אֵלָה
e.lah (H0424)
oak
AI Word Study
# The Hebrew Word for Oak (H0424: אֵלָה) The Hebrew word *elah* designates a specific type of tree—the oak—and appears thirteen times throughout the biblical text. This frequency, while modest, indicates the oak held enough cultural or religious significance to merit repeated mention in the scriptural record. The word functions as a straightforward botanical term, identifying a particular species rather than serving as a metaphor or abstract concept. The oak's presence across thirteen biblical occurrences suggests it was a notable feature of the ancient Levantine landscape and Israelite experience. Trees in ancient texts often mark significant locations or events, and the oak's recurrence implies it served similar functions—whether as a landmark, a site of religious or legal importance, or simply as a resource familiar enough to warrant naming in narrative accounts. The specific tree species mattered enough to biblical authors to use a distinct term rather than a generic word for trees. Without access to the complete contextual passages where *elah* appears, we can conclude that this was a recognized and named element of the biblical world—concrete and identifiable rather than symbolic or figurative in primary meaning. Its thirteen appearances represent a meaningful but not dominant presence in biblical vocabulary, positioning the oak as a genuine feature of ancient Near Eastern geography and culture that biblical writers referenced when describing their world.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Yahweh’s angel came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.
A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”
Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the middle of the oak.
He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.”
all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stump remains when they are cut down; so the holy seed is its stock.”
You will know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.