Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

JP van de Giessen:
 
You wrote:  “Please check your sources and you will see there are forests 
in Arabia!!  And they are very beautiful, at least that's my experience.”
 
Thank you for raising that issue.  I see that my statement was overly 
broad.  Set forth at the end of this post is a fairly lengthy description of 
the 
beautiful small, mountainous forests of Saudi Arabia.  But they are small 
leftovers of the last Ice Age.  As to their small size, the source below 
states:  “[T]his highland forest is rarely more than three kilometers (10,000 
feet) wide at any point in Saudi Arabia.”
 
But Isaiah is not talking about living it up in the beautiful forests of 
Arabia.  No, Isaiah is saying that people will be reduced to foraging among 
the thickets in northern Arabia.  Isaiah fulminated against almost everyone, 
and almost every country.
 
So before setting forth the nice information about the forests of southwest 
Saudi Arabia, let’s first look at the full passage in Isaiah, and see that 
it is not talking about living well in forests in Arabia:
 
“13The oracle concerning Arabia.
 In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,
  O caravans of Dedanites.
 14To the thirsty bring water;
 meet the fugitive with bread,
 O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
 15For they have fled from the swords,
 from the drawn sword,
 from the bent bow,
 and from the press of battle. 
16For thus the Lord said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a 
hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 
17And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar 
will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken."  Isaiah 21: 13-17, 
per ESV
 
Tema is a desert oasis, and according to Isaiah, instead of things going 
well in forests in Arabia:  “all the glory of Kedar will come to an end”.
 
Thus although there were, and are, a handful of small forests in southwest 
Arabia, Y(R is much more likely talking about “thickets” here at Isaiah 21: 
13.
 
The Hebrews would likely have known only the northern part of Arabia.  The 
small forests of Arabia are in the southwest of Arabia, and likely were 
little known by the Hebrews.  Note this comment from the account below:  
 
“[H]oneysuckle and pistacia are no longer found anywhere between Taif [in 
southwest Arabia] and Palestine. That juniper species now has three distinct 
populations, isolated from each other - one in the 'Asir, one in the 
highlands of northern Oman, and the other confined to the mountains of 
Somalia and 
Ethiopia.”  
 
Taif is south of Mecca, so it’s a long way from Canaan.
 
But for what it’s worth, here’s an account of the lovely, if small, 
forests in southwest Arabia:
 
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198904/arabian.forests.htm
 
“What is your mental image of Saudi Arabia? Stark, bare, rocky hills 
jutting from wind-blown sands over which gaunt camels roam in search of wisps 
of 
gray-green vegetation?
 
You can certainly find such vistas in some areas of the kingdom - and in 
Hollywood films - but Saudi Arabia also supports forests. And in the forests 
are not only cool, cascading waterfalls, but also populations of plants and 
animals that, in many cases, can be duplicated no closer than Greece, 3,200 
kilometers (2,000 miles) to the northwest.
 
These forests are not the familiar oases with their serried ranks of date 
palms and their carefully maintained watercourses. These are real forests, 
complete with trees, shrubs, climbers and wild beasts. They can be found amid 
the peaks of Saudi Arabia's southwesterly 'Asir Mountains.
 
For those living in Jiddah, the first hint of such arboreal splendor can be 
glimpsed on a drive to Taif. As one nears the sheer, 1,500-meter 
(4,900-foot) 'Asir escarpment, the first thickets appear. The road slithers 
its way up 
this cliff face through stands of mimosa, then willow-leaved fig and, 
finally, tops out amid junipers (Juniperus procera) at an altitude of more 
than 
2,000 meters (6,500 feet). Here the sun is noticeably brighter, the air 
cooler, the winds fresher. Fan-tailed ravens and griffon vultures cavort on 
updrafts and thermals among stark peaks, but there, along the valleys and 
slopes, 
are the beginnings of a forest. Admittedly, much of the flat land has been 
cleared for agriculture, but here and there some fine stands of mimosa and 
jujube trees testify to a splendor that once existed.
 
In season, blossoming almond and apricot trees herald the arrival of spring 
and the coming harvest of damask roses, but junipers - often called cedars 
in the United States - still dominate the surrounding hillsides. On the 
escarpment edge their growth is luxuriant, and individual trees more than 10 
meters tall (33 feet) are not uncommon. Splashes of pale green in this sea of 
needles signify the presence of sumac, Palestine pistacia, hopseed bush or 
per-foliate honeysuckle, and a question begins to dawn in the traveler's 
mind: 
Many of these plants have their main center of distribution in the 
Mediterranean area - so why are they here?
 
During the last Ice Age, Saudi Arabia was wetter and cooler. A 
Mediterranean climate prevailed from Palestine to Yemen and across into the 
highlands of 
Ethiopia and Somalia. As the weather changed to its present, far warmer, 
condition, whole plant communities retreated to areas climatically capable of 
supporting them - to "islands" of cooler, wetter weather found at higher 
altitudes and separated by warmer, dryer valleys. Thus, honeysuckle and 
pistacia are no longer found anywhere between Taif and Palestine. That 
juniper 
species now has three distinct populations, isolated from each other - one in 
the 'Asir, one in the highlands of northern Oman, and the other confined to 
the mountains of Somalia and Ethiopia. Even in the 'Asir, juniper cannot be 
found below 1,800 meters altitude (5,900 feet), or more than five kilometers 
(three miles) inland.
Indeed, this highland forest is rarely more than three kilometers (10,000 
feet) wide at any point in Saudi Arabia. Here it is nourished by a long 
summer rainy season. Moisture-laden southwesterly winds, sweeping in off the 
Red 
Sea, are forced rocketing skyward as they collide with the steep escarpment. 
As they meet colder air aloft, they give rise to billowing thunderclouds, 
and during April and May the resulting storms can be savage.”
 
It’s amazing what one can learn on the b-hebrew list.  A discussion of the 
Hebrew word Y(R has led to this enlightening info about forests in Arabia.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois