Isaiah 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree… The "cedar" grew on Mount Lebanon, and was of great height, and had extended branches, which afforded kindly shade. The "shittah" tree is probably, as the R.V. renders it, the acacia. This was "a large tree, growing abundantly in Egypt and Arabia, and is the tree from which gum-arabic is obtained. It is covered with black thorns, and the wood is hard, and when old resembles ebony." The "myrtle" rises eight or ten feet high, its characteristic being "a dense, full head." It is thus convenient for shade. The "off tree" is probably the olive tree. The "fir tree" usually denotes the cypress, an evergreen. This is also a tree whose wide-spread foliage would afford shade. The "pine" tree is perhaps the poplar (according to the Septuagint), or elm (according to the Vulgate), or a kind of hard oak (according to Gesenius). The "box" tree is probably some tall tree of the cedar kind, also affording shade. The chief common characteristic of these trees is that they afford welcome shade. In Western lands the intensity of the sun's heat and rays is not felt; but in the East he is at his fiercest, and a shadow is a most grateful possession. A missionary from the South Seas said: "Oh, the shining of the sun! The one thing we wanted to hide from was the sun. Its glare was intolerable!" (J. A. Davies, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: |
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