mul'-ber-i, (bekha'im; Septuagint apioi, "pear trees" (2 Samuel 5:23 f; 1 Chronicles 14:14 f, margin "balsam-trees"; Psalms 84:6, the King James Version "Baca," margin "mulberry trees," the Revised Version (British and American) "weeping," margin "balsam-trees"): According to Arabic writers the Baca tree is similar to the balsam (Balsamodendron opobalsamum), and grows near Mecca; no such tree is, however, known in Palestine. The name may, in Hebrew, have been applied to some species of ACACIA (which see). The idea of "weeping" implied in the root, both in Hebrew and Arabic, may be explained by the exudation of gum. "The sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees" has been explained to refer to the quivering of the leaves of poplars, but there is not much to support this view (see POPLAR ). The translation "mulberry trees" is, however, even more improbable, as this tree, though very plentiful today, had not been introduced into Palestine in Old Testament times.

Mulberry (moron, (1 Macc 6:34)): The Syrians at Bathzacharias "to the end they might provoke the elephants to fight, they, shewed them the blood of grapes and mulberries." This reference must be to the deep red juice of the black mulberry (Morus nigra), the tut shami of Palestine, a variety cultivated all over the land' for its luscious, juicy fruit.

See SYCOMORE, TREE .

E. W. G. Masterman

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

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