DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.50017#0223
PLANTS IN SCRIPTURE 139
All which notwithstanding, since the same plant may
grow naturally and spontaneously in several countries,
and either from inward or outward causes be lost in
one region, while it continueth and subsisteth in another,
the balsam tree might possibly be a native of Judasa as
well as of Arabia ; which because de facto it cannot
be clearly made out, the ancient expressions of Scripture
become doubtful in this point. But since this plant
hath not for a long time grown in Judasa, and still
plentifully prospers in Arabia, that which now comes
in precious parcels to us, and still is called the balsam
of Judaea, many now surrender its name, and more
properly be called the balsam of Arabia.
37. When ’tis said that Elias lay and slept under a
juniper tree, some may wonder how that tree, which
in our parts groweth but low and shrubby, should afford
him shade and covering. But others know that there
is a lesser and a larger kind of that vegetable; that it
makes a tree in its proper soil and region. And may
find in Pliny that in the temple of Diana Saguntina, in
Spain, the rafters were made of juniper.
In that expression of David,1 “ Sharp arrows of the
1 Psalm cxxix. 7.
All which notwithstanding, since the same plant may
grow naturally and spontaneously in several countries,
and either from inward or outward causes be lost in
one region, while it continueth and subsisteth in another,
the balsam tree might possibly be a native of Judasa as
well as of Arabia ; which because de facto it cannot
be clearly made out, the ancient expressions of Scripture
become doubtful in this point. But since this plant
hath not for a long time grown in Judasa, and still
plentifully prospers in Arabia, that which now comes
in precious parcels to us, and still is called the balsam
of Judaea, many now surrender its name, and more
properly be called the balsam of Arabia.
37. When ’tis said that Elias lay and slept under a
juniper tree, some may wonder how that tree, which
in our parts groweth but low and shrubby, should afford
him shade and covering. But others know that there
is a lesser and a larger kind of that vegetable; that it
makes a tree in its proper soil and region. And may
find in Pliny that in the temple of Diana Saguntina, in
Spain, the rafters were made of juniper.
In that expression of David,1 “ Sharp arrows of the
1 Psalm cxxix. 7.