CHAPTER IV. 

 DOUBTFUL PLANTS AND TREES. 



THE BAY TREE. 



THIS tree is mentioned only in Ps. xxxvi. 35, 36 : * I have seen 

 the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay 

 tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, 

 but he could not be found.' But the original word azrech, merely 

 signifies a native tree a tree growing in its native soil, not having 

 suffered by transplantation, and therefore spreading itself luxuri- 

 antly. 



THE PINE TREE. 



THIS tree appears in three passages of our Bible ; but the manner 

 in which it is introduced affords us no means of ascertaining 

 whether this is a correct rendering of the original word. The first 

 passage is Neh. viii. 15, where it is stated that pine branches were 

 to be used in constructing the booths at the Feast of Tabernacles. 

 The Hebrew words literally signify trees of fatness, and so seem 

 to mean the resinous or gummy kind of trees, whose juices supera- 

 bound and exude. 



In Isa. xli. 19, and ch. Ix. 13, the word is thedher, and the tree is 

 so called, says Parkhurst, from the sprightliness or elasticity of its 

 wood. Luther thought it was the elm : there is nothing, however, 

 t operate against retaining the pine, which is found in Syria. 



THE SHITTAH TREE. 



THIS tree is only mentioned in Isaiah xli. 19 j but the wood 

 which it furnished is spoken of in several passages in the Old Tes- 

 tament. The difficulty of identifying the shittah tree, has been 

 felt by all interpreters, as is evident in the retention of the Hebrew 

 name by many of them, and the diversified renderings of others. 



