Willow
WILLOW
A very common tree, which grows in marshy places, Job 40:22 Isa 44:4, with a leaf much like that of the olive. God commanded the Hebrews to take branches of the handsomest trees, particularly of the willows of the brook, and to bear them in their hands before the Lord, as a token of rejoicing, at the feast of Tabernacles, Lev 23:40 .The “weeping willow,” memorable in connection with the mourning Hebrew captives, Psa 137:2, is a native of Babylonica. The “book of the willows,” Isa 15:7, on the southern border of Moab, flows into the southeast extremity of the Dead Sea.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Willow
Willow. A tree which grew to about 9 to 12 meters (30-40 feet) and had reddish-brown bark; narrow, pointed leaves; and flowers or catkins which hung downward. Willow branches were used to construct the booths for the Feast of Tabernacles ( Lev 23:40). The Israelites hung their harps on willows while in Babylon.
Some biblical scholars think the willow mentioned in the Bible was actually the poplar or Euphrates Aspen. The word for willow is consistently translated as poplar by the NIV. ( Isa 44:4) is translated poplar by the NEB and NASB as well. Also see Poplar.
Fuente: Plants Animals Of Bible
Willow
is the rendering, in the A. V., of the two following Heb. words:
, ereb (only in the plur. , Sept. , ), is apparently a generic term for the willow, like the Arabic gharab. Willows are mentioned in Lev 23:40, among the trees whose branches were to be used in the construction of booths at the Feast of Tabernacles; in Job 40:22, as a tree which gave shade to Behemoth (the hippopotamus); in Isaiah 44, 4, where it is said that Israel’s offspring should spring up as willows by the watercourses; in the Psalm (Psa 137:2) which so beautifully represents Israel’s sorrow during the time of the Captivity in Babylon, We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. With respect to the tree upon which the captive Israelites hung their harps, there can be no, doubt that the weeping willow (Salix Babylonica) is intended. This tree grows abundantly on the banks of the Euphrates, in other parts of Asia as in Palestine (Strand, Flora Palaest. No. 5 and 6), and also in North Africa. Bochart has endeavored to show (Phaleg, , 3) that the same country is spoken of, in Isa 15:7, as the Valley of Willows. This, however, is very doubtful. Sprengel (Hist. Re. Heb. 1, 18, 270) seems to restrict the ereb to the Salix Babylonica; but there can scarcely be a doubt that the term is generic, and includes other species of the large family of Salices, which is probably well represented in Palestine and other Bible lands, such as the Salix alba, S. vinminalis (osier), S. Egyptiaca, which latter plant, however, Sprengel identifies with the safsaf of Abul fadli, cited by Celsius (Hierob. 2, 108); but this latter word is probably the same as
2. , tsaphtsaphah, which occurs only in Eze 17:5, He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow-tree. Celsius, however, thinks that the word means locus planis, planities, although he at the same time gives all the evidence for the willow. First, the rabbins consider it to mean a tree, et quidem salix; R. Ben Melech says it is species salicis, Arabibus tziphtzaph dicta; while Avicenna hoc tit. dicit tziphtzaph esse chilaf. Travelers also give us similar information. Thus Paul Lucas: Les Arabes le nomment safsaf qui signifie en Arabe saule. Rauwolf (Travels, 1, 9), speaking of the plants he found near Aleppo, remarks, There is also a peculiar sort of willow-trees called safsaf; etc.; the stems and twigs are long, thin, weak, and of a pale-yellow color; on their twigs here and there are shoots of a span long, like unto the Cypriotish wild fig-trees, which put forth in the spring tender and woolly flowers like unto the blossoms of the poplar-tree, only they are of a more drying quality, of a pale color, and a fragrant smell. The inhabitants pull of these great quantities, and distil a very precious and sweet water out of them. This practice is still continued in Eastern countries as far as Northern India, and was, and probably still is, well known in Egypt. Hasselquist (Trav. p. 499), under the name of calaf, apparently speaks of the same tree; and Forskal (Descript. Plant. p.1 26) identifies it with the Salix Egyptiaca, while he considers the safsaf to be the S. Babylonica.
Various uses were no doubt made of willows by the ancient Hebrews, although there does not appear to be any definite allusion to them. The Egyptians used flat baskets of wickerwork, similar to those made in Cairo at the present day (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt 1, 43). Herodotus (1. 194) speaks of boats at Babylon whose framework was of willow; such coracle- shaped boats are represented in the Nineveh sculptures (see Rawlinson, Herod. 1, 268).
Of Biblical willows by far the most interesting is the weeping willow, or willow of Babylon (S. Babylonica). With its long lanceolate, finely serrated, and pointed leaves, with its smooth, slender, purplish, drooping branches, it has in all modern times been the symbol of sorrow. Before the Babylonian Captivity the willow was always associated with feelings of joyful prosperity. It is remarkable, as Mr. Johns (Forest Trees of Britain, 2, 240) truly says, for having been in different ages emblematical of two directly opposite feelings at one time being associated with the palm, at another with the cypress. After the Captivity, however, this tree became the emblem of sorrow, and is frequently thus alluded to in the poetry of our own country; and there can be no doubt, as Mr. Johns continues, that the dedication of the tree to sorrow is to be traced to the pathetic passage in the Psalms. The children of Israel, says lady Callcott (Scripture Herbal, p. 533), still present willows annually in their synagogues, bound up with palm and myrtle, and accompanied with a citron.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Willow
WILLOW (rbm, Lev 23:40, Job 40:22, Psa 137:2, Isa 15:7; Isa 44:4 [cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] gharab willow or poplar]; tsaph-tsphh, Eze 17:5 [cf. Arab [Note: Arabic.] , safsaf the willow]).Most of the references are to a tree growing beside water, and apply well to the willow, of which two varieties, Salix fragilis and S. alba, occur plentifully by watercourses in the Holy Land. Some travellers consider the poplar, especially the willow-like Populus euphratica, of the same Nat. Ord. (Salicace) as the willows, more probable. Tristram, without much evidence, considered that tsaphtsphh might be the oleander, which covers the banks of so many streams.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Willow
ereb. Supposed to be the Salix Babylonica. Its boughs were used at the Feast of Tabernacles, a season of joy; but at the captivity and since, it is a symbol of sorrow. It was on such that the captives hung their harps when in captivity, of which the Psalmist spoke prophetically. Lev 23:40; Job 40:22; Psa 137:2; Isa 15:7; Isa 44:4. In Eze 17:5 the word is tsaphtsaphah, supposed by some to be the Arabic safsf, a willow or osier which grows by the water.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Willow
General references
Lev 23:40; Psa 137:2; Eze 17:5
Figurative
Isa 44:4