A short shrub or tree that can grow up to 5 meters, with small, tough leaves and tiny berry-like cones.
About Phoenician Juniper
The Phoenician Juniper Juniperus phoenicea is a lower-altitude cousin of the Grecian juniper discussed in the previous entry. At present it is found scattered throughout the mountains of northern Sinai and southern Jordan, and Hepper notes that it occurs throughout the higher parts of Sinai and Arabia. In ancient times it may have been found throughout the Negev. DEU 2:36 refers to a town on the edge of the Wadi Arnon called Aroer, which is probably cognate with the Hebrew word ‘ar‘ar, indicating that these trees may have grown there. The identification of ‘ar‘ar /‘aro‘er as the Phoenician juniper is supported by the fact that Arabs in several countries call this juniper ‘ar‘ar. Since it is closely related to the cedars, some people also call it the “Phoenician cedar.” Note that Hebrew uses the same word ’erez to cover both the Phoenician juniper and the mighty cedar of Lebanon. For ‘ar‘ar in JER 17:6, Nogah HaReuveni (Desert and Shepherd in our Biblical Heritage, p 67–71) makes a literary case for the “apple of Sodom” (Calotropis procera). The Sodom apple, which lives in an “uninhabited salt land,” has attractive green leaves and fruit, but the fruit turns out to be hollow and toxic — a strong contrast with the fruitful tree that lives by a stream. However, other botanists have not followed this, relying more on the linguistic evidence from Arabic.
Key References
the priest shall order that two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed.
The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.
He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
‘Flee! Run for your lives! Become like a juniper in the desert.’
All Scripture References (20)
2 Samuel (1)
David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.
1 Kings (5)
He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.
The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.
King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire.
2 Chronicles (2)
Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
He paneled the main room with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains.
Psalms (1)
where the birds build their nests; the stork makes her home in the cypresses.
Song of Solomon (1)
The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are fragrant firs.
Isaiah (4)
Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”
Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.
I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,
The glory of Lebanon will come to you—its cypress, elm, and boxwood together—to adorn the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify the place of My feet.
Jeremiah (2)
He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
‘Flee! Run for your lives! Become like a juniper in the desert.’
Ezekiel (2)
They constructed all your planking with cypress from Senir. They took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.
The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.
Hosea (1)
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.
Nahum (1)
The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.