- WILLOWS (1.) Hebrews ‘arabim (Leviticus 23:40; Job 40:22; Isaiah
15:7; 44:3, 4; Psalm 137:1, 2). This was supposed to be the weeping
willow, called by Linnaeus Salix Babylonica, from the reference in Psalm
- This tree is frequently found “on the coast, overhanging wells and
pools. There is a conspicuous tree of this species over a pond in the plain
of Acre, and others on the Phoenician plain.” There are several species of
the salix in Palestine, but it is not indigenous to Babylonia, nor was it
cultivated there. Some are of opinion that the tree intended is the tamarisk
or poplar.
(2.) Hebrews tzaphtzaphah (Ezekiel 17:5), called by the Arabs the safsaf,
the general name for the willow. This may be the Salix AEgyptica of
naturalists.
Tristram thinks that by the “willow by the water-courses,” the Nerium
oleander, the rose-bay oleander, is meant. He says, “It fringes the Upper
Jordan, dipping its wavy crown of red into the spray in the rapids under
Hermon, and is nutured by the oozy marshes in the Lower Jordan nearly
as far as to Jericho...On the Arnon, on the Jabbok, and the Yarmuk it
forms a continuous fringe. In many of the streams of Moab it forms a
complete screen, which the sun’s rays can never penetrate to evaporate the
precious moisture. The wild boar lies safely ensconced under its
impervious cover.”
- WIMPLE Isaiah 3:22, (R.V., “shawls”), a wrap or veil. The same Hebrew
word is rendered “vail” (R.V., “mantle”) in Ruth 3:15. - WINDOW properly only an opening in a house for the admission of light
and air, covered with lattice-work, which might be opened or closed (2
Kings 1:2; Acts 20:9). The spies in Jericho and Paul at Damascus were let
down from the windows of houses abutting on the town wall (Joshua 2:15;
2 Corinthians 11:33). The clouds are metaphorically called the “windows
of heaven” (Genesis 7:11; Malachi 3:10). The word thus rendered in Isaiah
54:12 ought rather to be rendered “battlements” (LXX., “bulwarks;” R.V.,
“pinnacles”), or as Gesenius renders it, “notched battlements, i.e., suns or
rays of the sun”= having a radiated appearance like the sun. - WINDS blowing from the four quarters of heaven (Jeremiah 49:36;
Ezekiel 37:9; Daniel 8:8; Zechariah 2:6). The east wind was parching
(Ezekiel 17:10; 19:12), and is sometimes mentioned as simply denoting a
strong wind (Job 27:21; Isaiah 27:8). This wind prevails in Palestine from