Shittah Tree, or Acacia
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Exod. 25:5; Isa. 41:19)—a flexible and very hard wood used in constructing the Tabernacle and its furnishings. It is generally understood as one of the acacias abundant in deserts from northern Arabia to Ethiopia and associated with gum arabic. The tree spreads wide branches and bears fragrant flowers. Shittah wood appears among the offerings for the sanctuary (Exod. 35:5, 24), and the tree is named with myrtle and other fragrant growths in Isaiah’s vision: “I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together” (Isa. 41:19).