BAY TREE
named only in Psa 37:35, Psa 37: Authorized Version. The Hebrew word so rendered is _ereh_, which simply means "native born", i.e., a tree not transplanted, but growing on its native soil, and therefore luxuriantly. If the psalmist intended by this word to denote any particular tree, it may have been the evergreen bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), which is a native of Palestine. Instead of "like a gree......
BOX-TREE
(Heb. teashshur), mentioned in Isa. 60:13;41:19, 41: was, according to some, a species of cedar growing in Lebanon. The words of Ezek. 27:6 literally translated are, "Thy benches they have made of ivory, the daughter of the ashur tree," i.e., inlaid with ashur wood. The ashur is the box-tree, and accordingly the Revised Version rightly reads "inlaid in box wood." This is the Buxus sempervirens of ......
CHESTNUT TREE
(Heb. _'armon_; i.e., "naked"), mentioned in connection with Jacob's artifice regarding the cattle (Gen. 30:37). It is one of the trees of which, because of its strength and beauty, the Assyrian empire is likened (Ezek. 31:8; R.V., "plane trees"). It is probably the Oriental plane tree (Platanus orientalis) that is intended. It is a characteristic of this tree that it annually sheds its outer bark......
GOODLY TREES
boughs of, were to be carried in festive procession on the first day of the feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40). This was probably the olive tree (Neh. 8:15), although no special tree is mentioned. ......
OIL-TREE
(Isa. 41:19; R.V. marg., "oleaster"), Heb. 'etz shemen, rendered "olive tree" in 1-Kings 6:23, 1-Kings 6: 31, 32, 33 (R.V., "olive wood") and "pine branches" in Neh. 8:15 (R.V., "branches of wild olive"), was some tree distinct from the olive. It was probably the oleaster (Eleagnus angustifolius), which grows abundantly in almost all parts of Palestine, especially about Hebron and Samaria. "It has......
OLIVE-TREE
is frequently mentioned in Scripture. The dove from the ark brought an olive-branch to Noah (Gen. 8:11). It is mentioned among the most notable trees of Palestine, where it was cultivated long before the time of the Hebrews (Deut. 6:11;8:8). It is mentioned in the first Old Testament parable, that of Jotham (Judg. 9:9), and is named among the blessings of the "good land," and is at the present day......
PALM TREE
(Heb. tamar), the date-palm characteristic of Palestine. It is described as "flourishing" (Psa 92:12), tall (7:7), "upright" (Jer. 10:5). Its branches are a symbol of victory (Rev. 7:9). "Rising with slender stem 40 or 50, at times even 80, feet aloft, its only branches, the feathery, snow-like, pale-green fronds from 6 to 12 feet long, bending from its top, the palm attracts the eye wherever it i......
PALM TREES, THE CITY OF
the name given to Jericho (q.v.), Deut. 34:3; Judg. 1:16;3:13.......
PINE TREE
Heb. tidhar, mentioned along with the fir-tree in Isa. 41:19;60:13. This is probably the cypress; or it may be the stone-pine, which is common on the northern slopes of Lebanon. Some suppose that the elm, others that the oak, or holm, or ilex, is meant by the Hebrew word. In Neh. 8:15 the Revised Version has "wild olive" instead of "pine." (See FIR.) ......
PLANE TREE
Heb. 'armon (Gen. 30:37; Ezek. 31:8), rendered "chesnut" in the Authorized Version, but correctly "plane tree" in the Revised Version and the LXX. This tree is frequently found in Palestine, both on the coast and in the north. It usually sheds its outer bark, and hence its Hebrew name, which means "naked." (See CHESTNUT.) ......
SHITTAH-TREE
(Isa. 41:19; R.V., "acacia tree"). Shittah wood was employed in making the various parts of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and must therefore have been indigenous in the desert in which the Israelites wandered. It was the acacia or mimosa (Acacia Nilotica and A. seyal). "The wild acacia (Mimosa Nilotica), under the name of _sunt_, everywhere represents the seneh, or senna, of the burning bush. ......
STREET
The street called "Straight" at Damascus (Acts 9:11) is "a long broad street, running from east to west, about a mile in length, and forming the principal thoroughfare in the city." In Oriental towns streets are usually narrow and irregular and filthy (Psa 18:42; Isa. 10:6). "It is remarkable," says Porter, "that all the important cities of Palestine and Syria Samaria, Caesarea, Gerasa, Bozrah, Da......
SYCAMINE TREE
mentioned only in Luke 17:6. It is rendered by Luther "mulberry tree" (q.v.), which is most probably the correct rendering. It is found of two species, the black mulberry (Morus nigra) and the white mulberry (Mourea), which are common in Palestine. The silk-worm feeds on their leaves. The rearing of them is one of the chief industries of the peasantry of Lebanon and of other parts of the land. It ......
TEIL TREE
(an old name for the lime-tree, the tilia), Isa. 6:13, Isa. 6: the terebinth, or turpentine-tree, the Pistacia terebinthus of botanists. The Hebrew word here used (elah) is rendered oak (q.v.) in Gen. 35:4; Judg. 6:11, Judg. 6: 19; Isa. 1:29, Isa. 1: etc. In Isa. 61:3 it is rendered in the plural "trees;" Hos. 4:13, Hos. 4: "elm" (R.V., "terebinth"). Hos. 4:13, Hos. 4: "elm" (R.V., "terebinth"). I......
TREE OF LIFE
stood also in the midst of the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9;3:22). Some writers have advanced the opinion that this tree had some secret virtue, which was fitted to preserve life. Probably the lesson conveyed was that life was to be sought by man, not in himself or in his own power, but from without, from Him who is emphatically the Life (John 1:4;14:6). Wisdom is compared to the tree of life (Prov. 3......
TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, beside the tree of life (Gen. 2, 3). Adam and Eve were forbidden to take of the fruit which grew upon it. But they disobeyed the divine injunction, and so sin and death by sin entered our world and became the heritage of Adam's posterity. (See ADAM.) ......