Myrtle

The myrtle (Hebrew hadas) is Myrtus communis, a fragrant evergreen shrub with dark glossy leaves and white flowers, still common in the hill country and ravines of Palestine and Lebanon. It was one of the four plant species prescribed for the construction of the booths at the Feast of Tabernacles alongside palm branches, willows, and "goodly trees" (Lev. 23:40; Neh. 8:15). The personal name Hadassah — Esther's Hebrew name (Esther 2:7) — is derived from the same root, suggesting the myrtle was associated with beauty and pleasantness. Isaiah's great passage of restoration uses the myrtle as a symbol of divine transformation: "Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle" (Isa. 55:13), picturing the messianic renewal of the natural and social order. In Zechariah's night visions, the angel of the LORD stands among myrtle trees in a ravine (Zech. 1:8, 10–11), a setting that has been interpreted as symbolizing the sheltered, quiet state of Israel during the period of the nations' domination.