Terebinth

Concept

The terebinth (Pistacia atlantica or Pistacia palaestina; Hebrew elah) is a large, long-lived deciduous tree native to the Mediterranean and Near East, capable of growing to considerable size and living for centuries. Several landmark events in Scripture occur at or near terebinth trees: Jacob buried foreign gods and earrings under the terebinth at Shechem (Gen. 35:4); the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon under a terebinth at Ophrah (Judg. 6:11); Absalom's hair caught in a terebinth as he fled on his mule, and he was killed there (2 Sam. 18:9–10). Isaiah uses the stump of a felled terebinth (KJV: "teil tree") as a symbol for the holy seed that survives judgment (Isa. 6:13). The terebinth was often a landmark and a place of assembly or worship.