THE OAK. 



7 



peculiar sacredness^ for it was chosen as a meet 

 shelter for the grave of Deborah, Rebekah's 

 nurse (verse 8th) ; the particular tree being after- 

 wards distinguished by a set name, AUon-bac- 

 huth/' or, the Oak of Weeping.* 



It is here worthy of notice that in Genesis xii. 

 6, the passage vrhich is in our version rendered 



The plain of Moreh," is in the Septuagint ren- 

 dered The high Oak."f It is not, therefore, 

 improbable that this Oak, or grove of Oaks, was 

 first consecrated to God by the priestly worsliip 

 of Abraham, and retained its sacred character 

 until at least the time of Abimelech. j It must 

 not be objected that the period is too long (nearly 

 six hundred years) to assign as the duration of 

 one tree ; for, as we shall see hereafter, there is 

 evidence of Oak-trees actually existing which 

 have attained nearly double that age. 



In our o\\Ti country we well know that any 

 building or tree connected with the history of a 

 person of note, who lived in remote ages, is re- 

 garded with universal interest. Who, for exam- 

 ple, has not heard and thought of Shakspeare's 

 Mulberry-tree, and Charles the Second's Oak ? 

 Probably, then, the Israelites, on their restoration 

 to the land of Canaan, regarded with much the 



* The difficulty of identifying the plants mentioned in the sacred 

 volume appears to be increased in the present instance by the simi- 

 larity of the names ela.li and alloii. 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 Coverdale translates elah 

 "the Terebinth," allon "the Oak," the authorized version giving 

 elah "the Teil-tree;" allon " the Oak." Canon Rogers is of opinion 

 that allon should ahvays be thus rendered. 



•j" T/;v %ov'j r'Av v'^YikyiV, 



X Judges ix. 6, marginal reading. 



