultures the kings were deified or imbued with the power of ancestral or territorial spirits. At Ugarit the R'pum (Rephaim) were summoned to guide and empower the kings. In Babylon the heritage of the king was traced back to the Apkallu, ancient spirits that brought the technology of civilisation to the antediluvian world. The Jews would later see these Apkallu as the very same spirits that brought about the rise of the Nephilim, whose spirits lived on after death in the Rephaim.
Nimrod, the first giant of the post-Flood world, brought the Rephaim into existence by summoning a power from the great deep - according to Ezekiel, a power that spread to all the rulers of the world that divided from Babel, as spreading rivers water diverse plants.
Our challenge today is to ask the giant questions: Are we getting caught up in a modern version of this ancient cult? Are we placing national identity above allegiance to Christ? Are we so attached to honouring our ancestors that we neglect the needs of the living? Are we reliant on God to meet all our needs, or on the king? Are we seeking guidance from the Word of God, or the deceptive spirits of the unseen world? Are we bent on improving ourselves for the sake of our own name, or are we offering ourselves to Christ?
Just planting a seed of thought.
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- T.J. Steadman