A broad tree with heavy branches and aromatic resin in its stem, providing good shade. In the Bible it is often associated with worship.
About Terebinth
The Palestine terebinth or turpentine tree (Pistacia terebinthus) is a large tree that sheds its leaves seasonally (Isaiah 6:13; Hosea 4:13). It has spreading branches that grow in different directions. In winter, without its leaves, it looks very similar to an oak tree. This tree grows from 3.7 to 7.6 meters (12 to 25 feet) tall. Every part of the tree contains a sweet-smelling, sticky juice called resin. The fruit of the terebinth is a small reddish or bluish drupe (a type of fruit with a single seed inside, like an olive or cherry). The fruit is not typically eaten by humans, but birds and animals may eat it. It is much smaller and less flavorful than the fruit of the pistachio tree (Pistacia vera), which produces the pistachio nut we eat today.
The terebinth tree is common on the lower parts of hills throughout Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Arabia. It usually grows alone rather than in groups and is mostly found in places that are too warm or too dry for oak trees. Since the terebinth naturally grows in Gilead, it is likely that its sticky juice was part of the spices that the Ishmaelites carried from Gilead to Egypt (Genesis 37:25).
Key References
So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.
Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.
All Scripture References (19)
Genesis (2)
So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.
Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
Joshua (1)
Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was near the sanctuary of the LORD.
Judges (2)
Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.
2 Samuel (3)
Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
When one of the men saw this, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!”
But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.
1 Kings (1)
and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied.
1 Chronicles (1)
all their men of valor set out and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
Isaiah (5)
Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.
For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, like a garden without water.
And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”
who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
Ezekiel (2)
Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and leafy oak—the places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.
This happened so that no other trees by the waters would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’
Hosea (1)
They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
Mark (1)
they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”