Bible Dictionary
Teil tree
“Teil tree” is an old English rendering connected with the terebinth, a large resinous tree of Palestine. The Hebrew term is elsewhere translated “oak” or “terebinth.”
Definition
“Teil tree” is an older English rendering of a Hebrew term referring to the terebinth, or turpentine tree, Pistacia terebinthus. The same Hebrew term is elsewhere rendered “oak,” “trees,” or “elm.”
Biblical Usage
The term occurs in Isaiah and corresponds to a Hebrew word used in several passages for trees identified in older versions as oaks or elms and in later rendering as terebinths.
Historical Background
The terebinth commonly stood alone rather than in forests, often on hillsides or in bare ravines. It was associated with the terebinth of Mamre, which was said to remain from Abraham’s time until the fourth century.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(an old name for the lime-tree, the tilia), Isa. 6:13, the terebinth, or turpentine-tree, the Pistacia terebinthus of botanists. The Hebrew word here used (elah) is rendered oak (q.v.) in Gen. 35:4; Judg. 6:11, 19; Isa. 1:29, etc. In Isa. 61:3 it is rendered in the plural “trees;” Hos. 4:13, “elm” (R.V., “terebinth”). Hos. 4:13, “elm” (R.V., “terebinth”). In 1 Sam. 17:2, 19 it is taken as a proper name, “Elah” (R.V. marg., “terebinth”). “The terebinth of Mamre, or its lineal successor, remained from the days of Abraham till the fourth century of the Christian era, and on its site Constantine erected a Christian church, the ruins of which still remain.” This tree “is seldom seen in clumps or groves, never in forests, but stands isolated and weird-like in some bare ravine or on a hill-side where nothing else towers above the low brushwood” (Tristram).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
[Oak]