BOX-TREE

box'-tre (te'ashshur; Isaiah 41:19; 60:13, "boxwood" Ezekiel 27:6): A tree of uncertain identity, which must once have been common in the forests of Lebanon. According to Post (HDB, I, 313), "The only species of box found in Bible lands is Buxus longifolia, which is a shrub from 2 to 3 ft. high. It does not grow South of Mt. Cassius and it is unlikely that it did in historical times."

As an alternative to the box the cypress, Cupressus sempervirens--known in Arabic as Sherbin--has been suggested. It is a fine tree and was probably once plentiful, but as it seems to answer to the berosh (see FIR; FIR-TREE ), it cannot well be the te'ashshur. There is nothing certain to go upon.

E. W. G. Masterman

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.