OAK

As many as six varieties of the oak are found in Palestine. Dr. Robinson speaks of one at Hebron which had a trunk twenty-two and a half feet in circumference; and saw the crests and sides of the hills beyond the Jordan still clothed, as in ancient times, with magnificent oaks, Isa 2:13 Zec 11:2. The oak is often referred to in Scripture, Ge 35:8 Isa 44:14 Am 2:9. There is, however, a second Hebrew word often translated "oak," which is supposed to denote the terebinth or turpentine-tree, called butm by the Arabs, Ge 35:4 Jud 6:11,19 2Sa 18:9,14. It is translated "elm" in Hosea 4.13, and "teil-tree" in Isa 6:13, in which passages the true oak is also mentioned. In many passages where "plain" or "plains" occurs, we should probably understand "terebinth" or "a grove of terebinths," Ge 12:6 13:18 14:13 18:1 De 11:30 Jud 9:6. This tree was found in all countries around the Mediterranean, and in Palestine grew to a large size. It was very long-lived. For many ages after Christ, a tree of this kind near Heron was superstitiously venerated as one of those under which Abraham dwelt at Mamre. Under the welcome shade of oaks and other large trees many public affairs were transacted; sacrifices were offered, courts were held, and kings were crowned, Jos 24:26 Jud 6:11,19 9:6. See GROVE.

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Oak. Oak
There are six Hebrew words rendered “oak.”

(1.) ‘El occurs only in the word El-paran (Gen. 14:6). The LXX. renders by “terebinth.” In the plural form this word occurs in Isa. 1:29; 57:5 (A.V. marg. and R.V., “among the oaks”); 61:3 (“trees”). The word properly means strongly, mighty, and hence a strong tree.

(2.) ‘Elah, Gen. 35:4, “under the oak which was by Shechem” (R.V. marg., “terebinth”). Isa. 6:13, A.V., “teil-tree;” R.V., “terebinth.” Isa. 1:30, R.V. marg., “terebinth.” Absalom in his flight was caught in the branches of a “great oak” (2 Sam. 18:9; R.V. marg., “terebinth”).

(3.) ‘Elon, Judg. 4:11; 9:6 (R.V., “oak;” A.V., following the Targum, “plain”) properly the deciduous species of oak shedding its foliage in autumn.

(4.) ‘Elan, only in Dan. 4:11,14,20, rendered “tree” in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Probably some species of the oak is intended.

(5.) ‘Allah, Josh. 24:26. The place here referred to is called Allon-moreh (“the oak of Moreh,” as in R.V.) in Gen. 12:6 and 35:4.

(6.) ‘Allon, always rendered “oak.” Probably the evergreen oak (called also ilex and holm oak) is intended. The oak woods of Bashan are frequently alluded to (Isa. 2:13; Ezek. 27:6). Three species of oaks are found in Palestine, of which the “prickly evergreen oak” (Quercus coccifera) is the most abundant. “It covers the rocky hills of Palestine with a dense brushwood of trees from 8 to 12 feet high, branching from the base, thickly covered with small evergreen rigid leaves, and bearing acorns copiously.” The so-called Abraham’s oak at Hebron is of this species. Tristram says that this oak near Hebron “has for several centuries taken the place of the once renowned terebinth which marked the site of Mamre on the other side of the city. The terebinth existed at Mamre in the time of Vespasian, and under it the captive Jews were sold as slaves. It disappeared about A.D. 330, and no tree now marks the grove of Mamre. The present oak is the noblest tree in Southern Palestine, being 23 feet in girth, and the diameter of the foliage, which is unsymmetrical, being about 90 feet.” (See HEBRON; TEIL-TREE.)

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OAK. → (A tree) → Grew in Palestine Ge 35:4 → Absalom hung in the boughs of 2Sa 18:9,14 → Deborah buried under Ge 35:8 → FIGURATIVE Am 2:9

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oak. Oak, n. the name of a tree or its wood

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Oak (ōk), n. [[OE. oke, ok, ak, AS. āc; akin to D. eik, G. eiche, OHG. eih, Icel. eik, Sw. ek, Dan. eeg.]] 1. 1. (Bot.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut, called an acorn, which is more or less inclosed in a scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe, Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few barely reaching the northern parts of South America and Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary rays, forming the silver grain.
2. 2. The strong wood or timber of the oak.
☞ Among the true oaks in America are: Barren oak, or Black-jack, Q. nigra. — Basket oak, Q. Michauxii. — Black oak, Q. tinctoria; — called also yellow or quercitron oak. — Bur oak (see under Bur.), Q. macrocarpa; — called also over-cup or mossy-cup oak. — Chestnut oak, Q. Prinus and Q. densiflora. — Chinquapin oak (see under Chinquapin), Q. prinoides. — Coast live oak, Q. agrifolia, of California; — also called enceno. — Live oak (see under Live), Q. virens, the best of all for shipbuilding; also, Q. Chrysolepis, of California. — Pin oak. Same as Swamp oak. — Post oak, Q. obtusifolia. — Red oak, Q. rubra. — Scarlet oak, Q. coccinea. — Scrub oak, Q. ilicifolia, Q. undulata, etc. — Shingle oak, Q. imbricaria. — Spanish oak, Q. falcata. — Swamp Spanish oak, or Pin oak, Q. palustris. — Swamp white oak, Q. bicolor. — Water oak, Q. aquatica. — Water white oak, Q. lyrata. — Willow oak, Q. Phellos. Among the true oaks in Europe are: Bitter oak, or Turkey oak, Q. Cerris (see Cerris). — Cork oak, Q. Suber. — English white oak, Q. Robur. — Evergreen oak, Holly oak, or Holm oak, Q. Ilex. — Kermes oak, Q. coccifera. — Nutgall oak, Q. infectoria. ☞ Among plants called oak, but not of the genus Quercus, are: African oak, a valuable timber tree (Oldfieldia Africana). — Australian, or She, oak, any tree of the genus Casuarina (see Casuarina). — Indian oak, the teak tree (see Teak). — Jerusalem oak. See under Jerusalem. — New Zealand oak, a sapindaceous tree (Alectryon excelsum). — Poison oak, the poison ivy. See under Poison. — Silky, or Silk-bark, oak, an Australian tree (Grevillea robusta). Green oak, oak wood colored green by the growth of the mycelium of certain fungi. — Oak apple, a large, smooth, round gall produced on the leaves of the American red oak by a gallfly (Cynips confluens). It is green and pulpy when young. — Oak beauty (Zoöl.), a British geometrid moth (Biston prodromaria) whose larva feeds on the oak. — Oak gall, a gall found on the oak. See 2d Gall. — Oak leather (Bot.), the mycelium of a fungus which forms leatherlike patches in the fissures of oak wood. — Oak pruner. (Zoöl.) See Pruner, the insect. — Oak spangle, a kind of gall produced on the oak by the insect Diplolepis lenticularis. — Oak wart, a wartlike gall on the twigs of an oak. — The Oaks, one of the three great annual English horse races (the Derby and St. Leger being the others). It was instituted in 1779 by the Earl of Derby, and so called from his estate. — To sport one's oak, to be “not at home to visitors,” signified by closing the outer (oaken) door of one's rooms.