2 THE OAK. 



in the pages of history ! Under the Oaks of Mamre/ 

 according to Jewish traditions, the father of the faithful 

 reared his tabernacle, and meditated on another, that is a 

 heavenly, country, which God had prepared for him. 

 One of these very trees was long looked upon with 

 veneration by the Israelites, and (according to St. Jerome) 

 was in existence in the reign of the Empeix)r Constanline, 

 two thousand years afterwards.- 



IsTear Shechem there stood also a tree of the same 

 species, which probably was remarkable for its size, being 

 called in Genesis xxxv. 4, "The Oak which was by 

 Shechem." Thus early, too, does it appear to have been 

 marked with some peculiar sacredness, for it was chosen 

 as a meet shelter for the grave of Deborah, Eebekah's 

 nurse (verse 8th) ; the particular tree being afterwards 

 distinguished by a set name, " Allon-bachuth," or, the 

 Oak of Weeping.^ 



1 It should be borne in mind that the Oak of the Holy 

 Scriptures is not identical with the British Oak, but is a tree 

 nearly resembling the Evergi-een Oak [Q^icrcus Ilex). Celsius 

 and other writers after him are of opinion that the tree alluded 

 to is the Terebinth, or Turpentine-tree. It is difficult, however, 

 for the reader of the English version of the Bible to connect 

 the name with any other notion than that of a tree agreeing 

 closely in character with the Oak of his own country. What- 

 ever may be the botanical difference between the two, it is still 

 "the Oak" of Palestine as much as Quercus Rohur is "the Oak" 

 of Britain. 



2 Mamre is remarkable in Sacred History for Abraham's enter- 

 taining there three angels under an Oak, which Oak also became 

 very famous in after ages ; insomuch that superstitious worship 

 was performed thei'e. This the great Constantine, esteemed the 

 first Christian emperor of Rome, put a stop to by a letter written 

 to Eusebius, bishop of Csesarea, in Palestine, for that purpose. — 

 Heming's Scripture Gcograpliy. 



3 The difficulty of identifying the plants mentioned in the sacred 

 volume appears to be increased in the present instance by the 

 similarity of the names elati and aUon. In Genesis xxxv. both 

 words occur, and are rendered in our version " the Oak. " In 

 Isaiah vi. 13, they occur in juxtaposition : in this passage Cover- 

 dale translates elah "the Terebinth," aUon "the Oak," the 

 Authorized Version giving elnli "the Teil-tree ; " allon "the Oak." 

 Canon Rogers is of opinion that allon should always be thus 

 rendered. 



