LAUREL

[Heb., ʼoʹren].

This tree is mentioned as the last of several trees in Isaiah 44:14, the only reference to the tree in the Hebrew Scriptures. Koehler and Baumgartner (Lexicon in Veteris Testantenti Libros, p. 88) identify the name with the laurel tree (Laurus nobilis), also commonly called “the sweet bay tree.” (See also The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 2, p. 293.) The laurel is an evergreen, often growing as a shrub but capable of heights up to some fifty feet (15.2 meters). Hence Isaiah could speak of the pouring rain making the tree “get big.” The entire tree (leaves, bark, roots and fruit) contains an oil long employed in medicine. The leaves are oblong and leathery, with a glossy upper side. They are also used as a condiment. In spring the tree blossoms with small creamy-white flowers that ripen into purplish-black berries. The Laurus nobilis is found from the coast on up into the middle mountain regions of Palestine and grows in other Mediterranean countries as well.

Laurel leaves were used by the ancient Greeks to form wreaths, which they placed on the heads of victors in the Pythian games and also extended to those holding certain offices as a symbol of distinction. Our English words “laureate” and “baccalaureate” are derived from these practices and uses of the laurel.

[Picture on page 1034]

A flowering branch of the laurel tree