Shittim

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

Sittim, Sittah שתים , שתח ,  Exodus 25:5;  Exodus 25:10;  Exodus 25:13;  Exodus 25:23;  Exodus 25:28;  Exodus 26:26;  Exodus 26:32;  Exodus 26:37;  Exodus 27:1;  Exodus 27:6;  Exodus 30:5;  Exodus 35:7;  Exodus 35:24;  Exodus 36:20;  Exodus 36:31;  Exodus 36:36;  Exodus 37:1;  Exodus 37:4;  Exodus 37:10;  Exodus 37:15;  Exodus 37:25;  Exodus 37:28;  Exodus 38:1;  Exodus 38:6;  Deuteronomy 10:3;  Isaiah 41:19 . What particular species of wood this is, interpreters are not agreed. The LXX render ασηπτα ξυλα , incorruptible wood. St. Jerom says, the shittim wood grows in the deserts of Arabia, and is like white thorn, as to its colour and leaves: but the tree is so large as to furnish very long planks. The wood is hard, tough, smooth, and extremely beautiful. It is thought that this wood is the black acacia, because that, it is said, is the most common tree growing in the deserts of Arabia; and agrees with what the Scriptures say of the shittim wood. The acacia vera grows abundantly in Egypt, in places far from the sea; in the mountains of Sinai, near the Red Sea, and in the deserts. It is of the size of a large mulberry tree. The spreading branches and larger limbs are armed with thorns which grow three together; the bark is rough; the leaves are oblong, and stand opposite each other; the flowers, though sometimes white, are generally of a bright yellow; and the fruit, which resembles a bean, is contained in pods like those of the lupin. "The acacia tree," says Dr. Shaw, "being by much the largest and most common tree in these deserts, Arabia Petraea, we have some reason to conjecture, that the shittim wood was the wood of the acacia; especially as its flowers are of an excellent smell, for the shittah tree is, in   Isaiah 41:19 , joined with the myrtle and other fragrant shrubs."

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

SHITTIM . 1 . The name of the last encampment of the Israelites, on the east of the Jordan opposite Jericho. There the Israelites began to intermarry with Moabites (  Numbers 25:1 ff.), and from there Joshua sent out the spies to Jericho (  Joshua 2:1;   Joshua 3:1 ). The name means ‘acacias,’ and the place is called in   Numbers 33:49 Abel-shittim , or ‘Meadow of acacias.’ Josephus ( Ant. IV. viii. 1, v. i. 1) identifies the place with Abila , which he says is 7 1 / 2 Roman miles east of the Jordan, and which Jerome says was 6 miles east of it. Several modern scholars identify Abila with Khirbet Kefrên at the entrance of the Wady Kefrên , at the base of the mountains of Moab.

2 . Joel’s reference to the ‘Valley of Shittim’ (  Joel 3:18 ) must refer to some valley leading from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea (cf.   Ezekiel 47:1 ff.) perhaps the ‘Valley of the brook Kidron,’ the modern Wady en-Nâr . It is certainly not the same as No. 1, although confused with it by Ochser ( JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] xi. 297 f.). The reference to Shittim in   Micah 6:5 ‘from Shittim to Gilgal’ is geographically unintelligible, and is rightly thought by many scholars to be a gloss.

George A. Barton.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Shit'tim. (The Acacias). The place of Israel's encampment, between the conquest of the TransJordanic highlands, and the passage of the Jordan.  Numbers 25:1;  Numbers 33:49;  Joshua 2:1;  Joshua 3:1;  Micah 6:5. Its full name appears to be given in the first of these passage - Abel has-Shittim , "The Meadow, or Moist Place, Of The Acacias", it was "in the Arboth-moab, by Jordan-Jericho,"  Numbers 22:1;  Numbers 26:3;  Numbers 31:12;  Numbers 33:48-49. That is to say, it was in the Arabah or Jordan valley, opposite Jericho.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 22-24 Micah 6:5 Numbers 25:1 Deuteronomy 34:9 Joshua 2:1 Joshua 3:1

2. In  Joel 3:18 the symbolic meaning of acacias (note NAS) comes to the fore in the messianic picture of fertility for the Kidron Valley with a stream flowing from the Temple.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Plain on the east of the Jordan, where the Israelites encamped before they crossed the Jordan. The name signifies 'acacias.'  Numbers 25:1;  Joshua 2:1;  Joshua 3:1;  Joel 3:18;  Micah 6:5 . In  Numbers 33:49 it is called Abel-Shittim q.v.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Shittim ( Shĭt'Tim ), Acacias. The scene of the sin with the Midianites, and of its terrible punishment,  Numbers 25:1-18;  Numbers 31:1-12; the sending forth of the spies to Jericho; and the final preparation before crossing the Jordan.  Joshua 2:1-24.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Exodus 25:10 (c) It probably represents the deathless, incorruptible body of the Lord Jesus in His humanity. His body could not die except as He deliberately dismissed His Spirit from it. Shittim wood is a wood that resists decay and thus represents the human body of the Saviour.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 33:49 Joshua 2:1

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The sacred wood which was much used in the tabernacle, of which moderns know but little.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See Shittah ; Abel Shittim )

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) Alt. of Shittim wood

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. with the art. hash-Shittim, הִשַּׁטַּי , The Acacias ; Sept. Σαττενί ; in the Prophets, Τὰ Σχοῖνα ; . Vulg. Settim, Abel-Satim ) , a designation rather than proper name of at least two localities in Palestine. (See Shittah).

1. The place of Israel's encampment between the conquest of the Transjordanic highlands and the passage of the Jordan ( Numbers 33:49;  Numbers 25:1;  Joshua 2:1; Joshua 3, 1;  Micah 6:5). Its full name appears to be given in the first of these passages — Abel ( אָבֵל ) Hash-Shittim — "the meadow or moist place of the acacias." (See Abel-Shittim). It was "in the Arboth-Moab, by Jordan-Jericho:" such is the ancient formula repeated over and over again ( Numbers 22:1;  Numbers 26:3;  Numbers 31:12;  Numbers 33:48-49); that is to say, it was in the Arabah or Jordan valley, opposite Jericho, at that part of the Arabah which belonged to and bore the name of Moab, where the streams which descend from the eastern mountains and force their winding way through the sandy soil of the plain nourished a vast growth of the Seyal, Sant, and Sidr trees, such as is nourished by the streams of the Wady Kelt and the Ain Sultan on the opposite side of the river. SEE MOAB. It was in the shade and the tropical heat of these acacia groves that the people were seduced to the licentious rites of Baalpeor by the Midianites; but it was from the same spot that Moses sent forth the army, under the fierce Phinehas, which worked so fearful a retribution for that license (21-12). It was from the camp at Shittim that Joshua sent out the spies across the river to Jericho (Joshua 2, 1). Tristram thinks that the situation of Keferein [of which he gives a view] at the northern margin of the oasis (the Ghor es-Seisam), and its marshy verdure, unmistakably identify it with Abel-shittim" ( Land Of Israel, p. 525).

2. A "valley" ( נִחִל , Nachal, winter torrent) of Shittim, or Wady Sunt, as it would now be called, of Joel ( Joel 3:18), can hardly be the same spot as that described above, as it must certainly have been west of the Jordan, and probably in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, althomugh the particular vale cannot now be distinguished. The name is probably to be regarded as an appellative "acacia vale" denoting, perhaps, as that tree delights in a dry soil, an arid, unfruitful vale.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

shit´im ( השּׁטּים , ha - shiṭṭı̄m , "the acacias"; Σαττείν , Satteı́n ):

(1) This marked the last camping-ground of Israel before they crossed the Jordan to begin the conquest of Western Palestine. Here it was that the people fell into the snare set for them by the satanic counsel of Balaam, who thus brought upon them greater evil than all his prohibited curses could have done ( Numbers 25:1 ff;   Numbers 31:16 ). In  Numbers 33:49 it is called Abel-shittim . It was from Shittim that Joshua sent the spies to view out the land and Jericho ( Joshua 2:1 ); and from this point the host moved forward to the river ( Joshua 3:1 ). The place is mentioned by Micah in a passage of some difficulty ( Joshua 6:5 ): after "what Balaam the son of Beor answered," perhaps some such phrase as "remember what I did" has fallen out. This would then be a reference to the display of divine power in arresting the flow of Jordan until the host had safely crossed. Josephus places the camp "near Jordan where the city Abila now stands, a place full of palm trees" ( Ant. , IV, viii, 1). Eusebius, Onomasticon says Shittim was near to Mt. Peor (Fogor). It may possibly be identical with Khirbet el - Kefrain , about 6 miles South of the Jordan, on the lip of Wâdy Seisebān , where there are many acacias.

(2) In  Joel 3:18 we read of the valley of Shittim which is to be watered by a fountain coming forth of the house of the Lord. It must therefore be sought on the West of the Jordan. The waters from the Jerusalem district are carried to the Dead Sea down the Wâdy which continues the Brook Kidron: Wâdy en - Nār . The acacia is found plentifully in the lower reaches of this valley, which may possibly be intended by the prophet.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Shit´tim, a spot in the plain of Moab, east of the Dead Sea, where the Israelites formed their last encampment before passing the Jordan (; comp. ) [WANDERING].