Terebinth

VIEW:19 DATA:01-04-2020

TEREBINTH does not occur at all in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , and only thrice in RV [Note: Revised Version.] , being substituted in Isa_6:13 for ‘tail tree,’ in Hos_4:13 for ‘elm,’ and in Sir_24:16 for ‘turpentine tree.’ Strong reasons, however, can be urged for rendering by ‘terebinth’ in a great many instances where EV [Note: English Version.] has ‘oak’ (see Oak). The terebinth or turpentine tree (Sir_24:16)—Pistacia terebinthus, the butm of the Arabs—is one of the most imposing trees in Palestine. In almost every locality where it is allowed to attain its full growth—30 to 40 feet high—it is associated with a sacred tomb or grove: many such groves are still deeply venerated in Galilee. Dwarfed trees occur everywhere among the oak brushwood. The tree has pinnate, lancet-shaped leaves and small reddish clusters like immature grape clusters; it is also often covered with curious red galls—like pieces of coral. The dark overhanging foliage affords a grateful shade in summer, but in autumn the leaves change colour and fall off. Cf. Mamre.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

ter?ḗ-binth: (1) אלח, 'ēlāh (Isa_6:13, the King James Version ?teil tree?; Hos_4:13, the King James Version ?elms?); in Gen_35:4 (the King James Version ?oak?); Jdg_6:11, Jdg_6:19; Jdg_9:6 (the King James Version ?plain?); 2Sa_18:9, 2Sa_18:10, 2Sa_18:14; 1Ki_13:14; 1Ch_10:12; Isa_1:30; Eze_6:13, translated ?oak,? and in margin ?terebinth?; ?vale of Elah,? margin ?the terebinth? in 1Sa_17:2, 1Sa_17:19; 1Sa_21:9. (2) אלים, 'ēlı̄m (Isa_1:29, ?oaks,? margin ?terebinths?). (3) אלּה, 'allāh (Jos_24:26, English Versions of the Bible have ?oak,? but the Septuagint τερέβινθος, terébinthos). (4) אלון, 'ēlōn, ?oak (margin, ?terebinth?) of Zaanannim? (Jos_19:33; Jdg_4:11); ?oak (the Revised Version margin ?terebinth,? the King James Version ?plain?) of Tabor? (1Sa_10:3); also Gen_12:6; Gen_13:18; Gen_14:13; 1Sa_10:3; Deu_11:30; Jdg_6:19 all translated ?oak? or ?oaks,? with margin ?terebinth? or ?terebinths.? (5) In Gen_14:6 Septuagint has τερέβινθος, terébinthos, as the translation of the el of El-paran. (6) In Ecclesiasticus 24:16 τερέμ(β)ινθος, terém(b)inthos, the King James Version turpentine tree,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?terebinth.?
It is clear that the translators are uncertain which translation is correct, and it would seem not improbable that then there was no clear distinction between oak and terebinth in the minds of the Old Testament. writers; yet the two are very different trees to any but the most superficial observation.
The terebinth - Pistacia terebinthus (Natural Order, Anacardiaceae), Arabic Buṭm - is a tree allied to the P. vera, which produces the pistachio nut, and to the familiar ?pepper tree? (Schinus molle) so extensively cultivated in modern Palestine. Like the latter the terebinth has red berries, like small immature grapes. The leaves are pinnate, four to six pairs, and they change color and fall in autumn, leaving the trunk bare (compare Isa_1:30). The terebinth is liable to be infected by many showy galls, some varieties looking like pieces of red coral. In Palestine, this tree assumes noble proportions, especially in situations when, from its association with some sacred tomb, it is allowed to flourish undisturbed. It is in such situations not infrequently as much as 40 ft. high and spreads its branches, with their thick, dark-green foliage, over a wide area (compare 2Sa_18:9 f, 14; Ecclesiasticus 24:16). Dwarfed trees occur among the brushwood all over the land.
From this tree a kind of turpentine is obtained, hence, the alternative name ?turpentine tree? (Ecclesiasticus 24:16 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) ?terebinth?).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Fig. 329?Terebinth tree
This is the proper rendering of the word (Alah) which has been variously translated as oak, teil tree, elm, and even plane. In Palestine and the neighboring countries, the terebinth seems to be regarded with much the same distinction as the oak is in our northern latitudes. The tree is long lived. About the time of Christ, there was at Mamre near Hebron a venerable terebinth, which a tradition, old in the time of Josephus, alleged to be that under which Abraham pitched his tent (Gen_13:18).
Dr. Robinson states, that at the point where the roads from Gaza to Jerusalem, and from Hebron to Ramleh, cross each other, he observed an immense terebinth tree, the largest he saw anywhere in Palestine; 'This species (Pistacia Terebinthus) is without doubt,' he adds, 'the terebinth of the Old Testament, and under the shade of such a tree Abraham may well have pitched his tent at Mamre.' The terebinth is not an evergreen, as has often been represented, but its small feathered lancet shaped leaves fall in the autumn, and are renewed in the spring. The flowers are small, and are followed by small oval berries, hanging in clusters from two to five inches in length, resembling much the clusters of the vine when the grapes are just set. From incisions in the trunk, there is said to flow a sort of transparent balsam, constituting a very pure and fine species of turpentine, with an agreeable odor, and hardening gradually into a transparent gum [OAK].




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


a majestic Oriental tree, which has been made by many a rival of:the oak. as a representative of the Heb. אִלָּה, אֵלָה, אֵיל, or אִלּוֹן. SEE PLAIN. So Celsius (Hierob. 2, 34-58), and' naturalists generally since. Travelers frequently confound the two trees. They are, however, quite different in many particulars. The bark, shape, and general character are remarkably alike, but the wood, the leaf, and the blossom differ very obviously. SEE TOPOGRAPHICAL TERMS.
The terebinth is the Pistacia terebinthus of botanists, called by the Arabs the betm or butni, and well known in the Greek islands as the turpentine-tree. SEE TEIL. In Chios especially a considerable quantity of turpentine is extracted from it by tapping the trunk; but this is not practiced in Palestine, where the inhabitants seem to be ignorant of its commercial value. It is a very common tree in the southern and eastern parts of the country, being generally found in situations too warm for the oak, whose place it there supplies, although they are occasionally found immediately adjoining, as at Tell el-Kady. (Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 581). It is seldom, seen in clumps or groves, never in forests, but stands isolated and weird-like in some bare ravine or on a hillside, where nothing else towers above the lower brushwood. The but is not an evergreen, as is often represented, but its small feathered lancet-shaped leaves fall in the autumn and are renewed in the spring. They are pinnate, the leaflets larger than those of the lentisk, and their hue is a very dark reddish-green, not quite so somber as the locust-tree. The flowers are in clusters like those of a vine, inconspicuous, and are followed by small oval berries, hanging in clusters from two to five inches in length, resembling much the clusters of the vine when the grapes are just set. They are of a ruddy purple and remarkably juicy. Another fruit, or rather excrescence, is found on the tree, scattered among the leaves, of the size of a chestnut, of a putrid color variegated with green and white. The people of Cyprus believe that it is produced by the puncture of a fly; when opened it appears full of worms (Mariti, 1, 209; 2, 114). From incisions in the trunk there flows a sort of transparent balsam, constituting a very pure and fine species of turpentine, with an agreeable odor, like citron or jessamine, and a mild taste, and hardening gradually into a transparent gum. It is called Cyprus or Chian turpentine, and is obtained in July by wounding the bark in several places, leaving a space of about three inches between the wounds. From these the turpentine is received on stones, upon which it becomes so much condensed by the coldness of the night as to admit of being scraped off with a knife, which is always done before sunrise. It is again liquefied in the sun and passed through a strainer, in order to free it from all extraneous matters. The quantity produced is very small, four large trees, sixty years old, only yielding two pounds and a half: it may be somewhat more in favorable situations. In consequence of this, and its superior qualities, the turpentine is very costly, and is often adulterated with inferior substances (Kitto, Phys. Hist. of Palest. p. 238). The tree is found also in Asia Minor (many of them near Smyrna), Greece, Italy, the south of France, Spain, and in the north of Africa, and is there described as not usually rising to the height of more than twenty feet. It often exceeds that size, however, in the mountains, and in the plains of Syria it is very much larger. SEE OAK.
Many terebinths remain to this day objects of veneration in their neighborhood, and the favorite burying place of a Bedawin sheik is under a solitary tree. Eastern travelers will recall the “Mother of rags” on the outskirts of the desert-a terebinth covered with the votive offerings of superstition or affection. The “oak of Mamre,” near Hebron, was said to be a terebinth, which remained till the 4th century (Jerome, De Loc. Heb. 87; Sozomen, Eccles. Hist. 2, 4; comp. Josephus, War, 5, 9, 7), and on its site Constantine erected al church, the ruins of which still remain. It is said that the tree dried up in the reign of Theodosius the Younger; but that the trunk produced a new tree, from which Brocard (7, 64), Salignac (10, 5), and other old travelers declare that they brought slips of the new and old wood to their own country (Zuallart Voyage de Jerusalem, 4,: 1) The tree was accidentally destroyed by fire in A.D. 1646 (Mariti, p. 520). Its modern representative, however, is a true oak, as is proved both by its leaves and actual acorns. The tree on which Judas hanged himself is said to have been a terebinth, and its descendant is yet shown to the credulous, overhanging the valley of Hinnom. Towards the north of Palestine the tree becomes more scarce; but in ancient Moab and Ammon, and in the region around Heshbon, it is the only one that relieves the monotony of the rolling downs and boundless sheep walks; and in the few glens south of the Jabbok there are many trees of a larger size than others which remain west of the Jordan (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible,. p. 401). In Turkey the burial-grounds of Christians, particularly the Armenians, are planted with terebinth-: trees, the cypress being reserved for the Mohammedans (Calcott [Lady], Script. Herbal, p. 504). SEE TURPENTINE-TREE.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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