Oak
There are six Hebrew words rendered "oak."
1. 'El occurs only in the word El-paran Ge 14:6 The LXX. renders
by "terebinth." In the plural form this word occurs in
Isa 1:29 57:5 (A.V. marg. and R.V., "among the oaks");
Isa 61:3 ("trees"). The word properly means strongly,
mighty, and hence a strong tree.
2. 'Elah, Ge 35:4 "under the oak which was by Shechem" (R.V.
marg., "terebinth"). Isa 6:13 A.V., "teil-tree;" R.V.,
"terebinth." Isa 1:30 R.V. marg., "terebinth." Absalom in his
flight was caught in the branches of a "great oak" 2Sa 18:9
R.V. marg., "terebinth").
3. 'Elon, Jud 4:11 9:6 (R.V., "oak;" A.V., following the Targum,
"plain") properly the deciduous species of oak shedding its
foliage in autumn.
4. 'Elan, only in Da 4:11,14,20 rendered "tree" in
Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Probably some species of the oak is
intended.
5. 'Allah, Jos 24:26 The place here referred to is called
Allon-moreh ("the oak of Moreh," as in R.V.) in Ge 12:6 35:4
6. 'Allon, always rendered "oak." Probably the evergreen oak
(called also ilex and holm oak) is intended. The oak woods of
Bashan are frequently alluded to Isa 2:13 Eze 27:6
Three species of oaks are found in Palestine, of which the "prickly
evergreen oak" (Quercus coccifera) is the most abundant. "It covers
the rocky hills of Palestine with a dense brushwood of trees from 8 to
12 feet high, branching from the base, thickly covered with small
evergreen rigid leaves, and bearing acorns copiously." The so-called
Abraham's oak at Hebron is of this species. Tristram says that this
oak near Hebron "has for several centuries taken the place of the once
renowned terebinth which marked the site of Mamre on the other side of
the city. The terebinth existed at Mamre in the time of Vespasian,
and under it the captive Jews were sold as slaves. It disappeared
about A.D. 330 and no tree now marks the grove of Mamre. The present
oak is the noblest tree in Southern Palestine, being 23 feet in girth,
and the diameter of the foliage, which is unsymmetrical, being about
90 feet."
See HEBRON 24712
See TEIL-TREE 26597
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