Bitterroot

Photo: Walter Siegmund

Montana's state flower is the Bitterroot. According to the all knowing Wikipedia, "Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva Pursh) is a small, low plant with a pink to white flower. It is the state flower of Montana, United States." My understanding is that it was used in food and as medicine (natural or spiritual). It has an extremely bitter taste, hence the name. Although I spent a good portion of my growing up years in Montana, I might have seen one once. Most of them had been dug up. It was an item of conversation from time to time; the beautiful little state flower was sadly very difficult to find. The Bitterroot was virtually gone.

The Bible talks about a bitter root, but in the biblical sense, there is no tragedy in its loss. In fact, we're to pull out our trowels and start digging. The tragedy in this case is allowing the bitter root to remain.

I find the terminology in Hebrews 12:15 interesting, especially when compared with Deuteronomy 29:18.

Hebrews 12: 14-17
¹⁴ Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Deuteronomy 29:18-20
¹⁸ Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹ one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.

In our English speaking world, we would tend to think of a root of bitterness as something like the Bitterroot flower; its root is bitter. Our English leanings also limit the Hebrews passage to a lack of forgiveness; a root of unforgivenss that comes up and takes over. While that is extremely dangerous, I'm not convinced that encompasses the whole of Hebrews 12:15.  In both Hebrews and Deuteronomy, there is an emphasis on unholiness and unbelief. In a void of holiness, God turns His face away. God says, "Be holy." There are no other options. Certainly a forgiving heart is part of that holiness, but the big picture seems to be complete saturation with the character of God.

Because Hebrews is largely an exposition on the Old Testament in light of New Testament events (Christ and His work), and because it was written to the Jewish people, I tend to think that there's a direct reference  in Hebrews 15 to Deuteronomy 29. Beware of anything that would come in the way of holiness and wholehearted devotion to Christ.

I'm interested in hearing others' thoughts on this, either here or on Facebook.