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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Myrtle
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Used (as it is still by the modern Jews) on the return from Babylon to adorn booths for the feast of tabernacles (). It then grew on the hills about Jerusalem and Olivet, where now there are only the olive and the fig tree. Hereafter about to grow in what was a wilderness (; ). The myrtle in ; -11, symbolizes the Jewish church, not a stately cedar but a lowly though fragrant myrtle. Its depression made the Jews despond; the Angel of Jehovah standing (as in His abiding place, ) among the myrtles guarantees her safety, lowly though she be. The myrtle was probably imported into Palestine from Babylon in the time of Isaiah who first mentions it. It is a native of Persia. Esther received her name Hadassah, "the myrtle," in the Persian court (). In Samaria and Galilee on the banks of rivers it still abounds. Its starry blossoms amidst dark and odorous leaves, and flexible branches, furnish a beautiful garland, so that in Greece it was held sacred to Venus the goddess of beauty.