Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TREES

Botanically speaking, any woody perennial plant with one main stem or trunk and at least 3 m. (10 ft.) tall. Woody plants less than 3 m. tall are shrubs. At least 51 Hebrew and 12 Greek terms have been identified in the Bible as referring to specific types of woody plants or trees. This number can be contrasted with the contemporary flora of modern Israel, which feature more than 850 genera and 3500 species of plants; however, the ancient biblical writers certainly did not use our modern classification scheme, and some of their terms probably encompassed several modern species. Beyond references to specific types of trees, the Bible contains more than 300 general references to forests, groves, or trees in a general or generic sense.

Trees were important during biblical times in many different ways. Trees provided wood for building houses, furniture, tool and weapon handles, musical instruments, boats, ships, chariots, carts, wagons, and yokes. Trees provided fuel for domestic, cultic, and industrial purposes. Some species, of course, provided food in the form of fruits and nuts. By-products from various species of trees included ointments and perfumes, oil for lamps, spices, rope, tannins for leather, and chemicals for ink. Indeed, trees played such an important part in the day-to-day lives of people of antiquity that they (trees or their wood) were even turned into objects of worship by many.

Trees were also important environmentally. They provided homes and shelters for birds and beasts, their leafy branches providing shade from the sun or cover from the rain. Their root systems prevented soil erosion. Indeed, the removal of forests during the Roman and Ottoman periods had a devastating impact on the environment, turning the land into a virtual wilderness. Fortunately, recent aggressive reforestation projects in both Israel and Jordan are gradually reversing those negative effects and forests are being reestablished in the highlands of what was ancient Palestine.

The various trees and woody plants mentioned in the Bible can be roughly divided into four categories: cultivated nut and fruit trees; trees and shrubs of the forest; waterway trees; and wilderness trees. Cultivated nut trees include the almond, pistachio, and walnut. Cultivated fruit trees include the pomegranate, fig, olive, date palm, black mulberry, carob, citrus, apple, and the vine. Forest trees include the cedar, cypress, fir, juniper, pine, oak, terebinth, sycamore, tamarisk, acacia, storax, myrtle, laurel, ebony, and red saunders. Trees of desert or wilderness regions include the leafless tamarisk, common acacia, mudar (apple of Sodom), and the Phoenician juniper.

It should be added that many tree products that are mentioned in the Bible, including lumber and such valued items as frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, and ebony, did not come from native trees but were imported from other lands. Palestine’s unique location astride so many important crossroads of the Middle East made it easy for its peoples to acquire such exotic tree products.

The following are trees and woody plants believed to be referred to in the Bible but not designated by their common names in English translations. For other trees, consult the individual entries.

Heb. ʾōren (Isa. 44:14) has been variously translated “ash,” “fir,” “cedar,” “pine.” However, the word for laurel in Targum Jonathan is Aram. ʾûrnāʾ and in Arabic it is ǵār, suggesting that Heb. ʾōren probably refers to the same tree, the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis L.).

It is not certain which tree Heb. tĕʾaššûr (Isa. 41:19; 60:13; cf. Ezek. 27:6) represents, but several commentators suggest the box tree (Buxus longifolia), which does grow in the mountainous regions of Palestine. Other botanists have suggested the cypress or cedar.

It has been suggested that the broom tree (Retama raetam) should be identified with Heb. rōṯem, the bush under which Elijah slept (1 Kgs. 19:4-5; Job 30:4).

Some authorities think that the “godly tree” of Lev. 23:40 (ayēṣ hāḏār) is the citron (Citrus medica), although its appearance in Palestine is rather late.

Heb. ʾahāl (Num. 24:6; Ps. 45:8[9]; Prov. 7:17; Cant. 4:14) has also often been translated “aloe,” but is probably best identified with the eaglewood (Aquilaria agallocha), a tall tree with aromatic leaves and wood. Gk. alóē (John 19:39), however, is properly identified with one of a couple of species of the aloe (Aloe vera, A. succotrina), a spiny, succulent plant.

Most likely Heb. bĕrôš refers to several species of evergreen, including the Cilician fir (Abies cilicica) which grows in Lebanon. It likely also includes the cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), which is fairly widespread in Palestine.

Cercis siliquastrum has been identified as the Judas tree, the type of tree upon which it is thought that Judas hung himself (Matt. 27:5).

Heb. ʾarʿār (Jer. 17:6; cf. 48:6 MT) probably refers to the juniper (Juniperus phoenicia; cf. Arab. ʾarʾar).

Heb. ʿermôn (Gen. 30:37; Ezek. 31:8) is usually identified with the plane tree (Platanus orientalis).

The storax or liquidambar (Liquidambar orientalis) is most likely to be identified with Heb. ṣŏrî (Gen. 37:25; Jer. 8:22), from which Gk. stórax seems to derive.

The walnut (Juglans regia), a native tree of western Asia, is generally identified with Heb. ʾĕgôz (Cant. 6:11).

Randall W. Younker

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TREES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)