Isaiah 41:19 - meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 41:19
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:
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
wilderness
בַּמִּדְבָּר֙ba.mid.Bar
H4057
a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
cedar
אֶ֣רֶז'E.rez
H730
a cedar tree (from the tenacity of its roots) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
tree
שִׁטָּ֔הshi.Tah
H7848
the acacia (from its scourging thorns) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
myrtle
וַהֲדַ֖סva.ha.Das
H1918
the myrtle · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
oil
שָׁ֑מֶןSha.men
H8081
grease · noun, common masculine singular absolute
tree
וְעֵ֣ץve.'Etz
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
set
אָשִׂ֣ים'a.Sim
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
desert
בָּעֲרָבָ֗הba.'a.ra.Vah
H6160
a desert · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
tree
בְּר֛וֹשׁbe.Ro.osh
H1265
a cypress (?) tree · noun, common masculine singular absolute
pine
תִּדְהָ֥רtid.Har
H8410
enduring · noun, common masculine singular absolute
tree
וּתְאַשּׁ֖וּרu.te.'a.Shur
H8391
a species of cedar (from its erectness) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
together
יַחְדָּֽוyach.Dav
H3162
properly · adverb
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a n…
Isaiah 37:31-32 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I w…
Isaiah 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be…
Isaiah 61:11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will caus…
Isaiah 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Ezekiel 17:22-24 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his youn…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 41:10-20
The scope of these verses is to silence the fears, and encourage the faith, of the servants of God in their distresses. Perhaps it is intended, in the first place, for the support of God's Israel, in captivity; but all that faithfully serve God through patience and comfort of this scripture may have hope. And it is addressed to Israel as a single person, that it might the more easily and readily be accommodated and applied by every Israelite indeed to himself. That is a word of caution, counsel, and comfort, which is so often repeated, Fear thou not; and again (Isa 41:13), Fear not; and (Isa 41:14), "Fear not, thou worm Jacob; fear not the threatenings of the enemy, doubt not the promise of…
(Isa 32:15; Isa 55:13).
shittah--rather, the "acacia," or Egyptian thorn, from which the gum Arabic is obtained [LOWTH].
oil tree--the olive.
fir tree--rather, the "cypress": grateful by its shade.
pine--GESENIUS translates, "the holm."
box tree--not the shrub used for bordering flower beds, but [GESENIUS] a kind of cedar, remarkable for the smallness of its cones, and the upward direction of its branches.
John Gill on Isaiah 41:19
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree,.... Where such trees had not used to grow, but in Lebanon, and such like places. The "shittah tree" is thought to be a kind of cedar; it is the same of which is the "shittim wood" mentioned in Exodus 25:5 and is so called by the Targum here:
and the myrtle, and the oil tree; about the former there is no difficulty, and one would think there should be none about the latter, and that the olive tree is meant; but Kimchi thinks that is not certain, and supposes the pine tree is meant; and observes that the olive tree is distinguished from this oil tree in Nehemiah 8:15, as indeed it is; and is by our translators there rendered the pine…
The water was not life-giving. For they were not able to satisfy those who longed for truth from their teachings. Their tongues remained parched from thirst. But I will hear them, says the God of Israel, and I will not abandon them. For he had mercy on the mass of those who strayed and did not leave them without gifts from above, but rather he gave to them in fullness, and this in such a way as is finely described in the verses that follow.… The desert and the land short of water is the region of the Gentiles. The desert that will run dry and barren of any flowering growth, meaning spiritual growth, is the way of shriveling, where the wild trees are those useful only for burning in fire. The water allows the nations to bear fruit. To those who were once thirsty he says, "I will make rivers flow on the mountains," that is, holy people who are enriched by the divine word from above and pour out like flowing streams to the thirsty.
These varieties of trees signify the diversity of spiritual grace. And because the nature of them is well known to all, we will now explain the Setta, which Theodotio translated as a thorn. It is a type of tree that grows in the desert and resembles a white thorn. From this tree, all the wood for the ark and the tabernacle was made, which is called Settim (Exodus 37). This wood is incorruptible and very light, surpassing all other types of wood in both strength and beauty. But cedar and cypress, and myrtle, of excellent fragrance and incorruptible, are joined with elm and poplar, or with boxwood, or they are most suitable for grafting vines or for various works. All these things are placed together in solitude, so that at least one string of the Lord's lyre and some virtue of the Church's graces may not seem to be lacking. That all may understand and know together in their minds that the hand of the Lord has brought forth all these things, so that in the dryness of the nations the streams of virtues may be found, and in a once deserted and full of saltiness land, cedars and cypresses, and other trees may be born, whose height and top reaching toward the heavens would be illuminated by the wood of the olive, which is the nourishment of light and rest for those who labor.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Acacia — (Heb. shittim) Ex. 25:5, R.V. probably the Acacia seyal (the gum-arabic tree); called the “shittah” tree (Isa. 41:19). Its wood is called shittim wood (Ex. 26:15, 26; 25:10, 13, 23, 28, etc.). This…
Box-tree — (Heb. teashshur), mentioned in Isa. 60:13; 41:19, was, according to some, a species of cedar growing in Lebanon. The words of Ezek. 27:6 literally translated are, “Thy benches they have made of…
Boxtree — (Isaiah 41:19; 60:13) A beautiful evergreen growing in many parts of Europe and Asia. Its hard wood is much prized by engravers. The reference in (Isaiah 60:13) is supposed by some to mean a species…
Myrtle — (Isa. 41:19; Neh. 8:15; Zech. 1:8), Hebrew hadas, known in the East by the name as, the Myrtus communis of the botanist. “Although no myrtles are now found on the mount (of Olives), excepting in the…
Oil Tree — (Heb. ets shemen). The Hebrew words occur in (Nehemiah 8:15) (Authorized Version “pine branches”), (1 Kings 6:23) (“olive tree”) and in (Isaiah 41:19) (“oil tree”). From the passage in Nehemiah,…
Oil-tree — (Isa. 41:19; R.V. marg., “oleaster”), Heb. ‘etz shemen, rendered “olive tree” in 1 Kings 6:23, 31, 32, 33 (R.V., “olive wood”) and “pine branches” in Neh. 8:15 (R.V., “branches of wild olive”), was…
Pine tree — Heb. tidhar, mentioned along with the fir-tree in Isa. 41:19; 60:13. This is probably the cypress; or it may be the stone-pine, which is common on the northern slopes of Lebanon. Some suppose that…
Shittah-tree — (Isa. 41:19; R.V., “acacia tree”). Shittah wood was employed in making the various parts of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and must therefore have been indigenous in the desert in which the…
Box Tree · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Cedar, The · Planted by God — Planted by God
and 19. I will open rivers. He illustrates the former doctrine in a different manner, namely, that God has no need of outward and natural means for aiding his Church, but has at his command secret, and wonderful methods, by which he can relieve their necessities, contrary to all hope and outward appearance. When no means of relief are seen, we quickly fall into despair, and scarcely venture to entertain any hope, but so far as outward aids are presented to our eyes. Deprived of these, we cannot rest on the Lord. But the Prophet states that at that time especially they ought to trust, because at that time the Lord has more abundant opportunities of displaying his power, when men perceive no w…
At the present time, indeed, the state of His people was a helpless one, but its cry for help was not in vain. "The poor and needy, who seek for water and there is none, their tongue faints for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I open streams upon hills of the field, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I make the desert into a pond, and dry land into fountains of water. I give in the desert cedars, acacias, and myrtles, and oleasters; I set in the steppe cypresses, plane-trees, and sherbin-trees together, that they may see, and know, and lay to heart and understand all together, that the hand of Jehovah hath accomplished this, and the Holy One…
rivers . . . fountains . . . pools of water . . . springs: These images would strike a responsive chord in an agrarian culture. They also suggest that rescue from the Exile would be a second exodus (cp. Exod 15:27; 17:6).
Rashi on Isaiah 41:19
I will give in the desert cedars, acacia trees all kinds of civilization. Even in them will I give all kinds of wisdom, goodness, and peace.
firs and cypresses Names of trees that do not produce fruit, used for building.
Myrtle · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Pine · A tree — A tree
Shittim · .Planted and cultivated — .Planted and cultivated
Trees · Mentioned in scripture: Box — Mentioned in scripture: Box
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
