<strong>WILLOW TREE</strong> (<span class="hebrew">עֲרָבָה</span>, <span class="gknumber">H6857</span>, sometimes called <em>Salix</em> Tree; <span class="hebrew">צַפְצָפָה</span>, <span class="gknumber">H7628</span>, waterwillow or osier).<br /><br />

The willow tree, or trees, are mentioned six times in Scripture—five times as <em>’ereb</em> and once as <em>ṩapṩāpâ</em> in <bibleref ref="Ezek.17.5">Ezekiel 17:5</bibleref>. The other references are <bibleref ref="Lev.23.40">Leviticus 23:40</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Job.40.22">Job 40:22</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Ps.137.2">Psalm 137:2</bibleref>; <bibleref ref="Isa.15.7">Isaiah 15:7</bibleref> and <bibleref ref="Isa.44.4">44:4</bibleref>. Perhaps the most famous of the texts comes from <bibleref ref="Ps.137.1-Ps.137.9">Psalm 137</bibleref> because of the folk song which made it famous, viz. “I’ll hang my harp on the weeping willow tree.”<br /><br />

The “green withs” with which Samson was bound (<bibleref ref="Judg.16.7">Judg 16:7</bibleref>) prob. came from willows, while the reference in <bibleref ref="Amos.6.14">Amos 6:14</bibleref> to “river of the wilderness” (KJV) may well have been “willow river” or, as Moffatt trs. it, “torrent of willows.”

Did the harps of <bibleref ref="Ps.137.1-Ps.137.9">Psalm 137</bibleref> hang on the willow known as <em>Salix babylonica?</em> Hence “by the waters of Babylon there I’ve sat down and wept” (<bibleref ref="Ps.137.1">Ps 137:1</bibleref>)—the seeming connection with the species and weeping. The writer has failed to prove that <em>babylonica</em> was ever found in Pal.—whereas botanists know over twenty other kinds of willows growing in that country.<br /><br />

A choice must be made between the following <em>Salixes—Salix alba, Salix acmophylla, Salix fragilis and Salix safsaf</em>, all of which grow well in Pal. esp. alongside the streams. The most probable species is <em>Salix safsaf,</em> because it resembles the Heb. word <em>ṩapṩāpâ.</em><br /><br />

Moffatt prefers the poplar when tr. “ereb” in <bibleref ref="Ps.137.2">Psalm 137:2</bibleref>. This is the <em>Populus euphratica.</em><br /><br />

<h2>International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)</h2>

Comparison with the Arabic cafcaf, "the willow," makes it very probable that thc translation of <bibleref ref="Ezek.17.5">Eze 17:5</bibleref> is correct.

Willow Tree