BOX-TREE. (Buxus sempervirens.) "I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and the box together." -Isaiah xli. 19. HE box-tree is the Buxus sempervirens of botanists. It is men THE tioned in the Bible under the Hebrew name of Teashur. The tree belongs to the class Monoecia, order Tetrandria, of the Linnean system, and to the natural order Euphorbiaceæ, or the Spurgewort family. The plants of this order have peculiar involucrate flowers, often without any perianth, and their fruit is usually composed of three carpels, which separate in an elastic manner when ripe. They abound in milky juice, which has in general acrid and poisonous qualities. Starch as well as oils and caoutchouc are procured from many of the species. Its The box is a native of most parts of Europe, and grows well in England, as at Boxhill, in Surrey. It is prized as an ornamental evergreen; and in a dwarf state is used for garden borders. wood, imported from the Levant, is used by the wood-engraver, the turner, the mathematical instrument maker, the comb and toy maker, and others. The wood is hard and durable, and was formerly used for tablets which were covered with wax and used for writing. The practice of inlaying the box-wood with ivory is noticed by ancient authors. Thus Virgil says: Aut collo decus, aut capiti; vel quale per artem Lucet ebur. Eneid x. 135. The prophet Isaiah refers to the box as one of the trees fitted to beautify the wilderness and the desert: "I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree [Acacia Seyal], the myrtle, and the oil-tree [olive-tree]; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together" (xli. 19). Again, in referring to the glory of the latter days, he speaks of the box as adorning the Lord's temple: "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pinetree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary (lx. 13). Royle says, "The box-tree, being a native of mountainous regions, was peculiarly adapted to the calcareous formations of Mount Lebanon, and therefore likely to be brought from thence with the coniferous woods for the building of the temple, and it was well suited to change the face of the desert." The prophet's prediction, however, seems to have reference to the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord (Isa. lxi. 3), and to bring before us the members of Christ's true Church, differing in many particulars, but all enjoying sweet communion, and worshipping the Lord together. The prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 6), when describing the commerce of Tyre, uses the word ashur, which, by most commentators, is supposed to be a contraction of teashur, or box. The translation of the passage should probably be-" Of the oaks of Bashan have they made their oars; the benches of the rowers have they made of ashur-wood (box-wood), inlaid with ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim" (the isles of Greece). Thus, in place of ashurites, as in our authorised version, the word ashur-wood ought to be substituted. It is conjectured that Corsica and Sardinia may have been included among the isles of Chittim whence box-wood was brought to Judea. |