Editing Shittah tree

{{Short description|Acacia-like tree species mentioned in the Hebrew Bible}}[[File:Trees and shrubs. Shittim tree at Engedi. (Ancacia Seyal Del.) LOC matpc.14961.tif|thumb|right|upright=1.7|A shittah tree]]
'''Shittah tree'''<ref>Isaiah 41:19.</ref> ({{langx|he|שִׁטָּה}}) or the plural "[[shittim (disambiguation)|shittim]]"<ref>Exodus 25:10 & 23, 26:15.</ref> 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 Peninsula|Sinai]] Desert and the [[Jordan River]] Valley.[[File:Tissark.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|A depiction of Ark of the Covenant]]

In [[the Exodus]], the ancient [[Israelites]] were commanded to use "shittah wood" to make various parts of the [[Tabernacle (Judaism)|Tabernacle]] and of the [[Ark of the Covenant]]. This was most likely ''[[Vachellia seyal]]''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gOFUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA31-IA4|title=The Plants of the Bible. Trees and Shrubs|last=Balfour|first=John Hutton|publisher=T. Nelson & Sons|year=1857|pages=31}}</ref> or ''[[Vachellia tortilis]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Acacia_tortilis.html|title = Acacia tortilis}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Acaciatortilis_page.htm|title=Plants of the Bible: Umbrella Thorn Acacia}}</ref>

"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 ''[[Vachellia seyal|seyal]]'', is the ancient ''shittah'', or, as more usually expressed in the plural form, the ''shittim'', of which the Tabernacle was made."<ref>[[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley]], ''Sinai and Palestine''.</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Frangula purshiana]]'', a North American native plant sharing common names with the Biblical shittah tree
* ''[[Sideroxylon lanuginosum]]'', a North American native plant sharing common names with the Biblical shittah tree
* ''[[Xylosma maidenii]]'', an Australian native plant known as shitum wood

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{wiktionary|shittah}}

==Further reading==
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=acacia}}
* [[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley]], ''Sinai and Palestine''.
* [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] chapter 25, verses 10, 13, 23, and 28.

[[Category:Book of Exodus]]
[[Category:Plants in the Bible]]
[[Category:Plant common names]]
[[Category:Ark of the Covenant]]
[[Category:Vachellia]]