ALVIN JOHNSON looks at Biblical mentions for the laurel tree…
The ets shemen is mentioned five times in the Old Testament, being found in Isaiah 41:19: “I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the ets shemen [literally ‘oil tree’]. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together”.
The laurel tree seen in the Biblical Landscape Reserve Israel.
The Hebrew ets shemen literally means ‘oil tree’, this has caused many to suggest that this is a reference to the olive tree.
However, there are other suggestions, they include:
• The laurel tree, also called bay tree (Laurus nobilis)
• The Russian olive (Elaegagnus angustifolia)
• The Aleppo pine (also called the Jerusalem pine – Pinus halepensis)
The laurel tree is a small evergreen tree, which grows to about four metres in height and about three metres wide. It is found in the Middle East as well as in Europe. It produces a fragrant ‘oil’ from its dark green leaves. This oil is used for cooking.
Michael Zohary argues that the ets shemen refers to the Aleppo pine because “the Jewish villages of North Kurdistan…have – probably since the Babylonia exile – preserved the name ets shemen for the pine”.
The NIV has translated ets shemen as ‘wild olive’ in the Book of Nehemiah: ‘”Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and ets shemen [wild olive trees], and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths” as it is written.’ – Nehemiah 8:15
This is an edited excerpt from Alvin Johnson’s iBook ‘Biblical Flora’, 2017. The book is available for free download on iTunes. A teacher’s edition is also available for purchase.
