Balsam-Tree
The balsam-tree was one of the most celebrated and highly esteemed among the ancients. It is supposed to be referred to under the Hebrew names Basam and Baal-shemen, translated ‘spices,’ in Exo 35:28; 1Ki 10:10; Son 5:1; Son 5:13. It would appear, however, from ancient authors that the plant yielding balsam was never very common in Palestinein fact, that it was confined to one locality, where it was found only as a plant in cultivation, though it may have been, and probably was, introduced at a very early period. That it has long disappeared from thence is evident from the testimony of all travelers in Palestine. That it was a southern plant we may believe from its being cultivated in the warm southern valley of Jericho, and that it was introduced into that locality we have the testimony of Josephus, who says that it was brought thither by the Queen of Sheba.
The balsam-tree, or balm of Gilead tree, as it is also very generally called, is not a native of that region, nor indeed does it appear ever to have been cultivated there. The true balsam, we have seen, was cultivated near Jericho, and at a later age in Egypt. From that country it has been traced to Arabia.
The balsam-tree, having been described by various travelers, is now pretty well known. It forms a middle-sized tree with spreading branches and a smooth ash-colored bark, but which is no doubt rough in the older parts. The ultimate branches are short, and thorn-like, with small very short abortive branchlets, bearing at their extremities the leaves and flowers. The fruit is pointed, fleshy, with a viscid pulp.
Fig. 82Balsam
This species is now considered to be identical with the Amyris opobalsamum of Forskal, found by him in Arabia, in the neighborhood of the caravanserai of Oude, not far from Has, and the wounded bark of which yields opobalsamum, or balsam of Mecca. It is as highly esteemed by all Orientals in the present day as it was by the civilized nations of antiquity. Another species was discovered by Forskal, and called by him Amyris Kami. It is a tree with reddish-colored wood, and with branches rather spinous. The younger leaflets are described as being villous and acute, the old ones smooth, often obtuse; the berry compressed, with an elevated ridge on each side, the apex forming a black prominent point. The wood he describes as forming an article of considerable commerce, especially to Egypt, where water-vessels are impregnated with its smoke. It is probably the twigs of this species which are taken to India, and there sold under the name of aod-i balessan; that is, the wood of the balsam-tree. Carpobalsamum was probably only the fruit of one of these species. Opobalsamum, or juice of the balsam, is generally described as the finest kind, of a greenish color, and found in the kernel of the fruit. Carpobalsamum is said to have been made by the expression of the fruit when in maturity, and xylobalsamum, by the expression or decoction of the small new twigs, which are of a reddish color. But the ancients probably employed both the fruit and the wood for macerating in oil, which would extract the odor. The greatest quantity of balsam, and the best in quality, must in all times have been produced by an incision into the bark when the juice is in its strongest circulation, in July, August, and the beginning of September. It is then received into a small earthen bottle, and every day’s produce is poured into a larger, which is kept closely corked. The whole quantity collected is but small. When Sultan Selim conquered Egypt and Arabia in 1516, three pounds were ordered to be sent yearly as a tribute to Constantinople.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Balsam Tree
; in Arabic, abuscham, that is, father of scent, sweet-scented. According to Mr. Bruce, the balessan, balsam, or balm, is an evergreen shrub, or tree, which grows to about fourteen feet high, spontaneously and without culture in its native country, Azab, and all along the coast to Babelmandel. There were three kinds of balsam extracted from this tree. The first was called opobalsamum, and was most highly esteemed. It was that which flowed spontaneously, or by means of incision, from the trunk or branches of the tree in summer time. The second was carpobalsamum, made by expressing the fruit when in maturity. The third, and least esteemed of all, was hylobalsamum, made by a decoction of the buds and small young twigs. The great value set upon this drug in the east is traced to the earliest ages. The Ishmaelites, or Arabian carriers and merchants, trafficking with the Arabian commodities into Egypt, brought with them as a part of their cargo, Gen 37:25; Gen 43:11. Josephus, in the history of the antiquities of his country, says that a tree of this balsam was brought to Jerusalem by the queen of Saba, and given among other presents to Solomon, who, as we know from Scripture, was very studious of all sorts of plants, and skilful in the description and distinction of them. And here, indeed, it seems to have been cultivated and to have thriven; so that the place of its origin, through length of time, combined with other reasons, came to be forgotten. Notwithstanding the positive authority of Josephus, and the great probability that attends it, we cannot put it in competition with what we have been told in Scripture, as we have just now seen that the place where it grew, and was sold to merchants, was Gilead in Judea, more than 1730 years before Christ, or 1000 before the queen of Saba; so that in reading the verse, nothing can be plainer than that it had been transplanted into Judea, flourished, and had become an article of commerce in Gilead, long before the period he mentions. A company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt,
Gen 37:25. Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Tacitus, Justin, Solinus, and Serapion, speaking of its costliness and medicinal virtues, all say that this balsam came from Judea. The words of Pliny are, But to all other odours whatever, the balsam is preferred, produced in no other part but the land of Judea, and even there in two gardens only; both of them belonging to the king, one no more than twenty acres, the other still smaller. The whole valley of Jericho was once esteemed the most fruitful in Judea; and the obstinacy with which the Jews fought here to prevent the balsam trees from falling into the possession of the Romans, attests the importance which was attached to them. This tree Pliny describes as peculiar to the vale of Jericho, and as more like a vine than a myrtle. It was esteemed so precious a rarity, that both Pompey and Titus carried a specimen to Rome in triumph; and the balsam, owing to its scarcity, sold for double its weight in silver, till its high price led to the practice of adulteration. Justin makes it the chief source of the national wealth. He describes the country in which it grew, as a valley like a garden, environed with continual hills, and, as it were, enclosed with a wall. The space of the valley contains 200,000 acres, and is called Jericho. In that valley, there is wood as admirable for its fruitfulness as for its delight, for it is intermingled with palm trees and opobalsamum. The trees of the opobalsamum have a resemblance to fir trees; but they are lower, and are planted and husbanded after the manner of vines. On a set season of the year they sweat balsam. The darkness of the place is beside as wonderful as the fruitfulness of it; for although the sun shines no where hotter in the world, there is naturally a moderate and perpetual gloominess of the air. According to Mr. Buckingham, this description is most accurate. Both the heat and the gloominess, he says, were observed by us, though darkness would be an improper term to apply to this gloom.