Reference: Oak
American
As many as six varieties of the oak are found in Palestine. Dr. Robinson speaks of one at Hebron which had a trunk twenty-two and a half feet in circumference; and saw the crests and sides of the hills beyond the Jordan still clothed, as in ancient times, with magnificent oaks, Isa 2:13; Zec 11:2. The oak is often referred to in Scripture, Ge 35:8; Isa 44:14; Am 2:9. There is, however, a second Hebrew word often translated "oak," which is supposed to denote the terebinth or turpentine-tree, called butm by the Arabs, Ge 35:4; Jg 6:11,19; 2Sa 18:9,14. It is translated "elm" in Ho 4.13, and "teil-tree" in Isa 6:13, in which passages the true oak is also mentioned. In many passages where "plain" or "plains" occurs, we should probably understand "terebinth" or "a grove of terebinths," Ge 12:6; 13:18; 14:13; 18:1; De 11:30; Jg 9:6. This tree was found in all countries around the Mediterranean, and in Palestine grew to a large size. It was very long-lived. For many ages after Christ, a tree of this kind near Heron was superstitiously venerated as one of those under which Abraham dwelt at Mamre. Under the welcome shade of oaks and other large trees many public affairs were transacted; sacrifices were offered, courts were held, and kings were crowned, Jos 24:26; Jg 6:11,19; 9:6. See GROVE.
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And Abram shall pass over the land to the place Sichem, to the erect oak tree. And the Canaanite then in the land.
And Abram will pitch his tent, and will come and will dwell by the oaks of Mamra which is in Hebron, and he will build there an altar to Jehovah.
And he having escaped, will come and declare to Abram, the Hebrew; and he dwelt by the oaks of Mamra, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner: and these having a covenant with Abram.
And Jehovah will be seen to him at the oaks of Mamra: and he will sit at the entrance of his tent at the heat of the day.
And they will give to Jacob all the strange gods which are in their hand and the earrings which are in their ears, and Jacob will hide them under the turpentine tree which is in Shechem.
And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, will die, and be buried from below the house of God, under the oak: and its name shall be called, The Oak of Weeping.
Are they not in the other side of Jordan behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite dwelling in the desert over against Gilgal, by the oaks of Moreh?
And Joshua will write these words in the book of the law of God, and he will take a great stone and will set it up there under the oak which is in the holy place of Jehovah.
And a messenger of Jehovah will come and sit under an oak which is in Ophrah, which is to Joash, father of Ezri: and Gideon his son threshed wheat in the wine press to place in safety from the face of Midian.
And a messenger of Jehovah will come and sit under an oak which is in Ophrah, which is to Joash, father of Ezri: and Gideon his son threshed wheat in the wine press to place in safety from the face of Midian.
And Gideon went in, and he will do a kid of the goats, and an ephah of flour of unleavened: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and he will bring forth to him under the oak and will bring near.
And Gideon went in, and he will do a kid of the goats, and an ephah of flour of unleavened: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and he will bring forth to him under the oak and will bring near.
And all the lords of Shechem will gather together, and all the House of the Rampart, and they will make Abimelech king, by the Oak of the Pillar which is in Shechem.
And all the lords of Shechem will gather together, and all the House of the Rampart, and they will make Abimelech king, by the Oak of the Pillar which is in Shechem.
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon being high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
And yet in it a tenth, and it turned back, and it was for consuming, as the terebinth and as the oak which in casting the trunk in them the holy seed its pillar.
To cut down for him cedars, and he will take the fir tree and the oak, and he will strengthen for himself among the trees of the forest: he planted an ash and the rain will cause to grow.
And I destroyed the Amorite from their face, whom his height as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; and I will destroy his fruit from above and his roots from beneath.
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar fell; for the powerful ones were destroyed: wail, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage went down.
Easton
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, Jg 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; Teil tree.)
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And Abram shall pass over the land to the place Sichem, to the erect oak tree. And the Canaanite then in the land.
And the Horites in their mountain Seir to Ael Paran, which is by the wilderness.
And they will give to Jacob all the strange gods which are in their hand and the earrings which are in their ears, and Jacob will hide them under the turpentine tree which is in Shechem.
And they will give to Jacob all the strange gods which are in their hand and the earrings which are in their ears, and Jacob will hide them under the turpentine tree which is in Shechem.
And Joshua will write these words in the book of the law of God, and he will take a great stone and will set it up there under the oak which is in the holy place of Jehovah.
And Heber the Kenite separated himself from Kain, from the sons of Hobab, father-in law of Moses, and he will stretch out his tent even to the oak in Zaanaim which is at Kadesh.
And all the lords of Shechem will gather together, and all the House of the Rampart, and they will make Abimelech king, by the Oak of the Pillar which is in Shechem.
And Absalom will meet before the servants of David, and Absalom rode upon the mule, and the mule will go under the thicket of the great oak, and his head will lay hold upon the oak, and he will be given between the heavens and between the earth; and the mule which was under him passed by.
For they shall be ashamed of their mighty ones which ye desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens which ye chose. For ye shall be as an oak the leaf withering, and as a garden which there no water to it.
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon being high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
And yet in it a tenth, and it turned back, and it was for consuming, as the terebinth and as the oak which in casting the trunk in them the holy seed its pillar.
Being comforted with gods under every green tree, slaughtering the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
To set to those mourning in Zion, to give to them adorning instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the vestment of praise for the spirit of faintness; and it shall be called to them, The mighty trees of justice of the planting of Jehovah, to be honored.
The oaks of Bashan they made thine oars; the house of the Ashurites made thy desk of ivory from the isles of Chittim.
And the tree increased and was strong, and its height will reach to the heavens, and its sight to the end of all the earth:
He called with strength, and thus he said, Hew down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its foliage and scatter its fruit: the beasts shall flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.
The tree that thou sawest that increased and was strong, and its height will reach to the heavens, and its sight to all the earth,
Fausets
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; 1:29), and for "elms" (Ho 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 (Ge 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 (Ge 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".
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And Abram will pitch his tent, and will come and will dwell by the oaks of Mamra which is in Hebron, and he will build there an altar to Jehovah.
And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, will die, and be buried from below the house of God, under the oak: and its name shall be called, The Oak of Weeping.
And Joshua will write these words in the book of the law of God, and he will take a great stone and will set it up there under the oak which is in the holy place of Jehovah.
And they will take their bones and bury under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they will fast seven days.
For they shall be ashamed of their mighty ones which ye desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens which ye chose.
For they shall be ashamed of their mighty ones which ye desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens which ye chose.
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon being high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
And yet in it a tenth, and it turned back, and it was for consuming, as the terebinth and as the oak which in casting the trunk in them the holy seed its pillar.
Upon the heads of the mountains they will sacrifice, and upon the hills they will burn incense, under the oak and the white poplar and the terebinth, because its shadow was good: for this your daughters will commit fornication, and your brides shall commit adultery.
Hastings
OAK
(1) '
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And he will remove from thence to the mountain from the cast of the house of God, and shall stretch forth his tent; Bethel from the sea, and Hai from the east, and he shall build there an altar to Jehovah, and will call upon the name of Jehovah.
And Abram will pitch his tent, and will come and will dwell by the oaks of Mamra which is in Hebron, and he will build there an altar to Jehovah.
And he having escaped, will come and declare to Abram, the Hebrew; and he dwelt by the oaks of Mamra, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner: and these having a covenant with Abram.
And Jehovah will be seen to him at the oaks of Mamra: and he will sit at the entrance of his tent at the heat of the day.
And they will give to Jacob all the strange gods which are in their hand and the earrings which are in their ears, and Jacob will hide them under the turpentine tree which is in Shechem.
And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, will die, and be buried from below the house of God, under the oak: and its name shall be called, The Oak of Weeping.
Are they not in the other side of Jordan behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite dwelling in the desert over against Gilgal, by the oaks of Moreh?
And their bound will be from Heleph, from Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb and Jabneel and Lakum; and its outgoings Jordan.
And Joshua will write these words in the book of the law of God, and he will take a great stone and will set it up there under the oak which is in the holy place of Jehovah.
And Heber the Kenite separated himself from Kain, from the sons of Hobab, father-in law of Moses, and he will stretch out his tent even to the oak in Zaanaim which is at Kadesh.
And a messenger of Jehovah will come and sit under an oak which is in Ophrah, which is to Joash, father of Ezri: and Gideon his son threshed wheat in the wine press to place in safety from the face of Midian.
And Gideon went in, and he will do a kid of the goats, and an ephah of flour of unleavened: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and he will bring forth to him under the oak and will bring near.
And all the lords of Shechem will gather together, and all the House of the Rampart, and they will make Abimelech king, by the Oak of the Pillar which is in Shechem.
And Gaal will add to speak, and will say, Behold, people coming down from the height of the land, and one head coming from the way of the oak of Meonenim.
And Saul and the man Israel were gathered together, and they will encamp in the valley of Elah, and they arranged the battle to meet the rovers.
And Saul, and they, and every man of Israel, in the valley of Elah, warring with the rovers.
And the priest will say, The sword of Goliah the rover, whom thou didst strike in the valley of the oak, behold, it wrapped up in a garment behind the ephod: if thou wilt take it to thee, take, for no other beside it here. And David will say, None like it; thou shalt give it to me.
And Joab will say, I will not delay before thee. And he will take three spears in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, he yet living in the heart of the oak.
For they shall be ashamed of their mighty ones which ye desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens which ye chose. For ye shall be as an oak the leaf withering, and as a garden which there no water to it.
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon being high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
And yet in it a tenth, and it turned back, and it was for consuming, as the terebinth and as the oak which in casting the trunk in them the holy seed its pillar.
And yet in it a tenth, and it turned back, and it was for consuming, as the terebinth and as the oak which in casting the trunk in them the holy seed its pillar.
To cut down for him cedars, and he will take the fir tree and the oak, and he will strengthen for himself among the trees of the forest: he planted an ash and the rain will cause to grow.
Being comforted with gods under every green tree, slaughtering the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
To set to those mourning in Zion, to give to them adorning instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the vestment of praise for the spirit of faintness; and it shall be called to them, The mighty trees of justice of the planting of Jehovah, to be honored.
And ye knew that I am Jehovah in their wounded being in the midst of their blocks round about their altars, upon every high hill, upon all the heads of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they gave there an odor of sweetness to all their blocks.
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were rowers to thee: thy wise, O Tyre, were in thee, they thy sailors.
So that all the trees of the waters shall not be lifted up in height, and they shall not give their foliage between the thick boughs, and all they drinking water shall not stand upon them in their height: for they all were given to death, to the earth underneath, in the midst of the sons of man, to those going down to the pit
Upon the heads of the mountains they will sacrifice, and upon the hills they will burn incense, under the oak and the white poplar and the terebinth, because its shadow was good: for this your daughters will commit fornication, and your brides shall commit adultery.
Upon the heads of the mountains they will sacrifice, and upon the hills they will burn incense, under the oak and the white poplar and the terebinth, because its shadow was good: for this your daughters will commit fornication, and your brides shall commit adultery.
And I destroyed the Amorite from their face, whom his height as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; and I will destroy his fruit from above and his roots from beneath.
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar fell; for the powerful ones were destroyed: wail, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage went down.
Morish
There are four Hebrew words so translated, but they are all apparently from the same root, signifying 'strong, hardy,' and are mostly applied to the oak, which lives to a great age. Three species of the Quercus are known in Palestine, the pseudo-coccifera, aegilops, and infectoria. It is symbolical of strength, and affords shade from the heat of the sun. Ge 35:8; Jos 24:26; Isa 1:29; 2:13; Eze 27:6; Ho 4:13; Am 2:9; Zec 11:2. The word elah is judged to refer to the terebinth (pistacia terebinthus), though generally translated oak. Ge 35:4; Jg 6:11,19; 2Sa 18:9-14; 1Ki 13:14; 1Ch 10:12; Isa 1:30; Eze 6:13.
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And they will give to Jacob all the strange gods which are in their hand and the earrings which are in their ears, and Jacob will hide them under the turpentine tree which is in Shechem.
And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, will die, and be buried from below the house of God, under the oak: and its name shall be called, The Oak of Weeping.
And Joshua will write these words in the book of the law of God, and he will take a great stone and will set it up there under the oak which is in the holy place of Jehovah.
And a messenger of Jehovah will come and sit under an oak which is in Ophrah, which is to Joash, father of Ezri: and Gideon his son threshed wheat in the wine press to place in safety from the face of Midian.
And Gideon went in, and he will do a kid of the goats, and an ephah of flour of unleavened: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and he will bring forth to him under the oak and will bring near.
For they shall be ashamed of their mighty ones which ye desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens which ye chose. For ye shall be as an oak the leaf withering, and as a garden which there no water to it.
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon being high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
And ye knew that I am Jehovah in their wounded being in the midst of their blocks round about their altars, upon every high hill, upon all the heads of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they gave there an odor of sweetness to all their blocks.
The oaks of Bashan they made thine oars; the house of the Ashurites made thy desk of ivory from the isles of Chittim.
Upon the heads of the mountains they will sacrifice, and upon the hills they will burn incense, under the oak and the white poplar and the terebinth, because its shadow was good: for this your daughters will commit fornication, and your brides shall commit adultery.
And I destroyed the Amorite from their face, whom his height as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; and I will destroy his fruit from above and his roots from beneath.
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar fell; for the powerful ones were destroyed: wail, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage went down.
Smith
(Heb. 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. --ED.) Two oaks, Quercus pseudo-coccifera and Q. 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.
Watsons
OAK. 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, Ge 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, Jg 6:11; 1Ki 13:14. Jacob buried idolatrous images under an oak, Ge 35:4; and Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried under one of these trees, Ge 35:8. See 1Ch 10:12. Abimelech was made king under an oak, Jg 9:6. Idolatry was practised under oaks, Isa 1:29; 57:5; Ho 4:13. Idols were made of oaks, Isa 44:14.
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And Abram will pitch his tent, and will come and will dwell by the oaks of Mamra which is in Hebron, and he will build there an altar to Jehovah.
And they will give to Jacob all the strange gods which are in their hand and the earrings which are in their ears, and Jacob will hide them under the turpentine tree which is in Shechem.
And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, will die, and be buried from below the house of God, under the oak: and its name shall be called, The Oak of Weeping.
And Joshua will write these words in the book of the law of God, and he will take a great stone and will set it up there under the oak which is in the holy place of Jehovah.
And a messenger of Jehovah will come and sit under an oak which is in Ophrah, which is to Joash, father of Ezri: and Gideon his son threshed wheat in the wine press to place in safety from the face of Midian.
And all the lords of Shechem will gather together, and all the House of the Rampart, and they will make Abimelech king, by the Oak of the Pillar which is in Shechem.
And they will rise, every man of strength, and they will lift up the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and they will bring them to Jabesh, and they will bury their bones under an oak in Jabesh, and they will fast seven days.
For they shall be ashamed of their mighty ones which ye desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens which ye chose.
To cut down for him cedars, and he will take the fir tree and the oak, and he will strengthen for himself among the trees of the forest: he planted an ash and the rain will cause to grow.
Being comforted with gods under every green tree, slaughtering the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
Upon the heads of the mountains they will sacrifice, and upon the hills they will burn incense, under the oak and the white poplar and the terebinth, because its shadow was good: for this your daughters will commit fornication, and your brides shall commit adultery.