Shittim - UPDV Updated Bible Version

The name Shittim covers two related things in scripture: a place on the east bank of the Jordan where Israel encamped before crossing into Canaan, and the desert tree (also called shittah, rendered "acacia" in UPDV) whose wood was used throughout the tabernacle. Both senses cluster around the wilderness years — Israel's last camp before entering the land, and the timber God specified for the ark, the boards, the poles, and the altar.

A Camping Place in the Plains of Moab

Israel's final station before the Jordan crossing lay on the east side of the river, in the plains of Moab opposite Jericho. The itinerary in Numbers names this last camp Abel-shittim: "And they encamped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even to Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab" (Num 33:49).

It was here that the people first dwelt under the name Shittim, and here that they fell into the apostasy at Peor: "And Israel dwelt in Shittim; and the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab" (Num 25:1). Centuries later, Micah pairs this site with the next stop on the western side of the Jordan to mark the whole arc of the conquest: "O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; [remember] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you⁺ may know the righteous acts of Yahweh" (Mic 6:5).

Joshua's Spies Sent from Shittim

The same camp at Shittim is the staging point for the reconnaissance of Jericho. Before any tribe crossed the Jordan, two men were sent forward from this place: "And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, Go, view the land, and Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a whore whose name was Rahab, and lay there" (Jos 2:1).

The Valley of Shittim

Joel reaches back to the same name when he describes the eschatological river that will flow out from the temple: "And it will come to pass in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim" (Joel 3:18). The dry plain east of the Jordan, once Israel's camp, becomes the destination of the temple's living water.

The Shittah Tree, Planted in the Wilderness

The second sense of shittim in scripture is the tree itself — the desert acacia whose hard, fragrant wood was the staple timber of the tabernacle. Isaiah lists it among the trees Yahweh promises to set in the wilderness for his people: "I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together" (Isa 41:19).

Acacia Wood in the Tabernacle

The construction inventories in Exodus open with the raw materials, acacia wood among them: "and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood" (Ex 25:5). From that timber Israel built nearly every framed and overlaid object in the sanctuary.

The ark itself: "And they will make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half will be its length, and a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height" (Ex 25:10). Its carrying-poles: "And you will make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold" (Ex 25:13).

The framework of the tent — boards, bars, and pillars — was likewise of acacia: "And you will make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up" (Ex 26:15); "And you will make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle" (Ex 26:26); "And you will hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold; their hooks [will be] of gold, on four sockets of silver" (Ex 26:32). Even the screen for the doorway rested on acacia uprights: "And you will make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold: their hooks will be of gold: and you will cast five sockets of bronze for them" (Ex 26:37).

The same wood went into the table for the bread of the presence and the altar of incense: "And he made the table of acacia wood: two cubits was its length, and a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height" (Ex 37:10); "And you will make an altar to burn incense on: of acacia wood you will make it" (Ex 30:1). The execution-account in chapter thirty-six confirms the build: "And he made the boards for the tabernacle, of acacia wood, standing up" (Ex 36:20). And again of the ark itself: "And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the width of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it" (Ex 37:1).

The Altar of Burnt-Offering

Outside the tent, in the courtyard, the altar where the offerings were consumed was of the same timber, overlaid for the harder service in bronze rather than gold: "And he made the altar of burnt-offering of acacia wood: five cubits was its length, and five cubits its width, foursquare; and three cubits its height" (Ex 38:1). Its carrying-poles followed the pattern of the ark's: "And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze" (Ex 38:6).