Shittah, Shittim

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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(thorny). (1) An Asiatic tree, a species of acacia, producing a close-grained, yellowish wood used in making the sacred furniture of the tabernacle (Ex. 25:10-13; 26:15,26; 27:1; Isa. 41:19). (2) Last encampment of the Israelites before crossing the Jordan. Scene of the completion of the law and farewell of Moses (Num. 25; 31:1-12; Josh. 2:1; 3:1). The spies were sent out from Shittim to Jericho, and there the final preparations were made for crossing the Jordan. It was also called Abel-shittim, “meadow of acacias,” and was the well-watered, fertile plain stretching from the foot of the mountains of Moab to the banks of the Jordan. (3) “Valley of Shittim” (Joel 3:18), is doubtless same as Shittim (2), which was also known as Abel-shittim.