The usual gifts are well-intentioned but forgettable. This year there is an option that is Biblical, rooted in the Land of Israel, and unlike anything your father has ever received.
I know fathers are difficult to buy gifts for. I am guilty and don’t make it easier either. The desire to find something meaningful almost always ends at the same destination: the default list everyone reaches for.
The usual suspects
Cards, bought by roughly 60 percent of people
Food, snacks, specialty items, and grilling gear
Clothing: shirts, socks, hats, and pajamas
Gift cards, easy and flexible but entirely impersonal
Grooming products, which subtly suggest dad does not have it figured out
Tools, gadgets, and electronics
A dinner out or a backyard BBQ
There is nothing wrong with any of these. But gift cards are essentially a greeting card without the sentiment, and a new cologne only works if he actually wears cologne and likes the fragrance. The trend toward personalized and experience-based gifts is growing for a reason: people are looking for something with meaning attached.
So in an exploration of what Father’s Day is, or ought to be, about, and some ideas, I went to the source. The Bible.
What honoring a father actually means
The Fifth Commandment is unambiguous: “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the Land that the Lord your God is giving you.” The original Hebrew word for “honor” is kavod, conveying weightiness, significance, and reverence. It describes a lifelong responsibility, not an annual obligation.
My parents never made much of Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Their view was that the obligation was every day. They were right. But the spirit behind honoring a parent, reflecting back to them the love and significance they carry in your life, is exactly what a genuinely meaningful gift tries to do.
Read the commandment carefully. It tells us what to do, why to do it, and has a geographic epicenter. We honor our fathers so that our days may be long “in the Land that the Lord your God is giving you.” The Land is the Land of Israel. That connection matters. Especially for people who revere the Bible and all its commandments, and who understand the inherent connection to a specific Land and its people.
What is Anointed
Another word that belongs in any Biblical conversation about fathers is anointed. Not as an overused adjective but in its original, physical sense.
Samuel pouring oil over a young David, his red hair glistening in the presence of his brothers.
“Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord gripped David from that day on.” (1 Samuel 16:13)
Anointing with oil was not symbolic decoration. It was a transfer of blessing, purpose, and divine favor. It sets aside, sanctifies the person being anointed with a special status. The power may not be in the oil as much as the process, but the process is significant, declarative, and public.
The fathers in your life, your biological father, an adoptive father, a stepfather, a grandfather, a father-in-law, a pastor, a spiritual mentor, have been doing something similar for you all along. Pouring into you. Passing something forward. Maybe as we honor our fathers, this is the opportunity to pay it forward, or perhaps in this case, backward.
A gift that connects all of it
This year, Root & Branch has created something that brings these threads together. The Root & Branch anointing oil is made from 100 percent pure olive oil, pressed from olives harvested by Christian volunteers at Biblical and historic sites throughout Israel. It is infused with a blend of genuine Biblical fragrances, including spikenard, the rare and costly nard that Mary poured over Jesus’ feet, worth nearly a year’s wages.
No synthetic scents, no filler oils.
It is the only anointing oil with this kind of pedigree. Every bottle carries oil from specific trees at historically significant sites, olives harvested by people who traveled to Israel to be a blessing, pressed into something that can be a blessing in return.
The Fifth Commandment promises that honoring our parents will lengthen our days in the Land. Ezekiel 36:8 prophesies that when the Jewish people return to the Land, it will blossom again. This oil is, literally, the fruit of that prophecy.
When you buy the Root & Branch anointing oil for the fathers in your life, you bless him. You are also blessed in doing so. And you become a blessing to Israel, with proceeds supporting soldiers and their families, at-risk youth, and Holocaust survivors in their final years: people who have been impacted by years of war and suffering, bringing in another significant Biblical commandment from Genesis 12:3 - to bless Israel and be blessed in return. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, across time, beyond borders, and connected to what’s really important as we honor our fathers.
If you want to go further, plant an olive tree in your father’s honor in Israel. It will deepen his - and your - roots in the Land, and yield fruit for generations, just as he has yielded fruit in yours.
The anointed fathers in your life deserve more than a gift card. Give them something that will outlast the occasion.
You can get the Root & Branch anointing oil or plant an olive tree in Israel in honor of your father this year Anointing oil and olive tree planting: rootandbranchisrael.com
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA