SITTIM, SITTAH, שטים, Exod. xxv, 5, 10, 13, 23, 28; xxvi, 26,
32, 37; xxvii, 1, 6; xxx, 5; xxxv, 7, 24; xxxvi, 20, 31, 36; xxxvii, 1,
4, 10, 15, 25, 28; xxxviii, 1, 6; Deut. x, 3; Isaiah xli, 19. What
particular species of wood this is, interpreters are not agreed. The
LXX. render ἄσηπτα ξύλα, _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 Petræa, 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
xli, 19, joined with the myrtle and other fragrant shrubs.”
32, 37; xxvii, 1, 6; xxx, 5; xxxv, 7, 24; xxxvi, 20, 31, 36; xxxvii, 1,
4, 10, 15, 25, 28; xxxviii, 1, 6; Deut. x, 3; Isaiah xli, 19. What
particular species of wood this is, interpreters are not agreed. The
LXX. render ἄσηπτα ξύλα, _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 Petræa, 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
xli, 19, joined with the myrtle and other fragrant shrubs.”