sight to desert travelers, as were the seventy palm trees growing beside the twelve springs of water at Elim, the second stop of the marching Israelites after their crossing the Red Sea. (Ex. 15:27; Num. 33:9) The long taproot of the palm enables it to reach down to water sources not available to many plants and thus to thrive amid desert conditions.

In Bible times palms flourished on the coast of the Sea of Galilee (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book III, chap. X, sec. 8), along the lower reaches of the hot Jordan valley, and were particularly abundant around En-gedi (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book IX, chap. I, sec. 2) and Jericho, called “the city of the palm trees.” (Deut. 34:3; Judg. 1:16; 3:13; 2 Chron. 28:15). They also grew in the highlands, as did “Deborah’s palm tree” in the mountainous region of Ephraim. (Judg. 4:5) That they grew around Jerusalem is evident from the use made of their fronds at the Festival of Booths (Lev. 23:40; Neh 8:15) and also at the time of Jesus’ entry into the city. (John 12:12, 13) Tamar, one of Solomon’s cities, was named for the palm tree. (1 Ki. 9:17, 18) The land of Tyre and Sidon also later received the name “Phoenicia” (land of palms) from the Greek phoiʹnix (Acts 11:19; 15:3), as possibly did the city of Phoenix on the island of Crete.—Acts 27:12.

The tall, stately palm, with its straight uniform trunk rising some eighty feet (24.4 meters) or more and cresting with a plume of long feathery fronds (not branches), makes a graceful silhouette of unique beauty. Hebrew girls must have been pleased to receive the name Tamar, as did Judah’s daughter-in-law (Gen. 38:6), Absalom’s sister (2 Sam. 13:1), and also his daughter, described as “a woman most beautiful in appearance.” (2 Sam. 14:27) The Shulammite maiden’s stature was likened to that of a palm tree and her breasts to its clusters. (Song of Sol. 7:7, 8) The spiral arrangement of its wood fibers also makes it a tree of unusual suppleness and strength.

The palm tree produces good fruit after about thirty years and continues to do so for nearly one hundred years, after which it gradually declines and dies at the end of the second century. The annual crop of dates grows in immense drooping clusters, each weighing from thirty to fifty pounds (13.6 to 22.7 kilograms), and is harvested from June to September. The Arabs say that the palm tree has as many uses as the year has days. In addition to its fruit the leaves are used for thatching roofs, the sides of houses, for fences, mats, baskets, and even dishes. Its fibers are used to make ropes and boat rigging. The date seeds or kernels are ground up and fed to the camels. Wax, sugar, oil, tannin and resin are all obtained from the tree, and a potent drink called “arrak” is distilled from the sap.

Engraved carvings of the palm tree, with its erect form, beauty and fruitfulness, made an appropriate decoration for the inner walls and the doors of Solomon’s temple (1 Ki. 6:29, 32, 35; 2 Chron. 3:5), also the sides of the carriages used in the temple service (1 Ki. 7:36, 37); and palm trees were seen by Ezekiel as decorating the side pillars of the gates of the visionary temple, as well as in the inner walls and doors of the temple. (Ezek. 40:16-37; 41:15-26) Being straight and tall as well as fruitful, the palm tree was also a fitting symbol of the ‘righteous man’ ‘planted in the courtyards of Jehovah.’—Ps. 92:12, 13.

The use of palm fronds by the crowd of people who hailed Jesus as the “king of Israel” (John 12:12, 13) evidently served to symbolize their praise as well as their submission to his regal position. The “great crowd” of Revelation 7:9 are likewise pictured as with palm fronds in their hands, ascribing salvation to God and to the Lamb.—Rev. 7:10.

PALTI

(Palʹti) [abbreviated form of Pelatiah, meaning Jehovah has provided escape].

1. A Benjamite chieftain selected as one of the twelve spies to preview the land of Canaan in 1512 B.C.E. He was a son of Raphu.—Num. 13:2, 3, 9, 27-33.

2. See PALTIEL No. 2.

PALTIEL

(Palʹti·el) [deliverance of God].

1. Representative of Issachar at the time the tribes divided the Promised Land into inheritance portions; son of Azzan.—Num. 34:17, 18, 26.

2. Son of Laish from Gallim. Saul, after outlawing David, took his daughter Michal, David’s wife, and gave her in marriage to Palti (Paltiel). (1 Sam. 25:44) After becoming king, David demanded of Abner and Ish-bosheth that Michal be returned to him. This greatly grieved Paltiel, who followed her, weeping, until Abner ordered him to go home.—2 Sam. 3:13-16.

PALTITE

(Palʹtite).

A term used with reference to Helez, one of David’s mighty men and generally believed to refer to a native of Beth-pelet. (2 Sam. 23:8, 26) In the corresponding lists at 1 Chronicles 11:27; 27:10, Helez is called the “Pelonite.”—See PELONITE.

PAMPHYLIA

(Pam·phylʹi·a).

A small Roman province on the S coast of Asia Minor visited by Paul on his first missionary tour. Though the size of the province may have varied over the years, Pamphylia is commonly viewed as having been a strip along the coastline some seventy-five miles (121 kilometers) long and up to thirty miles (48 kilometers) wide. It was bounded by the provinces of Lycia on the W, Galatia on the N and the Kingdom of Antiochus on the E. (See ASIA.) On the coast the climate of Pamphylia was hot and tropical, while it moderated as one moved to the higher elevation of the Taurus Mountains.

The inhabitants are thought to have been a mixture of a native tribe with Greeks, some even suggesting Pamphylia to mean “of every race.” Evidently Jews or proselytes were in the area, for on Pentecost 33 C.E. persons from Pamphylia were in Jerusalem and were amazed to hear the disciples speaking in their “own language.”—Acts 2:6, 10.

A number of principal cities were on or near the coast, such as the seaport town of Attalia, Perga on the Cestrus (Aksu) River, and Side, where coastal pirates sold their booty and a slave market existed. From Paphos on Cyprus, Paul, Barnabas and John Mark sailed NW across the Pamphylian Sea “and arrived at Perga in Pamphylia.” Whether they landed at Attalia and traveled on land the few miles to Perga, or sailed right to Perga is not definitely known; it is reported that in ancient times the Cestrus was navigable at least as far as Perga. At this point John Mark separated from the others and returned to Jerusalem, but Paul and Barnabas went N through the mountains to Antioch in Pisidia (in the province of Galatia). (Acts 13:13, 14; 15:38; 27:5) That route was notorious for bandits. (Compare 2 Corinthians 11:26.) On the return trip the two Christians traveled through Pamphylia to Perga and preached there. Next they went to the port of Attalia and sailed from there to Antioch in Syria.—Acts 14:24-26.

Pamphylia over the years was ruled by Lydia, Persia, Macedonia and Rome. Under the Romans it was at various times united as a province with Cilicia (to the E) and then with Galatia and finally with Lycia.—Acts 13:13; 16:6; 27:5.

PAPER

The English word “paper” is derived from the Latin papyrus, which came from the Greek paʹpy·ros. In Bible times paper was a thin writing material made into sheets from strips obtained from the papyrus plant.—See PAPYRUS.

The Egyptians are credited with being the first manufacturers of papyrus paper for writing purposes, using papyrus plants that then grew along the banks of the Nile River. Some archaeologists would place such paper production as far back as Abraham’s time.

Early Christians used papyrus paper for their letters, scrolls and codices. It also played an important part