The Miracle Tree

[Lady Vizsla]

by Dr. Don DeYoung

Can you imagine a plant that is super-nutritious, grows rapidly without special care, has medicinal value, and provides chemicals to purify water in remote places? Well, imagine no longer . . . .

More than one billion people worldwide lack access to clean drinking water. Contaminated water results in untold suffering and death from dysentery, typhoid, and other common diseases. Children especially are easy victims of unsafe water. That’s why scientists are so excited about the prospects of a new solution inspired by a tree appropriately called the miracle tree.

This tree, known to botanists by the Latin name Moringa oleifera, is also called the horseradish tree because its roots taste like horseradish; and it is sometimes called the drumstick tree because of the shape of its seed pods. Long known in Africa and India, the tree is now propagated in tropical regions worldwide. Its leaves and bark are used for medicine, and the seed pods are highly nutritious.

But that is not what has caused the recent enthusiasm.

A protein in the seed pods effectively binds pollutants to itself while also killing harmful bacteria, including E. coli. This protein is useful for water treatment, but traditional methods were too complicated and labor-intensive to be of widespread benefit. Moreover, the water quickly grew new bacteria.

These problems were solved by adding the protein to sand, so Moringa seeds now show promise for improved water treatment worldwide. Here’s how it works. The antibiotic protein is first extracted from the Moringa seeds.1 Then the protein is coated onto sand grains. The resulting product is called f-sand, short for antimicrobial functionalized sand.2 Water filtered through the sand becomes clear of sediment and free of harmful microbes. The sand can also be stirred directly into water as an instant purifier, and treated water can be stored indefinitely without deteriorating. Research continues to find commercial applications that will work well in remote areas.

As an added blessing, the miracle tree grows rapidly, as tall as 9.8 feet (3 m) in a single year. The seeds provide a local, sustainable, biodegradable tool for improving water quality.

We are surrounded by useful ideas and products, placed in nature by the Creator. Surely many wonders remain undiscovered. This suggests an entirely new approach to science: searching for the secret chemicals and “technology” that our Creator has provided for the blessing of mankind.  

[cristobela]

After reading the bolded part, the "tree of life" immediately came to mind:

• Revelation 22:2 (NIV)
  
  2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

But the Moringa oleifera doesn't quite match the description above:

When the plant is grown from cuttings, the first harvest can take place 6–8 months after planting. Often, the fruits are not produced in the first year, and the yield is generally low during the first few years. By year two, it produces around 300 pods, by year 3 around 400-500. A good tree can yield 1000 or more pods.[17] In India, a hectare can produce 31 tons of pods per year.[15] Under North Indian conditions, the fruits ripen during the summer. Sometimes, particularly in South India, flowers and fruit appear twice a year, so two harvests occur, in July to September and March to April.[18]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera#Fruits

Instead of a monthly harvest year round (12 harvests), the Moringa Oleifera, at most, bears a crop twice a year. So, it's not the tree of life. Just another one of the many good trees that exist.

In all circumstances though, they should follow YHWH's commands to ensure optimal fruitfulness—leaving the fruit on tree without cutting it off for the first three years:

• Leviticus 19:23-25 (NIV)
  
  23 “‘When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden.[a] For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God.
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Leviticus 19:23 Hebrew uncircumcised
  b. Leviticus 19:23 Hebrew uncircumcised

 

[Lady Vizsla]

cristobela

After reading the bolded part, the "tree of life" immediately came to mind:

• Revelation 22:2 (NIV)
  
  2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

But the Moringa oleifera doesn't quite match the description above:

When the plant is grown from cuttings, the first harvest can take place 6–8 months after planting. Often, the fruits are not produced in the first year, and the yield is generally low during the first few years. By year two, it produces around 300 pods, by year 3 around 400-500. A good tree can yield 1000 or more pods.[17] In India, a hectare can produce 31 tons of pods per year.[15] Under North Indian conditions, the fruits ripen during the summer. Sometimes, particularly in South India, flowers and fruit appear twice a year, so two harvests occur, in July to September and March to April.[18]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera#Fruits

Instead of a monthly harvest year round (12 harvests), the Moringa Oleifera, at most, bears a crop twice a year. So, it's not the tree of life. Just another one of the many good trees that exist.

In all circumstances though, they should follow YHWH's commands to ensure optimal fruitfulness—leaving the fruit on tree without cutting it off for the first three years:

• Leviticus 19:23-25 (NIV)
  
  23 “‘When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden.[a] For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God.
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Leviticus 19:23 Hebrew uncircumcised
  b. Leviticus 19:23 Hebrew uncircumcised

I agree. There may also have been other 'miracle trees' that are extinct now and we can't reap their benefits now, unfortunately.