Lign-Aloe

The lign-aloe is a tree named once in Balaam's oracle as an image of Israel's flourishing under Yahweh's planting.

In Balaam's oracle

Looking out over Israel encamped tribe by tribe, Balaam describes the people through a sequence of images drawn from well-watered land: "As valleys are they spread forth, As gardens by the riverside, As lign-aloes which [the Speech of] Yahweh has planted, As cedar-trees beside the waters" (Num 24:6). The lign-aloe stands in the same series as garden, valley, and cedar — a tree of cultivated abundance, planted by Yahweh's own hand.