Shittah-tree is Hebrew for
Acacia.
Acacia albida, Acacia tortilis and
Acacia iraqensis can be found in the
Sinai desert and the
Jordan valley.
Shittah wood was employed in making the various parts of the tabernacle and of the
Ark of the covenant in the wilderness. It was the acacia or mimosa (
Acacia Nilotica and
A. seyal). "The wild acacia (
Mimosa nilotica),
under the name of
sunt, everywhere represents the seneh, or
senna, of the burning bush. A slightly different form of the
tree, equally common under the name of
seyal, is the ancient
'shittah,' or, as more usually expressed in the plural form, the
'shittim,' of which the
Tabernacle was made." Stanley's Sinai,
etc. (Ex. 25:10, 13, 23, 28).
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