Oak

VIEW:33 DATA:01-04-2020
OAK
(1) ’çlâh, Gen_35:4, Jdg_6:11; Jdg_6:19, 2Sa_18:9 f., 2Sa_18:14, 1Ki_13:14, 1Ch_10:12, Isa_1:30, Eze_6:13, Hos_4:13; (Vale of) Elah’ [RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘terebinth’], 1Sa_17:2; 1Sa_17:19; 1Sa_21:9, Isa_6:13 [AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘teil tree’]; ’çlâh elsewhere always tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘oak’ [RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘terebinth’]; ’allâh, a slight variant, Jos_24:26.
2. ’çlîrn, perhaps pi. of çlâh, Isa_1:29, ‘oaks’ [RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘terebinths’] Isa_57:5 [AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘idols,’ mg. ‘oaks,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘oaks’] Isa_61:3 ‘trees.’ The meaning of ’çlîm in Eze_31:14 is obscure, if the text be correct. These words, ’çlâh, ’allâh, and ’çlîm, all apparently refer to the terebinth (wh. see).
3. ’allôn, cannot be the same as ’çlâh, because it occurs with it in Isa_6:13, Hos_4:13; see also Gen_35:8, Isa_44:14, Amo_2:9. In Isa_2:13, Eze_27:8, Zec_11:2 the ‘allônîm (‘oaks’) of Bashan are mentioned. In Jos_19:33 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) ’allôn is treated as a proper name.
4. ’çlôn, probably merely a variation of ’allôn, is in Gen_12:8; Gen_13:18; Gen_14:13; Gen_18:1, Deu_11:30, Jdg_4:11; Jdg_9:6; Jdg_9:37, 1Sa_10:3 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘plain’ or ‘plains,’ but in RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘oak’ or oaks,’ mg. ‘terebinth’ or ‘terebinths.’ ‘allôn and ’çlôn apparently refer to the oak.
Oaks have always been relatively plentiful in Palestine-Even to-day, in spite of the most reckless destruction, groves of oaks survive on Carmel, Tabor, around Banias, and in ancient Bashan; while whole miles of country are covered with shrub-like oaks produced from the roots of trees destroyed every few years for fuel. Among the nine recognized varieties of oak in Syria, the evergreen Quercus coccifera or ‘holm oak’ is the finest—it is often 30 to 35 feet high. Its preservation is usually due to its being situated at some sacred wely. ‘Abraham’s oak’ at Hebron is of this kind. Other common oaks are the Valonia oak (Q. Ægilops), which has large acorns with prickly cups, much valued for dyeing; and the Oriental gall oak (Q. cerris), a comparatively insignificant tree, especially noticeable for the variety of galls which grow on it. Both these latter are deciduous, the leaves falling from late autumn to early spring. Oak wood is used for tanning skin bottles and also as fuel, while the acorn cups of the Valonia oak and the galls of the various oak trees are both important articles of commerce in N. Syria.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


eeyl, from uwl "strong," as the Latin robur. The terebinth or turpentine tree. Eloth, Elim, etc., take their name hence; so for "teil tree" (Isa_6:13; Isa_1:29), and for "elms" (Hos_4:13), eelah; allon is the "oaks"; also eelon is "the oak." The Quercus psedo-coccifera is the most abundant in Palestine, covering Carmel with dense brushwood eight to twelve feet high. Its roots are dug up as fuel in the valleys S. of Lebanon, where the living tree is no longer to be seen. Abram's oak near Hebron is of this species, still flourishing in the midst of a field, the stock 23 ft. in girth, and the branch spreading over a circle 90 ft. in diameter.
It is probably sprung from some far back offshoot of the original grove under which he pitched his tent (Gen_13:18), "Abram dwelt at the oaks of Mamre in Hebron." The Quercus aegilops, or "prickly cupped Valonia oak", is found on the hills E. of Nazareth and Tabor. The Quercus infectoria or "dyeing oak" is seldom higher than 30 ft., growing on the eastern sides of Lebanon and the hills of Galilee; its gall-nuts, formed by the puncture of an insect, contain tannin and gallic acid used for dyeing and ink. Dr. Hooker conjectures the two aegilops to represent the "oaks of Bashan" (Isa_2:13). Deborah was buried under an oak (Gen_35:8). So Saul (1Sa_31:13). Idolaters sacrificed under oaks (Isa_1:29). Under one Joshua set up a pillar at Shechem to commemorate the nation's covenant with God (Jos_24:26). The "tree" in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 4) is 'ilan, any "strong tree".
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Oak. (Hebrew, strong). There is much difficulty in determining the exact meanings of the several varieties of the term mentioned above. Sometimes, evidently, the terebinth or elm is intended and, at others, the oak. There are a number of varieties of oak in Palestine.
(Dr. Robinson contends that the oak is generally intended, and that it is a very common tree in the East. Oaks grow to a large size, reach an old age and are every way worthy the venerable associations connected with the tree. ? Editor). Two oaks, Quercus pseudo-coccifera and Quercus aegilops, are well worthy of the name of mighty trees; though it is equally true that over a greater part of the country, the oaks of Palestine are at present merely bushes.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


The religious veneration paid to this tree by the original natives of our island in the time of the Druids, is well known to every reader of British history. We have reason to think that this veneration was brought from the east; and that the Druids did no more than transfer the sentiments their progenitors had received in oriental countries. It should appear that the Patriarch Abraham resided under an oak, or a grove of oaks, which our translators render the plain of Mamre; and that he planted a grove of this tree, Gen_13:18. In fact, since in hot countries nothing is more desirable than shade, nothing more refreshing than the shade of a tree, we may easily suppose the inhabitants would resort for such enjoyment to
Where'er the oak's thick branches spread
A deeper, darker shade.
Oaks, and groves of oaks, were esteemed proper places for religious services; altars were set up under them, Jos_24:26; and, probably, in the east as well as in the west, appointments to meet at conspicuous oaks were made, and many affairs were transacted or treated of under their shade, as we read in Homer, Theocritus, and other poets. It was common among the Hebrews to sit under oaks, Jdg_6:11; 1Ki_13:14. Jacob buried idolatrous images under an oak, Gen_35:4; and Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried under one of these trees, Gen_35:8. See 1Ch_10:12. Abimelech was made king under an oak, Jdg_9:6. Idolatry was practised under oaks, Isa_1:29; Isa_57:5; Hos_4:13. Idols were made of oaks, Isa_44:14.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


ōk: Several Hebrew words are so translated, but there has always been great doubt as to which words should be translated ?oak? and which ?terebinth.? This uncertainty appears in the Septuagint and all through English Versions of the Bible; in recent revisions ?terebinth? has been increasingly added in the margin. All the Hebrew words are closely allied and may originally have had simply the meaning of ?tree? but it is clear that, when the Old Testament was written, they indicated some special kind of tree.

1. Hebrew Words and References:
The words and references are as follows:
(1) אלה, 'ēlāh (in the Septuagint usually τερέβινθος, terébinthos. in Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) terebinthus, or, more commonly, quercus) (Gen_35:4; Jdg_6:11, Jdg_6:19; 2Sa_18:9, 2Sa_18:10, 2Sa_18:14; 1Ki_13:14; 1Ch_10:12; Isa_1:30; Eze_6:13 - in all these margin ?terebinth ?). In Isa_6:13 (the King James Version ?teil tree?) and Hos_4:13 (the King James Version ?elms?) the translation is ?terebinths? because of the juxtaposition of 'allōn, translated ?oaks.? ?Vale of Elah? (margin ?the Terebinth?) is found in 1Sa_17:2, 1Sa_17:19; 1Sa_21:9. The expression in Isa_1:30, ?whose leaf fadeth,? is more appropriate to the terebinth than the oak (see below).
(2) אלּה, 'allāh (terebinthos, quercus (Vulgate)), apparently a slight variant for 'ēlāh; only in Jos_24:26; Gen_35:4 ('ēlāh) and in Jdg_9:6 ('ēlōn).
(3) אלים, 'ēlı̄m or אילים, 'eylı̄m, perhaps plural of 'ēlāh occurs in Isa_1:29 (margin ?terebinths?); Isa_57:5, margin ?with idols,? the King James Version ?idols,? margin ?oaks?; Isa_61:3, ?trees?; Eze_31:14 (text very doubtful), ?height,? the King James Version margin ?upon themselves?; איל, 'ēl, in El-paran Septuagint terebinthos) (Gen_14:6), probably means the ?tree? or ?terebinth? of Paran. Celsius (Hierob. 1, 34 ff) argues at length that the above words apply well to the TEREBINTH (which see) in all the passages in which they occur.
(4) אלון, 'ēlōn (usually δρῦς, drús, ?oak?), in Gen_12:6; Gen_13:18; Gen_14:13; Gen_18:1; Deu_11:30; Jos_19:33; Jdg_4:11; Jdg_9:6, Jdg_9:37; 1Sa_10:3 (the King James Version ?plain?); in all these references the margin has ?terebinth? or ?terebinths.? In Gen_12:6; Deu_11:30 we have ?oak? or ?oaks? ?of the teacher? (Moreh); ?oak in Zaanannim? in Jdg_4:11; Jos_19:33; the ?oak of Meonenim,? margin ?the augurs' oak (or, terebinth)? in Jdg_9:37.
(5) אלּון, 'allōn (commonly δρῦς, drús, or βάλανος, bálanos), in Gen_35:8 (compare Gen_35:4); Hos_4:13; Isa_6:13, is contrasted with 'ēlāh, showing that 'allōn and 'ēlāh cannot be identical, so no marginal references occur; also in Isa_44:14; Amo_2:9, but in all other passages, the margin ?terebinth? or ?terebinths? occurs. ?Oaks of Bashan? occurs in Isa_2:13; Eze_27:6; Zec_11:2.
If (1) (2) (3) refer especially to the terebinth, then (4) and (5) are probably correctly translated ?oak.? If we may judge at all by present conditions, ?oaks? of Bashan is far more correct than ?terebinths? of Bashan.

2. Varieties of Oak:
There are, according to Post (Flora of Palestine, 737-41), no less than 9 species of oak (Natural Order Cupuliferae) in Syria, and he adds to these 12 sub-varieties. Many of these have no interest except to the botanist. The following species are widespread and distinctive: (1) The ?Turkey oak,? Quercus cerris, known in Arabic as Ballût, as its name implies, abounds all over European Turkey and Greece and is common in Palestine. Under favorable conditions it attains to great size, reaching as much as 60 ft. in height. It is distinguished by its large sessile acorns with hemispherical cups covered with long, narrow, almost bristly, scales, giving them a mossy aspect. The wood is hard and of fine grain. Galls are common upon its branches.
(2) Quercus lusitanica (or Ballota), also known in Arabic as Ballût, like the last is frequently found dwarfed to a bush, but, when protected, attains a height of 30 ft. or more. The leaves are denate or crenate and last late into the winter, but are shed before the new twigs are developed. The acorns are solitary or few in cluster, and the cupules are more or less smooth. Galls are common, and a variety of this species is often known as Q. infectoria, on account of its liability to infection with galls.
(3) The Valonica oak (Q. aceglops), known in Arabic as Mellût, has large oblong or ovate deciduous leaves, with deep serrations terminating in a bristle-like point, and very large acorns, globular, thick cupules covered with long reflexed scales. The cupules, known commercially as valonica, furnish one of the richest of tanning materials.
(4) The Evergreen oak is often classed under the general name ?Ilex oak? or Holm (i.e. holly-like) oak. Several varieties are described as occurring in Palestine. Q. ilex usually has rather a shrublike growth, with abundant glossy, dark-green leaves, oval in shape and more or less prickly at the margins, though sometimes entire. The cupules of the acorns are woolly. It shows a marked predilection for the neighborhood of the sea. The Q. coccifera (with var. Q. pseudococcifera) is known in Arabic as Sindiān. The leaves, like the last, usually are prickly. The acorns are solitary or twin, and the hemispherical cupules are more or less velvety. On the Q. coccifera are found the insects which make the well-known Kermes dye. These evergreen oaks are the common trees at sacred tombs, and the once magnificent, but now dying, ?Abraham's oak? at Hebron is one of this species.

3. Oaks in Modern Palestine:
Oaks occur in all parts of Palestine, in spite of the steady ruthless destruction which has been going on for centuries. All over Carmel, Tabor, around Banias and in the hills to the West of Nazareth, to mention well-known localities, there are forests of oak; great tracts of country, especially in Galilee and East of the Jordan, are covered by a stunted brushwood which, were it not for the wood-cutter, would grow into noble trees. Solitary oaks of magnificent proportions occur in many parts of the land, especially upon hilltops; such trees are saved from destruction because of their ?sacred? character. To bury beneath such a tree has ever been a favorite custom (compare Gen_35:8; 1Ch_10:12). Large trees like these, seen often from great distances, are frequently landmarks (Jos_19:33) or places of meeting (compare ?Oak of Tabor,? 1Sa_10:3). The custom of heathen worship beneath oaks or terebinths (Hos_4:13; Eze_6:13, etc.) finds its modern counterpart in the cult of the Wely in Palestine. The oak is sometimes connected with some historical event, as e.g. Abraham's oak of Mamre now shown at Hebron, and ?the oak of weeping,? Allon bacuth, of Gen_35:8.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


In our version various words are rendered by 'oak,' particularly Alah, which more probably denotes the terebinth-tree. The oak is, in fact, less frequently mentioned in the original than in the A.V., where it occurs so often as to suggest that the oak is as conspicuous and as common in Palestine as in this country. But in Syria oaks are by no means common, except in hilly regions, where the elevation gives the effect of a more northern climate; and even in such circumstances it does not attain the grandeur in which it often appears in our latitudes. Indeed, Syria has not the species which forms the glory of our own forests. The 'oaks of Bashan' are in Scripture mentioned with peculiar distinction (Isa_2:13; Eze_27:6; Zec_11:2), as if in the hills beyond the Jordan the oaks had been more abundant and of larger growth than elsewhere. This is the case even at the present day. In the hilly regions of Bashan and Gilead, Burckhardt repeatedly mentions forests of thick oaks?thicker than any forests which he had seen in Syria. Oaks of low stature are frequent on the hills and plains near the sources of the Jordan, and in the lower slopes of Lebanon. Lord Lindsay describes the hills of northern Judea about Hebron as covered to the top with low shrubs of the prickly oak. Prickly and evergreen oaks occur between Samaria and Mount Carmel, and on the banks of the Kishon. The thick trees which cover Mount Tabor are composed chiefly of oaks and pistachio-trees.
The species of oak found in Palestine are,
The Evergreen Oak. This is a tall but not wide-spreading tree, and the timber being very hard, is much used for purposes in which compactness and durability are required.
The Holly-leaved Montpelier Oak, another evergreen. This tree also, as its name imports, is a native of Southern Europe, and is markedly distinguished from the former by its numerous straggling branches and the thick underdown of its leaves.
The Hairy-cupped Oak, so called from the bristly appearance of the calyx. It grows to a considerable size, and furnishes an excellent timber, much used by the Turks in the building of ships and houses.
The Great Prickly-cupped Oak, which takes its name from its large prickly calyx. This species is common in the Levant, where it is a handsome tree, which it is not in our ungenial climate, though it has long been cultivated. The wood of this species is of little worth; but its acorns form the valonia of commerce, of which 150,000 cwt. are yearly imported into this country for the use of tanners.
The Kermes Oak takes its name from an insect (kermes, of the genus coccus) which adheres to the branches of this bushy evergreen shrub, in the form of small reddish balls about the size of a pea. This affords a crimson dye, formerly celebrated, but now superseded by cochineal. This dye was used by the ancient Hebrews.
From the hints of travelers there appear to be some other species of oaks in Palestine, but their information is not sufficiently distinct to enable us to identify them.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Gen_35:8 (c) Deborah, the nurse, was buried under an oak tree, and from this we notice that usually the oak tree is a type of the bitterness of sorrow because of death. Notice that in Jos_24:26 that great leader made a covenant with the people under an oak tree, and then died as we read in Jos_24:29. Notice also that the prophet sat under an oak tree in 1Ki_13:14, and immediately thereafter he died, as recorded in 1Ki_13:24. Absalom was caught by his head in an oak tree, 2Sa_18:9. Saul and his sons were buried under an oak tree, 1Ch_10:12. In Zec_11:2 the oaks are said to howl because of death. This verse was used as a text at the funeral of Mr. Spurgeon.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.


Oak
is the rendering in the A.V. of four Hebrew words ( אֵיל[in the plural, however, only so rendered, אֵילַים], אֵלָה, אִלָּה. and אִלּוֹן), but is usually thought to be the meaning also of two others ( אַילָן and אֵילוֹן); which are all from the same or cognate roots (אוּל, אַיל, or אָלִל), significant of strength. We take each of these in regular order, and then give a general statement of the subject. For the various opinions upon the meaning of these kindred terms, see Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 47, 51, 103; and Stanley, Sinai and Pal. p. 519. SEE TRUE.
1. Eyl (אֵיל, Sept.Vat. τερέβινθος; Alex. τερέμινθος; Aq., Sym., Theod., Apivg; Vulg. campestria) occurs only in the singular number in Gen_14:6 (“El-paran”). It is uncertain whether e'l should be joined with Paran to form a proper name, or whether it is to be taken separately, as the “terebinth,” or the “oak,” or the “grove” of Paran. Onkelos and Saadias follow the Vulg., whence the “plain” of the A. V. (margin) (see Stanley, Sinai and Pal. p. 519,520, App.). Rosenmüller (Schol. ad 1. c.) follows Jarchi (Comment. in Pent. ad Gen_14:6), and is for retaining the proper name. Two plurals and one collective form of el occur: eylim, eyldth, and eyldth. Elim, the second station where the Israelites halted after they had crossed the Red Sea, in all probability derived — its name from the seventy palm-trees there; the name el, which more particularly signifies an oak, being here put for any grove or plantation. Similarly the other .double form, Eloth or Elath, may refer, as Stanley (Sinai and Pal. p. 20) conjectures, to the palm-grove at Akaba. The plural eylim occurs in Isa_1:29, where probably “oaks” are intended; in Isa_61:3, and Ezra 31:14, any strong, flourishing trees may be denoted. SEE ELIM.
2. Elah (אֵלָה, Sept. τερέβινθος, δρῦς ᾿Ηλά, δένδρον ῝῾δένδρον συσκίαζον, Symm.]; πλάτανος in Hosea iv. 13 [δένδρον σύσκιον]; Vulg. terebinthus, quercus; A. V. “oak,” “elah,” “teil-tree” in Isa_6:13; “elms” in Hos_4:13). SEE ELAH.
3. Eylon (אֵילוֹן; Sept. ἡ δρῦς ἡ ὑψηλή, ἡ βάλανος ᾿Ηλων; Vulg. convallis illustris, quercus) occurs frequently in the O.T., and denotes, there can be little doubt, some kind of oak. The A. V., following the Targum, translates eylon by “plain.” SEE PLAIN.
4. Ilan (Chald. אַילָן; Sept. δένδρον; Vulg. arbor) is found only in Daniel iv as the tree which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The word appears to be used for any “strong tree,” the oak having the best claim to the title, to which tree probably indirect allusion may be made.
5. Ahh (אִלָּה; Sept. ἡ τέρμινθος, Aq. and Symm. ἡ δρῦς; Vulg. quercus) occurs only in Jos_24:26, and is correctly rendered “oak” by the A. V.
6. Allon (אִלּוֹן; Sept. ἡ βάλανος, δένδρον βαλάνου, δρῦς; Vulg. quercus) is uniformly rendered “oak” by the A. V., and has always been so understood by commentators. It occurs in Gen_35:8; Jos_19:32; Isa_2:13; Isa_6:13; Isa_44:14; Hos_4:13; Amo_2:9; Zec_11:2.
There is much difficulty in determining the exact meanings of the several varieties of the term mentioned above; the old versions are so inconsistent that they add but little by way of elucidation. Celsius (Hierob. 1:34) has endeavored to show that eyl, eylim, eylon, elah, and allah all stand for the terebinth-tree (Pistacia terebinthus), while allon alone denotes an oak. Royle (in Kitto's Cyc. art. Alah) agrees with Celsius in identifying the elah (אֵלָה) with the terebinth, and the allon (אִלּוֹן): with the oak. Hiller (Hierophyt. 1:348) restricts the various forms of this word to different species of oak, and says no mention is made of the terebinth in the Hebrew Scriptures. Rosenmüller (Bib. Not. p. 237) gives the terebinth to eyl and elah, and the oak to allah, allon, and eylon ( אֵילוֹן). It should be stated that allon occurs in Hos_4:13, as distinguished from the other form, eldh; consequently it is necessary to suppose that two different trees are signified by the terms. Others believe that the difference is specific, and not generic that two species of oaks are denoted by the Hebrew terms, allon standing for an evergreen oak, as the Quercus pseudo-coccifera, and eldh for one of the deciduous kinds. The Pistacia vera could never be mistaken for an oak. — If, therefore, specific allusion was ever made to this tree, it probably would have been under another name than any one of the numerous forms which are used to designate the different species of the genus Quercus; perhaps under a Hebrew form allied to the Arabic butm, “the terebinth.” SEE TEREBINTH.
That various species of oak may well have deserved the appellation of mighty trees is clear, from the fact that noble oaks are to this day occasionally seen in Palestine and Lebanon. On this subject we have been favored with some, valuable remarks from Dr. Hooker, who says, “The forests have been so completely cleared off all Palestine that we must not look for existing evidence of what the trees were in Biblical times and antecedently. In Syria proper there are only three common oaks. All form large trees in many countries, but very rarely now in Palestine; though that they do so occasionally is proof enough that they once did.” Abraham's oak, near Hebron, is a. familiar example of a noble tree of one species, the prickly evergreen oak (Quercus pseudo-coccifera [see Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 369]). Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res. 2:81) has given a minute account of it; and “his description,” says Dr. Hooker, “is good, and his measurements tally with mine.” If we examine the claims of the terebinth to represent the eldh, as Celsius and others assert, we shall see that in point of size it cannot compete with some of the oaks of Palestine; and that therefore if eldh ever denotes the terebinth which we by no means assert it does not. the term etymologically is applicable to it only in a second degree; for the Pistacia terebinthus, although it also occasionally grows to a great size, “‘spreading its boughs,” as Robinson (Bib. Res. 2:222) observes, “far and wide like a noble oak,” yet does not form so conspicuously a good tree as either the Quercus pseudo-coccifera or Q. aegilops. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, 1:375) remarks on this point: “There are more mighty oaks here in this immediate vicinity (Mejdel esShems) than there are terebinths in all Syria and Palestine together. I have traveled from end to end of these countries, and across them in all directions, and speak with absolute certainty.” At 2:414, the same writer remarks, “We have oaks in Lebanon twice the size of this (Abraham's oak), and every way more striking and majestic.” Dr. Hooker has no doubt that Thomson is correct in saying there are far finer oaks in Lebanon; “though,” he observes, “I did not see any larger, and only one or two at all near it. Cyri Graham told me there were forests of noble oaks in Lebanon north of the cedar valley.” It is evident from these observations that two oaks (Quercus pseudo-coccifera and Q. oegilops) are well worthy of the name of mighty trees; though it is equally true that over a greater part of the country the oaks of Palestine are at present merely bushes. The oaks of Bashan probably belong to the species known as Quercus oegilops, the Valonia oak which is said to be common in Gilead and Bashan. It rises on a stout gnarled trunk, from one to two yards in circumference, to the height of twenty to thirty feet; a rather round-headed, densely leaved tree, giving an open park-like appearance to the landscape. The wood is said to be excellent, and the tree is, like all other timber in Syria, indiscriminately cut for house-fitting and fuel. Its acorns form the valonia of commerce, of which 150,000 cwt. are yearly imported into England for the use of tanners. Another species of oak, besides those named above, is the Quercus infectoria, which is common in Galilee and Samaria. It is rather a small tree in Palestine, and seldom grows above thirty feet high, though in ancient times it might have been a noble tree. It is also called the Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera), from an insect (kernes, of the genus coccus) which adheres to the branches of this bushy evergreen shrub, in the form of small reddish balls about the size of a pea. This affords a crimson dye, formerly celebrated, but now superseded by cochineal. This dye was used by the ancient Hebrews; for the word told (תּוֹלָע), which denotes a worm, and particularly the kermes worm, denotes also the dye prepared from it (Isa_1:18; Lam_4:5), and is accordingly rendered κόκκινον in those passages where it occurs. For a description of the oaks of Palestine, see Dr. Hooker's paper read before the Linnnaan Society, June, 1861.
The oak is, in fact, less frequently mentioned in the original than in the A.V., where it occurs so often as to suggest that the oak is as conspicuous and as common in Palestine as in this country. But in Syria oaks are by no means common, except in hilly regions, where the elevation gives the effect of a more northern climate; and even in such circumstances it does not attain the grandeur in which it often appears in our latitudes. Indeed, Syria has not the species (Quercus robur) which forms the glory of our own forests. The “oaks of Bashan” are in Scripture mentioned with peculiar distinction (Isa_2:13; Zec_11:2), as if in the hills beyond the Jordan the oaks had been more abundant and of larger growth than elsewhere. Of these the Tyrians used to make their oars (Eze_27:6; comp. Theophr. Plant. v., 8; Val. Flac. 2:644; Strabo, 4:195), and idolaters their images (Isa_44:14). They are abundant even t at the present day. In the hilly regions of Bashan and Gilead. Burckhardt repeatedly mentions forests of thick oaks — thicker than any forests he had seen in Syria, making a grateful shade, and imparting to the scenery a European character (Syria, p. 265, 348). On that side of the river a thick oak forest occurs as far south as the vicinity of Amman, the capital of the Ammonites (p. 356). Oaks of low stature are frequent in the hills and plains near the sources of the Jordan (p. 45, 312, 315); and sdme of large dimensions are found in different parts of the country, beside the natural reservoirs of water fed by springs (p. 193, 315). On the lower slopes of Lebanon low oak-trees are numerous, and the inhabitants employ their branches in the construction of the flat roofs of their dwellings (p. 4, 7, 18, 193, 312, etc.). Lord Lindsav also makes frequent mention of oaks in Palestine. He confirms their existing abundance in the countries of Bashan and Gilead. — He calls them “noble prickly oaks,” and “evergreen oaks,” and notices a variety of the latter with a broader leaf than usual (Travels, 2:132, 124, 137; see also Pococke. East, 3:270; Hasselquist, Trav. p. 554). But oak- trees are by no means wanting on the west of the Jordan, in the proper Land of Canaan. Lord Lindsav describes the hills of southern Judaea about Hebron as covered to the top with low shrubs of the prickly oak. Fine park scenery, composed chiefly of prickly and evergreen oaks, occurs between Samaria and Mount Carmel. The same trees abound on the southern prolongations of that mountain, and on the banks of the Kishon. The thick woods which cover Mount Tabor are composed chiefly of oaks and pistachio-trees; and oaks are found in the valleys which trend from that mountain (Lindsay, 2:51, 77, 85). Hasselquist found groves of the Kermes oak (Queicus coccifera) in the valleys beyond the plains of Acre, on the road to Nazareth (Travels, p. 153). Under oaks the dead were buried (Gen_35:8; comp. 1Sa_31:13;:1Ch_11:12), offerings were made to idols (Hos_4:13; comp. Virg. Geor. 3:332; Ovid, Met. vii, 743 sq.; Kiesling. De Superstitione Israel. sub quercub. cult. [Leips. 1748]), and national assemblies were held (Jdg_9:6; Jdg_9:37). Single oaks of great height served also as landmarks (1Sa_10:3), and bore a distinguishing name (Jdg_9:6; Jdg_9:37, where אֵלוֹן, oak, is mistakenly rendered plain in the English version). SEE MEONENIM; SEE OAK-WORSHIP.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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