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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Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.
Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.
One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were allies of Abram.
The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
Aren't they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
The angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
The angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
And all the lords of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.
And all the lords of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.
For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,
If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."
He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.
Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come 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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Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
And all the lords of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.
And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. And Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,
If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."
you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the islands of Kittim.
The tree grew, and was strong, and its height reached to the sky, and its sight to the end of all the earth.
He cried aloud, and said this, "Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Let the animals get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches.
The tree that you saw, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached to the sky, 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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Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
They took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,
If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.
Hastings
OAK
(1) '
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He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.
One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were allies of Abram.
The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
Aren't they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?
Their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, Adaminekeb, and Jabneel, to Lakkum. It ended at the Jordan.
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
The angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
And all the lords of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.
Gaal spoke again and said, "Behold, there are people coming down by the central part of the land, and one company comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim."
Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here." David said, "There is none like that. Give it to me."
Then Joab said, "I'm not going to wait like this with you." He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,
If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."
If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."
He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.
you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
You shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.
The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers: your wise men, Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots.
to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up on their height, even all who drink water: for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.'
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.
Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come 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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They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
The angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,
You shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.
Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the islands of Kittim.
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.
Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come 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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Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
The angel of the LORD came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
And all the lords of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.
all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.
you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.