Shittah tree[1] (Hebrew: שטה) or the plural "shittim"[2] was used in the Tanakh to refer to trees belonging to the genera Vachellia and Faidherbia (both formerly classed in Acacia). Faidherbia albida, Vachellia seyal, Vachellia tortilis, and Vachellia gerrardii can be found growing wild in the Sinai Desert and the Jordan River Valley.
In the Exodus, the ancient Israelites were commanded to use "shittah wood" to make various parts of the Tabernacle and of the Ark of the Covenant. This was most likely Vachellia seyal[3] or Vachellia tortilis.[4][5]
"The wild acacia (Vachellia nilotica), under the name of sunt, everywhere represents the seneh, or senna, of the burning bush. A slightly different form of the tree, equally common under the name of seyal, is the ancient shittah, or, as more usually expressed in the plural form, the shittim, of which the Tabernacle was made."[6]
- ^ Isaiah 41:19.
- ^ Exodus 25:10 & 23, 26:15.
- ^ Balfour, John Hutton (1857). The Plants of the Bible. Trees and Shrubs. T. Nelson & Sons. p. 31.
- ^ "Acacia tortilis".
- ^ "Plants of the Bible: Umbrella Thorn Acacia".
- ^ Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Sinai and Palestine.