Shittah Tree
Smith's Bible Dictionary [1]
Shit'tah Tree. ( Hebrew, shittah , The Thorny). Shittah Tree or Shittim is, without doubt, correctly referred to some species of Acacia, of which three or four kinds occur in the Bible lands. The woof of this tree - perhaps the Acacia seyal is more definitely signified - was extensively employed in the construction of the Tabernacle. See Exodus 25, 26, 36, 37, 38. (This tree is sometimes three or four feet in diameter (Tristram). The wood is close-grained and hard, of a fine orange-brown color, and admirably adapted to cabinet work. - Editor).
The Acacia seyal is very common in some parts of the peninsula of Sinai. It yields the well-known substance called gum arabic, which is obtained by incisions in the bark, but it is impossible to say whether the ancient Jews were acquainted with its use. From the tangled thicket into which the stem of this tree expands, Stanley well remarks that hence is to be traced the use of the plural form of the Hebrew noun, shittim , the singular number occurring once only in the Bible.
This acacia must not be confounded with the tree, (Robinia pseudo-acacia ), popularly known by this name in England, which is a North American plant, and belongs to a different genus and suborder. The true acacias belong to the order Leguminosae , sub-order Mimoseae . See Shittim .
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]
SHITTAH TREE ( shittâh , Isaiah 41:19 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘ acacia tree’; shittim wood [ ‘ăts ç-shîttîm ] Exodus 25:5; Exodus 25:10; Exodus 25:13; Exodus 26:15; Exodus 26:26; Exodus 27:1; Exodus 27:6 , Deuteronomy 10:3 , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘acacia wood’). shittâh was originally shintâh , and is equivalent to Arab. [Note: Arabic.] sunt , which is the Acacia nilotica ; but the word no doubt included other desert acacias. The seyât of the Arabs, which includes the gum-arabic tree ( A. seyat ), and A. tortilis would both furnish suitable wood. Both these trees are plentiful around the Dead Sea, particularly at ‘Ain Jidy .
E. W. G. Masterman.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(n.) A tree that furnished the precious wood of which the ark, tables, altars, boards, etc., of the Jewish tabernacle were made; - now believed to have been the wood of the Acacia Seyal, which is hard, fine grained, and yellowish brown in color.
Holman Bible Dictionary [4]
Isaiah 41:19
Morrish Bible Dictionary [5]
See SHITTIM WOOD.
