StrongerBible

eshel

אֵשֶׁל

HebrewH0815“tamarisk, grove, ...”

Appears 3 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 21:331Sa 22:61Sa 31:13
Word studyResearch-gradeEH-shelnoun

What eshel means

a tamarisk: the hardy, deep-rooted evergreen of the dry south, and in every biblical scene one particular tree that marks a place

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

Every major lexicon agrees this word names one kind of tree: the tamarisk, most likely the athel tamarisk, a tough evergreen that shrugs off salty ground and sends roots down far enough to reach water hidden below. That fits every place the Bible puts it. Beersheba, on the edge of the southern desert, is exactly where such a tree survives, and its presence there quietly points to the well beside it.

What is easy to miss is that the word never turns up as a botanical detail. All three times, it stands at a moment of claim or of ceremony.

  • Abraham plants one at Beersheba and there calls on the name of God as the everlasting God.
  • Saul sits under the tamarisk at Gibeah, spear in hand and his men standing around him, on the day he orders the priests of Nob killed.
  • The men of Jabesh bury Saul's bones under the tamarisk of their own town.

In both Saul scenes the Hebrew says "the" tamarisk rather than "a" tamarisk: one specific tree that everybody in that town knew, the kind you give directions by. When Chronicles retells Saul's burial it swaps in a commoner tree word, the oak or terebinth (אֵלָה), which suggests the tamarisk word had already grown obscure by later centuries.

Beyond Israel this was a loaded tree. In Babylonian ritual, tamarisk wood was a purifying substance, used even in the ceremony that consecrated the images of the gods, and one Babylonian poem says the very first king planted a tamarisk in his garden as an act of founding. That background is why scholars argue over whether these three trees mark holy sites or are simply famous trees. The word itself does not settle it: it names a species, and each scene has to be weighed on its own.

Gen 21:331Sa 22:61Sa 31:13
1Sa 22:6

Whether the tamarisk of 1 Samuel 22:6 stands at a cultic high place, on the strength of the LXX's ἐν βαμα against MT בָּרָמָה, or is simply the landmark tree of Gibeah.

  • majorityThe LXX reading is the older one, since the religiously offensive בָּמָה is the harder reading and would have been softened rather than invented; Saul therefore holds court under the tamarisk at a high place, and the Deuteronomistic condemnation of worship at high places under leafy trees frames him as an apostate at the very moment he orders the priests of Nob killed.; S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and Topography of the Books of Samuel, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1913), 180; Karl Budde, Die Bücher Samuel, KHC (Tübingen: Mohr, 1902), 152; P. Kyle McCarter Jr., I Samuel, Anchor Bible 8 (Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), 356-357; Jürg Hutzli, "Elaborated Literary Violence: Genre and Ideology of the Two Stories I Sam 22,6-23 and II Sam 21,1-14," in Rereading the Relecture?, FAT II/66 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 153
  • minorityMT בָּרָמָה is to be retained and read as "on the height", a common-noun sense of רמה; the אֵשֶׁל is the well-known landmark tamarisk of Gibeah and the setting carries no cultic charge.; David T. Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), ad 22:6
1Sa 31:13

The direction of the difference between 1 Samuel 31:13 (תַּחַת הָאֶשֶׁל) and 1 Chronicles 10:12 (תַּחַת הָאֵלָה).

  • majoritySamuel's אֵשֶׁל is original and the Chronicler substituted the commoner אֵלָה, either modernizing a word that had become an obscure archaism in Persian or Hellenistic period Hebrew or simply rephrasing his Vorlage as he routinely does.; E. L. Curtis and A. A. Madsen, The Books of Chronicles, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1910), ad 10:12; Sara Japhet, I & II Chronicles: A Commentary, OTL (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993), ad 10:12; Gary N. Knoppers, I Chronicles 10-29, Anchor Bible 12A (New York: Doubleday, 2004), 526
  • minority1 Chronicles 10 preserves the earlier and shorter version of the burial notice, and the Samuel text was altered to אֵשֶׁל later, in order to create the literary inclusio with Saul's court tree in 1 Samuel 22:6.; Ho, Saul und David (2007), 87, as summarized in Stephen Germany, "Memorializing Saul's Wars in Samuel and Chronicles," in Collective Violence and Memory in the Ancient Mediterranean (Leiden: Brill, 2023); Brian R. Doak, Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 165; H. Bezzel, "Chronistisch beeinflusste Korrekturen," in U. Becker and H. Bezzel, eds., Rereading the Relecture?, FAT II/66 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014)

Disputed

Whether the biblical אֵשֶׁל functions as a sacred tree marking a cult site, or simply as a well-known landmark tree.

  • contestedThe three trees are sacred trees marking holy places. Genesis 21:33 is an etiology for the sanctuary at Beersheba, whose pre-Israelite numen אֵל עוֹלָם (a standard epithet of Canaanite El, attested at Ugarit in mlk ʿlm) is claimed for YHWH; the Saul passages presuppose the same cultic association. BDB already noted that the tree was "perhaps a sacred tree, marking shrine".; F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1906), 79, s.v. אֵשֶׁל; John Skinner, Genesis, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1910), 325-327; Hermann Gunkel, Genesis, trans. Mark E. Biddle (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1997), 236-237; Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary, rev. ed., OTL (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972), 234-235; Claus Westermann, Genesis 12-36: A Commentary, trans. John J. Scullion (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985), 351-352; E. A. Speiser, Genesis, Anchor Bible 1 (Garden City: Doubleday, 1964), 159; Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973), 46-60
  • contestedThe tamarisk is an ordinary landmark and long-lived shade tree with no cultic function. In Genesis 21:33 it marks Abraham's newly secured tenure at the well and fittingly emblematizes the everlasting God he invokes; in 1 Samuel it is simply the known tree of Gibeah and of Jabesh.; Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16-50, WBC 2 (Dallas: Word, 1994), 94; Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 92-95; Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, NAC 1B (Nashville: B&H, 2005), 282; Bruce K. Waltke with Cathi Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 300-302; David T. Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), ad 22:6
  • minorityAn inherited sacred-tree tradition stands behind Genesis 21:33 but has been deliberately truncated and defused by the biblical writer: no altar is built, no theophany is reported, and the pre-Israelite epithet has been folded into the name of YHWH. The tradition is preserved and neutralized at once.; Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis: The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: JPS, 1989), 149-150; Nahum M. Sarna, "Genesis 21:33: A Study in the Development of a Biblical Text and Its Rabbinic Transformation," in Studies in Biblical Interpretation (Philadelphia: JPS, 2000), 221-226; Bill T. Arnold, Genesis, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), ad 21:33

What scholars say about eshel

Every major modern lexicon glosses אֵשֶׁל as "tamarisk", generally Tamarix aphylla or T. syriaca/nilotica: BDB 79 (already noting it was "perhaps a sacred tree, marking shrine"), HALOT 1 s.v., DCH 1 s.v., Gesenius18 s.v., TWOT #185, and NIDOTTE 1 s.v. Zohary, Plants of the Bible 114-115, with Musselman and Feliks, concurs botanically, noting the deep-rooted phreatophyte's fitness for the northern Negev, where its roots tap subterranean water; Hareuveni observes that tamarisks hint at springs and wells, which suits the juxtaposition of tree and well in Genesis 21. The cognate case rests on Arabic 'athl, Sabaean, and Aramaic/Syriac forms, an identification already made by Jonah ibn Janāḥ, transmitted by Radak, and consolidated by D. H. Müller and Immanuel Löw. HALOT, Gesenius18, and DCH all flag the unresolved sibilant correspondence (Arabic and Sabaean show an interdental, Aramaic a plain ת, against Hebrew שׁ), which is why no lexicon presents the etymology as certain; Akkadian ašlu (a rush or a measuring-rope) is not accepted as a cognate, the Akkadian tamarisk being bīnu, and TDOT carries no dedicated article on the word.

The ancient versions did not know it: LXX renders ἄρουρα ("plowed field") in all three verses (some manuscripts of 1 Sam 22:6 correct to ἄλσος), the Vulgate nemus, the Targumim generically אִילָנָא, the Peshitta a plantation in Genesis and a tree in Samuel. Hutzli, following Grillet and Lestienne, reads the Greek as a deliberate de-sacralizing rather than mere ignorance, and notes that Josephus likewise avoids a botanical rendering. Comparative material makes the word's cultic profile hard to ignore: in Akkadian ritual bīnu purifies in Šurpu, Maqlû, and the namburbi texts, and is used in the mīs pî consecration of cult statues (Wiggermann; Walker and Dick), while Lambert's "Tamarisk and the Date-Palm" has the first king plant a tamarisk in his garden at the inauguration of kingship.

On the cultic question the commentators split (see the meaning-level dispute). Two textual points bear on individual verses: at 1 Sam 22:6, Driver, Budde, and McCarter prefer LXX ἐν βαμα to MT בָּרָמָה, a reading Hutzli develops into a Deuteronomistic critique of Saul, against Tsumura's defense of the MT; at 1 Sam 31:13, Curtis and Madsen, Japhet, and Knoppers explain the Chronicler's אֵלָה as modernization or paraphrase, while Ho, Doak, and Bezzel argue Chronicles preserves the earlier reading. Bloch-Smith situates burial under a named tree within Judahite practice, with Genesis 35:8 the nearest parallel. One frequently repeated claim needs correction: the definite article stands only in the two Samuel verses (הָאֶשֶׁל); Genesis 21:33 reads אֶשֶׁל without it, as Abraham plants the tree rather than referring to a known one.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1906), 79, s.v. אֵשֶׁלlexicon
  • L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Eng. ed. M. E. J. Richardson (Leiden: Brill, 1994-2000), vol. 1, s.v. אֵשֶׁלlexicon
  • D. J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 1 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1993), s.v. אֵשֶׁלlexicon
  • W. Gesenius, Hebräisches und Aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 18. Aufl., ed. R. Meyer and H. Donner (Berlin: Springer, 1987-2013), s.v. אֵשֶׁלlexicon
  • R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, and B. K. Waltke, eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody, 1980), #185theological-dictionary
  • W. VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), s.v. אֵשֶׁלtheological-dictionary
  • Michael Zohary, Plants of the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 114-115monograph
  • Lytton J. Musselman, A Dictionary of Bible Plants (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), s.v. "Tamarisk"dictionary
  • Immanuel Löw, Die Flora der Juden III (Vienna-Leipzig, 1924), 398ff.monograph
  • John Skinner, Genesis, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1910), 325-327commentary
  • Hermann Gunkel, Genesis, trans. Mark E. Biddle (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1997), 236-237commentary
  • Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary, rev. ed., OTL (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972), 234-235commentary
  • Claus Westermann, Genesis 12-36: A Commentary, trans. John J. Scullion (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985), 351-352commentary
  • E. A. Speiser, Genesis, Anchor Bible 1 (Garden City: Doubleday, 1964), 159commentary
  • Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16-50, WBC 2 (Dallas: Word, 1994), 94commentary
  • Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 92-95commentary
  • Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis: The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: JPS, 1989), 149-150commentary
  • Nahum M. Sarna, "Genesis 21:33: A Study in the Development of a Biblical Text and Its Rabbinic Transformation," in Studies in Biblical Interpretation (Philadelphia: JPS, 2000), 221-226article
  • S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and Topography of the Books of Samuel, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1913), 180monograph
  • P. Kyle McCarter Jr., I Samuel, Anchor Bible 8 (Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), 356-357, 442-443commentary
  • Hans Wilhelm Hertzberg, I & II Samuel, OTL (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964), 189, 233commentary
  • David T. Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), ad 22:6 and 31:13commentary
  • Jürg Hutzli, "Elaborated Literary Violence: Genre and Ideology of the Two Stories I Sam 22,6-23 and II Sam 21,1-14," in U. Becker and H. Bezzel, eds., Rereading the Relecture?, FAT II/66 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 153article
  • Gary N. Knoppers, I Chronicles 10-29, Anchor Bible 12A (New York: Doubleday, 2004), 526commentary
  • Sara Japhet, I & II Chronicles: A Commentary, OTL (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993), ad 10:12commentary
  • Brian R. Doak, Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 165monograph
  • Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973), 46-60monograph
  • W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature (Oxford: Clarendon, 1960), 151-163monograph
  • Christopher Walker and Michael Dick, The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian Mīs Pî Ritual, SAALT 1 (Helsinki, 2001)monograph
  • Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs about the Dead, JSOTSup 123 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992)monograph
  • John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, JSOTSup 265 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2000), 19, 54monograph
  • Ze'ev Herzog, "Perspectives on Southern Israel's Cult Centralization: Arad and Beer-sheba," in R. G. Kratz and H. Spieckermann, eds., One God, One Cult, One Nation, BZAW 405 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2010)article

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of אֵשֶׁל

m s absolute

אֶשֶׁל

Gen 21:33, 1Sa 22:6, 1Sa 31:13