In various parts of the East, a _tree_ is given prominence in the
rite of blood-covenanting. In Burmah, as above shown, one mode of
covenanting is by the mutual planting of a tree.[710] In Timor, a
newly planted fig-tree is made to bear a portion of the blood of the
covenant, and to remain as a witness to the sacred rite itself.[711] In
one portion of Central Africa, a forked palm branch is held by the two
parties, at their entering into blood-friendship;[712] and, in another
region, the ashes of a burned tree and the blood of the covenanting
brothers are brought into combination, in the use of a knotted palm
branch which the brothers together hold.[713] And, again, in Canaan, in
the days of Abraham, the planting of a tree was an element in covenant
making; as shown in the narrative of the covenant which Abraham cut
with Abimelech, at Beer-sheba.[714]
It may, indeed, be fair to suppose that the trees at Hebron, which
marked the dwelling-place of Abraham were covenant-trees, witnessing
the covenant between Abraham and the three Amorite chiefs; and that
therefore they have prominence in the sacred story. “Now he [Abram]
dwelt by [or, in: Hebrew, _beëlonay_ (בְּאֵלֹנֵי)] the [four] oaks
[or, terebinths], of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother
of Aner; and these [three it was who] were confederate [literally,
were masters of the covenant] with [the fourth one] Abram.”[715]
This rendering certainly gives a reason for the prominent mention
of the trees at Hebron, in conjunction with Abram’s covenant with
Amorite chieftains; and it accords with Oriental customs of former
days, and until to-day. So, also, it would seem that the tree which
witnessed[716] the confirmation, or the recognition, of the covenant
between another Abimelech, and the men of Shechem and the men of
Beth-millo, by the pillar (the symbol of Baal-bereeth)[717] in
Shechem,[718] was a covenant-tree, after the Oriental custom in sacred
covenanting.
There is apparently a trace of the blood-covenanting and tree-planting
rite of primitive times, in the blood-stained “Fiery Cross” of the
Scottish Highlands, with its correspondent Arabian symbol of tribal
covenant-duties in the hour of battle. Von Wrede, describing his
travels in the south-eastern part of Arabia, tells of the use of this
symbol as he saw it employed, as preliminary to a tribal warfare. A
war-council had decided on conflict. Then, “the fire which had burned
in the midst of the circle was newly kindled with a great heap of wood,
and the up-leaping flames were greeted with loud rejoicing. The green
branch of a nŭbk tree [sometimes called the ‘lote-tree,’ and again
known as the ‘dôm,’ although it is not the dôm palm][719] was then
brought, and also a sheep, whose feet were at once tied by the oldest
shaykh. After these preparations, the latter seized the branch, spoke
a prayer over it, and committed it to the flames. As soon as every
trace of green had disappeared, he snatched it from the fire, again
said a short prayer, and cut with his _jembeeyeh_ [his short sword]
the throat of the sheep, with whose blood the yet burning branch was
quenched. He then tore a number of little twigs from the burnt branch,
and gave them to as many Bed´ween, who hastened off with them in
various directions. The black bloody branch was then planted in the
earth.... The little twigs, which the shaykh cut off and gave to the
Bed´ween, serve as alarm signals, with which the messengers hasten from
valley to valley, calling the sons of the tribe to the impending war
[by this blood-stained symbol of the sacred covenant which binds them
in brotherhood]. None dare remain behind, without loss of honor, when
the chosen [covenant] sign appears at his encampment, and the voice
of its bearer calls to the war.... At the conclusion of the war [thus
inaugurated], the shaykhs of the propitiated tribe return the branches
to the fire, and let them burn to ashes.”[720]
How strikingly this parallels the use and the symbolism of the Fiery
Cross, in the Scottish Highlands, as portrayed in The Lady of the Lake.
Sir Roderick Dhu would summon Clan Alpine against the King.
“A heap of withered boughs was piled,
Of juniper and rowan wild,
Mingled with shivers from the oak,
Rent by the lightning’s recent stroke.
Brian the Hermit by it stood,
Barefooted, in his frock and coat.
. . . . . . . . . . .
’Twas all prepared;--and from the rock
A goat, the patriarch of the flock,
Before the kindling fire was laid,
And pierced by Roderick’s ready blade.
Patient the sickening victim eyed
The life-blood ebb in crimson tide
Down his clogged beard and shaggy limb,
Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim.
The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer,
A slender crosslet framed with care,
A cubit’s length in measure due;
The shaft and limbs were rods of yew,
Whose parents in Inch-Cailliach wave
Their shadows o’er Clan Alpine’s grave.”
Lifting up this fragment of the tree from the grave of the patriarch
of the Clan,[721] the old priest sounded anathemas against those who
should be untrue to their covenant obligations as clansmen, when they
recognized this symbol of their common brotherhood.
“Burst with loud roar their answer hoarse,
‘Woe to the traitor, woe!’
Ben-an’s gray scalps the accents knew,
The joyous wolf from covert drew,
The exulting eagle screamed afar,--
They knew the voice of Alpine’s war.
“The shout was hushed on lake and fell,
The monk resumed his muttered spell:
Dismal and low its accents came,
The while he scathed the cross with flame.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The crosslet’s points of sparkling wood
He quenched among the bubbling blood,
And, as again the sign he reared,
Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard:
‘When flits this cross from man to man,
Vich-Alpine’s summons to his clan,
Burst be the ear that fails to heed!
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed!
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Then Roderick with impatient look
From Brian’s hand the symbol took:
‘Speed, Malise, speed!’ he said, and gave
The crosslet to his henchman brave.
‘The muster-place be Lanrick mead--
Instant the time--Speed, Malise, speed!’”[722]
“At sight of the Fiery Cross,” says Scott, “every man, from sixteen
years old to sixty, capable of bearing arms, was obliged instantly
to repair, in his best arms and accoutrements, to the place of
rendezvous.... During the civil war of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross often
made its circuit; and upon one occasion it passed through the whole
district of Breadalbane, a tract of thirty-two miles, in three
hours.”[723]