468. The following passages in the Word show that a tree means a human being:

All the trees of the field must recognize that I, Jehovah, will humble the tall tree; I will exalt the humble tree; I will wither the thriving tree and cause the dried-out tree to germinate. (Ezekiel 17:24)

Blessed are the people who take good pleasure in the law. They will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which will produce fruit in its time. (Psalms 1:1-3; Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Praise Jehovah, you fruit trees. (Psalms 148:9)

The trees of Jehovah are drenched. (Psalms 104:16)

The axe lies against the root of the tree. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down. (Matthew 3:10; 7:16-20)

Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree rotten [and its fruit rotten], for a tree is recognized by its fruit. (Matthew 12:33; Luke 6:43-44)

I will start a fire that will consume every thriving tree and every dried-out tree. (Ezekiel 20:47)

Since a tree means a person, therefore it was decreed that "in the land of Canaan a tree's fruit that is good to eat should be circumcised" (Leviticus 19:23-24). Since olive oil means a person of the heavenly church, we read of "the two witnesses who were prophesying, that they were two olive trees standing next to the Lord of the whole earth" (Revelation 11:4). Likewise Zechariah 4:3, 11-12, 14; and in David, "I am an olive tree, thriving in the house of God" (Psalms 52:8); and in Jeremiah, "Jehovah has called your name 'a thriving olive tree, beautiful in its fruit'" (Jeremiah 11:16-17), besides many more passages, which because of their abundance are not presented here.