Oak: There are six Hebrew words rendered "oak."1. 'El occurs only in the word El-paran
(Genesis 14:6) The LXX. renders
by "terebinth." In the plural form this word occurs in
(Isaiah 1:29; 57:5) (A.V. marg. and R.V., "among the oaks");
(Isaiah 61:3) ("trees"). The word properly means strongly,
mighty, and hence a strong tree.
2. 'Elah,
(Genesis 35:4) "under the oak which was by Shechem" (R.V.
marg., "terebinth").
(Isaiah 6:13) A.V., "teil-tree;" R.V.,
"terebinth."
(Isaiah 1:30) R.V. marg., "terebinth." Absalom in his
flight was caught in the branches of a "great oak"
(2 Samuel 18:9)
R.V. marg., "terebinth").
3. 'Elon,
(Judges 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
(Daniel 4:11,14,20) rendered "tree" in
Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Probably some species of the oak is
intended.
5. 'Allah,
(Joshua 24:26) The place here referred to is called
Allon-moreh ("the oak of Moreh," as in R.V.) in
(Genesis 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
(Isaiah 2:13; Ezekiel 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)
(See TEIL TREE)
