OAK. One of the largest, most durable, and useful of forest trees. It has been renowned from remotest antiquity, and held in great veneration, particularly among idolatrous nations. Celsius judges that the Hebrew words mentioned in the note 21 do all signify the "terebinthus judaica,” the terebinth: but that ALLON, signifies an oak 22, and is derived from a root denoting strength. That different trees are meant by these different words is certain from Gen. xxxv. 4. 8; Isai. vi. 16; and Hos. iii. 13; and probably they signify the trees he mentions. The terebinth, says Mariti, Trav. v. ii. p. 114, is an evergreen of moderate size, but having the top and branches large in proportion to the body. The leaves resemble those of the olive, but are of a green colour intermixed with red and purple. The twigs that bear them always terminate in a single leaf. The flowers are like those of the vine, and grow in bunches like them they are purple. The fruit is of the size of juniper berries, hanging in clusters, and each containing a single seed of the size of a grape stone. They are of a ruddy purple, and remarkably juicy. Another fruit, or rather excrescence is found on this tree scattered among the leaves, of the size of a chestnut, of a purple colour, variegated with green and white. The people of Cyprus say that it is produced by the puncture of a fly; on opening them they appear full of worms. The wood is hard and fibrous. A resin or gum distils from the trunk. The tree abounds near Jerusalem, and in Cyprus. In Gen. xii. 6, it is said that "Abraham passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh." Dr. Geddes remarks," I very much doubt if ever be signify a plain; whereas it certainly signifies a tree of some sort or other23: and it is my fixed opinion that it is that species called terebinthus, which lives to a very great age, and seems to have been held in as great veneration in the east, as the common oak was among the Greeks, Romans, Germans, Gauls, and Britons 24. The terebinth under which Abraham entertained three angels, Gen. xviii. 1, 2, &c. is very famous in antiquity. Josephus, De Bell. 1. iv. c. 7, says, that six furlongs from Hebron they 21 AIL, Gen. xiv. 6. □ AILIM, Isai i. 29. 'N ALIM, Isai. Ivii. 5. AILON, Josh. xix. 43; 1 Kings, iv. 9. ALON, translated " plain" in the following places: Gen. xii. 6; xiii. 18; xiv. 13; xviii, 1; Deut. xi. 30; Josh. xix, 33; Judges, iv. 11; ix. 6. 37; 1 Sam. x. 3. ALAH, Gen. xxxv. 4; Josh. xxiv. 26; Jud. vi. 11. 19; 1 Sam. xvii. 2, 19; xxi. 10; 2 Sam. xviii. 9, 10, 14; 1 Kings, xiii. 14; 1 Chron. x. 12; Isai. i. 30; vi. 13, where it is translated "Teiltree;" Ezek. vi. 13; Hos. iv. 13, rendered “Elms.” 22 Gen. xxxv. 8; Jos. xix. 33; Isai. ii. 13; vi. 13; xliv. 14; Hosea, iv. 13; Amos, ii. 9; and Zech. xi. 2. 23 Some translators, from a similarity of sound, have rendered 8 Alon, hy alnus, the alder-tree. 24 See also Michaelis Spicelegium Geogr. pars ii. p. 16. showed a very large terebinth, which the inhabitants of the country thought to be as old as the world itself. Eusebius assures us, that in his time the terebinth of Abraham was still to be seen, and that the people, both Christians and Gentiles, held it in great veneration, as well for the sake of Abraham as of the heavenly guests he entertained under it. St. Jerom says that this terebinth was two miles from Hebron. Sozomen, Hist. 1. ii. c. 4, places it fifteen stadia from this city; and an old itinerary puts it at two miles. These varieties might make one doubt whether the tree of which Josephus speaks were the same as that of Eusebius, Jerom, and Sozomen. The terebinth of Jacob, Gen. xxxv. 4, where he buried the gods that his people had brought out of Mesopotamia, was behind the city of Shechem, and was very different from that where Abraham had set up his tent near Hebron; yet they have very absurdly been confounded together. It is thought to have been under the same terebinth that Joshua, ch. xxiv. v. 6, renewed the covenant with the Lord; and that Abimelech, the son of Gideon, was made king by the Shechemites. Jud. ix. 6. Dr. Geddes suggests that Gen. xlix. 21, may be rendered Naphtali, is a spreading terebinth, producing beautiful branches." The vicinity of the lot of Naphtali to Lebanon, and its being perhaps itself a woody country, may have suggested this allusion. See HIND. This seems confirmed by the remark respecting wisdom in Ecclesiasticus, xxiv. 16, "As the turpentine tree [TEPEBINOO2] I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace." That the oak grew in Palestine we have the testimony of the author of Cod. Middoth, c. iii. § 7, who speaks of oaken plank for the temple of Solomon; and of Radzivil, Peregr. Hierosolym. p. 61, who mentions oaks as growing in the valley near Gethsemane. Bishop Lowth thinks that neither the oak nor the terebinth will do in Isai. i. 29, 30, from the circumstance of their being deciduous; for the prophet's design seems to require an evergreen otherwise the casting of its leaves would be nothing out of the common established course of nature, and no proper image of extreme distress, and total desertion: parallel to that of a garden without water, that is, wholly burnt up and destroyed. An ancient 25, who was an inhabitant and a native of this country, understands it, in like manner, of a tree blasted with uncommon and immoderate heat 26. Upon the whole he chooses to make it the ilex; which word Vossius derives from the Hebrew alath: that whether the word itself be rightly rendered or 25 Ephraem. Syr. in loc. edit. Assemani. 26 Comp. Psal. i. 4; Jerem. xvli. 8. not, the propriety of the poetical image might at least be preserved. The Ilex is the evergreen oak commonly called the holly 27. The leaves are from three to four inches long, and one broad near the base, gradually lessening to a point. They are of a lucid green on the upper side, but whitish and downy on the under; and are entire, standing on pretty long foot-stalks. These remain on the tree, retaining their verdure through the year, and do not fall till they are thrust off by young leaves in the spring. It bears an acorn smaller than those of the common oak, but similarly shaped. OIL. SHEMEN. The invention and use of oil is of the highest antiquity. It is said that Jacob poured oil upon the pillar which he erected at Bethel, Gen. xxviii. 18. The earliest kind was that which is extracted from olives. Before the invention of mills this was obtained by pounding them in a mortar, Exod. xxvii. 20; and sometimes by treading them with the feet in the same manner as were grapes, Deut. xxxiii. 24, Micah vi. 15. Whether any previous preparation was made use of in those ancient times to facilitate the expression of the juice, we are not informed; but it is certain, that mills are now used for pressing and grinding the olives (according to Dr. Chandler) which grow in the neighbourhood of Athens. These mills are in the town, and not on the spot in which the olives grow; and seem to be used in consequence of its being found that the mere weight of the human body is insufficient for an effectual extraction of the oil 28. The oil when expressed is deposited in large earthen jars, sunk in the ground in the areas by the houses: that for daily use is kept in cruises. The Hebrews used common oil with their food, in their meat offerings, for burning in their lamps, &c. As vast quantities of oil were made by the ancient Jews, it became an article of exportation. The great demand for it in Egypt led the Jews to send it thither. The prophet Hosea, xii. 1, thus upbraids his degenerate nation with the servility and folly of their conduct: "Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; he daily increaseth falsehood and vanity: and a league is made with Assyria, and oil carried into Egypt." The Israelites, in the decline of their national glory, carried the produce of their olive plantations into Egypt as a tribute to their ancient oppressors, or as a present to conciliate their favour, and obtain their assistance in the sanguinary wars which they were often compelled to wage with the neighbouring states. There was an ointment, very precious and sacred, used in 27 Ilex, Lin. gen. plant. 158. Aquifolium, Tourn. inst. R. H. 600, tab. 371. 28 Harmer's Obs. V. iii. p. 172: anointing the priests, the tabernacle, and furniture 29. This was compounded of spicy drugs; namely, myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia, mixed with oil olive. Maimonides pretends to tell us the manner of making this mixture. "Each of these four species," saith he, "was pounded separately; then they were all mixed together, and a strong decoction of them made with water; which, being strained from the ingredients, was boiled up with the oil, till the water was all evaporated 30 " The holy anointing oil, to be used for the consecration of the priests and other religious purposes, Exod. xxx. 23—25, was compounded of the following ingredients. Pure myrrh, mor deror Sweet cinnamon, wap kinnemon bosem Olive oil, now shemen zait Dr. Adam Clarke makes the following computation: lbs. Oz. dwts. gr. 3T 500 shekels of the first and last make 48 4 12 2131 250 of the cinnamon and cassia, 24 2 6 10 26 But it must be observed, that the word shekel is not used in the original; so that some have supposed the gerah was the weight intended. The shekel, indeed, seems supplied by verse 24. According to the shekel of the sanctuary." These words, however, probably denote only a correct, or standard weight. The difficulty is, that so great a quantity of drugs put into so small a quantity of oil (between five and six quarts) would render the mixture rather a paste than a liquid. To answer this difficulty, some have supposed that the drugs were previously steeped, and their oil drawn from them, which oil was mixed with the pure oil of olives; others think, that recourse was had to pressure, to force out an oil strongly impregnated; others think that the mass was distilled; and some that the value of the ingredients was intended, as five hundred shekel-worth of one kind, and two hundred and fifty shekel-worth of others; but all agree that sixty-two pounds of aromatics to twelve pounds of oil is not according to modern art, and seems contradictory to the exercise of art in any state of practice. The adoption of gerahs instead of shekels would give a proportion of 354 oz. of drugs to 123 oz. of oil, or 34 to 1. In common, 1 oz. of drugs to 8 of oil is esteemed a fair proportion. After all, it may be the best to substitute proportional parts, as in the usual preparations of apothecaries, after whose manner 29 Exod. xxx. 23, 24, 25. 30 De apparatu templi, c. i. sec. 1, apud Crenii fascic. sext. p. 84, et seq. Comment. in Mishn. tit. cherith, c. i. sec. 1, tom. v. p. 237, edit. Surenh. Hotting, de Leg. Hebr. 107. Schikard, Jus. Reg. Hebr. Theor. iv. p. 63. it was directed that the ingredients should be compounded; this proportion to be ascertained by the shekel of the sanctuary, or the standard weight. Where so many sacrifices were offered, it was essentially necessary to have some pleasing perfume to counteract the disagreeable smells that must have arisen from the slaughter of so many animals, the sprinkling of so much blood, and the burning of so much flesh, &c. Accordingly, direction was given for the composition of a holy perfume of the following ingredients. Stacte, NATAPH; probably the prime kind of myrrh Incense, (pure) ¡¡¡ LEBONAH ZAKAH. As there is no mention of oil to be used with those drugs, the composition was probably of a dry kind, to be burnt in the censer, or occasionally sprinkled on the flame of the altar. There is an allusion to the ingredients of this sacred perfume in Ecclesiasticus, xxiv. 14, " I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle." The use of aromatics in the East may be dated from the remotest antiquity. "Ointment and perfume," says Solomon, "rejoice the heart." They are still introduced, not only upon every religious and festive occasion, but as one essential expression of private hospitality and friendship. II. The OIL-TREE, Isai. xli. 19, p Y ETZ SCHEMEN, though understood by our translators of the olive, 1 Kings, vi. 23, 31, 33, and Nehem. viii. 15, cannot mean the olive, which has another appropriate name; but must intend some luxuriant and handsome tree. Jackson, in his history of Morocco, mentions "forests of the argan tree, which produces a kind of olive, from the kernel of which the Shellucks express an oil, much superior to butter for frying fish; it is also employed economically for lamps, a pint of it burning nearly as long as double that quantity of olive-oil." OLIVE-TREE. Occurs very often. 24; James, iii. 12. Rom. xi. 17, 24. זית ZAIT. EAAIA, Matth. xxi. 1; Rom. xi. 17, ATPIEAAIOE, Oleaster, the wild olive, Tournefort mentions eighteen kinds of olives; but in the Scripture we only read of the cultivated and wild olive. The cultivated olive is of a moderate height, thrives best in a sunny and warm soil. Its trunk is knotty: its bark is smooth, and of an ash colour: its wood is solid, and yellowish; its leaves are oblong, and almost like those of the willow, of a dark green colour on the upper side, and a whitish below. In the month of June it puts forth white flowers, growing in bunches, each of one piece, and widening toward the top, and dividing into four |