Poplar

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POPLAR (libneh [root meaning ‘white’] Gen_30:37’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘storax’; Hos_4:13. The Heb. is very similar to Arab [Note: Arabic.] , lubna meaning ‘storax,’ which is the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in Gen_30:37; on the other hand, in Hos_4:12 the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] has leukç [‘white’], i.e. the ‘poplar’).—The poplar may easily have furnished Jacob with white rods. There are two kinds of poplar in Syria, Populus alba and P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] . euphratica; they both flourish round Damascus, where their trunks are much used in making supports for the mud roofs.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


libneh, from laban "to be white," namely, in wood and the under side of the leaves (Gen_30:37; Hos_4:13). Others, from Septuagint and the Arabic lubnah, make the libnah the storax or styrax, Styrax officinale, a small tree with scented white blossoms and fragrant gum.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Poplar. This is the rendering of the Hebrew word, libneh, which occurs in Gen_30:37 and Hos_4:13. Several authorities are in favor of the rendering of the Authorized Version, and think that "white poplar," (Populus alba), is the tree denoted: others understand the "storax tree" (Styrax officinale).
Both poplars and storax or styrax trees are common in Palestine, and either would suit the passages where the Hebrew term occurs. Storax is mentioned in Sir_24:15, together with other aromatic substances. The Styrax officinale is a shrub, from nine to twelve feet high, with ovate leaves, which are white underneath; the flowers are in racemes, and are white or cream-colored.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


pop?lar (לבנה, libhneh, ?whiteness?; στυράκινος, sturákinos, ?storax? (Gen_30:37), λεύκη, leúkē, ?poplar? (Hos_4:13) (libhneh is so similar to the Arabic libna, the storax, that the latter certainly has the first claim to be the true translation)): ?Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar,? margin ?storax tree? (Gen_30:37). ?They ... burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good? (Hos_4:13). In the latter reference the conjunction of the shrub, storax, with two great trees like the oak and terebinth - even though they all grow in the mountains - is strange. The storax cannot give a shade comparable with these trees. Had we other evidence of the storax being a sacred tree among the Hebrews, it might explain the difficulty.
The storax, Styrax officinalis (Natural Order Styraceae), is a very common shrub in Palestine which occasionally attains the height of 20 feet. The under surfaces of its oval leaves are covered with whitish hairs, and it has many beautiful pure-white flowers like orange blossoms - hence, its name ?whiteness.?
The poplar, the traditional translation in Hos_4:13, flourishes in many parts of Palestine. The white poplar, Populus alba, Arabic Haur, is common everywhere; Euphratica occurs especially in the Jordan valley; the black poplar, Populus nigra, and the Lombardy poplar, Populus pyramidalis - probably an importation - are both plentiful in the plain of Coele-Syria, around Damascus and along the river banks of Syria.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


The word thus rendered (Libneh) occurs in two places of Scripture, viz. Gen_30:37; Hos_4:13, and is supposed to indicate either the white poplar or the storax tree. The arguments in support of the respective claims of these are nearly equally balanced, although those in favor of the storax appear to us to preponderate. The white poplar is said to be called white, not on account of the whiteness of its bark, but of that of the under surface of its leaves. It may perhaps be so designated from the whiteness of its hairy seeds, which have a remarkable appearance when the seed-covering first bursts. The poplar is certainly common in the countries where the scenes are laid of the transactions related in the above passages of Scripture. Lubne, both in Arabic and in Persian, is the name of a tree, and of the fragrant resin employed for fumigating, which exudes from it, and which is commonly known by the name of Storax. This resin was well known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Hippocrates and Theophrastus. Dioscorides describes several kinds, all of which were obtained from Asia Minor; and all that is now imported is believed to be the produce of that country. But the tree is cultivated in the south of Europe, though it does not there yield any storax. It is found in Greece, and is supposed to be a native of Asia Minor, whence it extends into Syria, and probably farther south. It is therefore a native of the country which was the scene of the transaction related in the above passage of Genesis.
From the description of Dioscorides, and his comparing the leaves of the styrax to those of the quince, there is no doubt of the same tree being intended: especially as in early times, as at the present day, it yielded a highly fragrant balsamic substance which was esteemed as a medicine, and employed in fumigation. From the similarity of the Hebrew name libneh to the Arabic lubne, and from the Septuagint having in Genesis translated the former by styrax, it seems most probable that this was the tree intended. It is capable of yielding white wands as well as the poplar; and it is also well qualified to afford complete shade under its ample foliage, as in the passage of Hos_4:13. We may also suppose it to have been more particularly alluded to, from its being a tree yielding incense. 'They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the terebinth and the storax trees, because the shadow thereof is good.'




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Poplar
(לַבְנֶה, libneh; Sept. στυράκινος, in Gen_30:37; λεύκη, in Hos_4:13; Vulg. populus), the rendering of the above-named Hebrew word, which occurs only in the two places cited. Peeled rods of the libneh were put by Jacob before Laban's ring-streaked sheep. This tree is mentioned with the oak and the terebinth, by Hosea, as one under which idolatrous Israel used to sacrifice.
Several authorities, Celsius among the number (Hierob. 1, 292), are in favor of the rendering of the A. V., and think the “white poplar” (Populus alba) is the tree denoted. The Hebrew name libneh, being supposed to be derived from לָבִן(to be white), has been considered identical with the Greek λεύκη, which both signifies “white” and also the “white poplar.” This poplar is said to be called white, not on account of the whiteness of its bark, but of that of the under surface of its leaves. It may perhaps be so designated from the whiteness of its hairy seeds, which have a remarkable appearance when the seed-covering first bursts. The poplar is certainly common in the countries where the scenes are laid of the transactions related in the above passages of Scripture (comp. Belon, Obs. 2, 106). Rauwolf also mentions the white poplar as abundant about Aleppo and Tripoli, and still called by the ancient Arabic name hatur or her, which is the word used in the Arabic translation of Hosea.
Others, however, have been of opinion that libneh denotes the storax-tree rather than the white poplar. Thus, in Gen_30:37, the Sept. has ῥάβδον στυρακίνην, “a rod of styrax;” and the Greek translation of the Pentateuch, according to Rosenmüller, is more ancient and of far greater authority than that of Hosea. So R. Jonah, as translated by Celsius, says of libneh, “Dicitur lingua Arabum Lubna;” and in the Arabic translation of Genesis lubne is employed as the representative of the Hebrew lib Nehemiah Lubne, both in Arabic and in Persian, is the name of a tree, and of the fragrant resin employed for fumigating which exudes from it, and which is commonly known by the name of storax. This resin was well known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Hippocrates and Theophrastus. Dioscorides (1, 79) and Pliny (Nat. Hist. 12, 17 and 25) both speak of the storax. Pliny says, “That part of Syria which adjoins Judaea above Phoenicia produces storax, which is found in the neighborhood of Gabala (Jebeil) and Marathus, as also of Casius, a mountain of Seleucia. I… That which comes from the mountain of Amanus, in Syria, is highly esteemed for medicinal purposes, and even more so by the perfumers.” Dioscorides describes several kinds, all of which were obtained from Asia Minor; and all that is now imported is believed to be the produce of that country. But the tree is cultivated in the south of Europe, though it does not there yield any storax. It is found in Greece, and is supposed to be a native of Asia Minor, whence it extends into Syria, and probably farther south. It is therefore a native of the country which was the scene of the transaction related in the above passage of Genesis. From the description of Dioscorides, and his comparing the leaves of the styrax to those of the quince, there is no doubt of the same tree being intended: especially as in early times, as at the present day, it yielded a highly fragrant balsamic substance which was esteemed as a medicine, and employed in fumigation. From the similarity of the Hebrew name libneh to the Arabic lubne. and from the Sept. having in Genesis translated the former by sty-tax, it seems most probable that this was the tree intended. It is capable of yielding white wands as well as the poplar; and it is also well qualified to afford complete shade under its ample foliage, as in the passage of Hos_4:13. We may also suppose it to have been more particularly alluded to from its being a tree yielding incense. “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the terebinth and the storax trees, because the shadow thereof is good.”
Storax (στόραξ) is mentioned in Sir_24:15, together with other aromatic substances. The modern Greek name of the tree, as we learn from Sibthorpe (Flor. Graec. 1, 275), is στουράκι, and is a common wild shrub in Greece and in most parts of the Levant. The resin exudes either spontaneously or after incision. This property, however, it would seem, is only for the most part possessed by trees which grow in a warm country; for English specimens, though they flower profusely, do not produce the drug. Mr. Daniel Hanbury, who has discussed the whole subject of the storax plants with much care (see the Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions for Feb. 1857), tells us that a friend of his quite failed to obtain any exudation from Styrax officinale, by incisions made in the hottest part of the summer of 1856, on specimens growing in the botanic garden at Montpellier. “The experiment was quite unsuccessful; neither aqueous sap nor resinous juice flowed from the incisions.” Still Mr. Hanbury quotes two authorities to show that under certain favorable circumstances the tree may exude a fragrant resin even in France and Italy. The Styrax officinale is a shrub from nine to twelve feet high, with ovate leaves, which are white underneath; the flowers are in racemes, and are white or cream-colored. The white appearance agrees with the etymology of the Hebrew lib Nehemiah The liquid storax of commerce is the product of the Liquidambar Orientale, Mill. (see a fig. in Mr. Hanbury's communication), an entirely different plant, whose resin was probably unknown to the ancients. SEE STACTE.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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