Hebrew word · H8558

תָּמָר

tamar

palm

The date palm. It grows tall and straight, stays green all year, needs water at its roots (so it marks an oasis or spring), and bears heavy crops of dates for many decades. Jericho was 'the city of palms' (Deuteronomy 34:3). Palm fronds were waved at the Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:40).

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

palm tree, date palm

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 92:12

Range of meaning

The date palm. It grows tall and straight, stays green all year, needs water at its roots (so it marks an oasis or spring), and bears heavy crops of dates for many decades. Jericho was 'the city of palms' (Deuteronomy 34:3). Palm fronds were waved at the Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:40). Palm figures were carved on the walls and doors of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:29–35) and in Ezekiel's temple vision (Ezekiel 40–41). Tamar was also a woman's name (Genesis 38; 2 Samuel 13), which suggests the tree stood for grace and beauty.

Against the English

'Palm tree' is accurate. A modern reader, though, may picture a coconut palm on a beach or an ornamental palm. The image here is a fruit tree, a source of food and a sign of water in dry land.

How it drifted

Not drift in the word itself, only a change in the mental picture. Modern sermons sometimes draw on traits like palms bending in hurricanes. Those come from modern botany, not from this psalm, which stresses fruit in old age (v. 14).

Used elsewhere in the period

The Arabic cognate tamr means 'dates' (the fruit). Date palms appear in Mesopotamian art and texts as a symbol of fertility and plenty. The Septuagint uses phoinix, and Latin readers took this to mean the phoenix bird (see textual notes).

From the study of Song of Songs 7:7

Range of meaning

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera). It grew mainly in the hot Jordan valley and oases: Jericho is 'the city of palm trees' (Deut 34:3), and there were palms at En-gedi and Elim (Exod 15:27). Palm branches were used at the Festival of Booths (Lev 23:40). Carved palm motifs decorated Solomon's temple (1 Kgs 6:29–35) and Ezekiel's visionary temple. It was also a personal name for women (Gen 38; 2 Sam 13:1; 14:27).

Against the English

'Palm tree' is accurate. English readers may picture a coconut palm or a decorative palm. The tree meant here is a fruit tree, the main source of dates and date syrup in the region.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 92:12 compares the flourishing righteous to a palm. Across the ancient Near East, stylised palms and 'sacred trees' were linked with fertility and abundance, and palm motifs appear beside female figures in Levantine art (discussed by Keel). Date palms bear fruit only when female trees are fertilised with pollen from male trees. In Mesopotamia this was done by hand from early times, and Herodotus (1.193) mentions the practice in Babylonia. Workers had to climb the trunk to reach the crown.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 15:27 תְּמָרִ֑ים palm trees

    Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.

    Here: "Palm trees," meaning date palms. They are a sure sign of lasting groundwater in the desert, and they give shade and food. To desert travellers, seventy of them meant a real, dependable oasis.

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 23:40 תְּמָרִ֔ים palm trees

    On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

    Here: 'Date palms.' This is the tall date palm of the Jordan valley and the oases (Jericho was 'the city of palms'). The tree stood for fertility, uprightness and victory.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 33:9 תְּמָרִ֖ים palm trees

    They set out from Marah and came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 8:15 תְמָרִ֔ים palm trees

    and that they should proclaim this message and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

    Here: Date palms. Their long fronds make good roofing. Palms are also named in Leviticus 23:40, the festival law behind this verse.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 92:12 כַּתָּמָ֣ר like <the> palm tree

    The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

    Here: 'Like the palm', the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), the fruit tree of oases and the Jordan valley. It is tall, evergreen and keeps bearing dates for decades. Verse 14 makes the fruit the point: 'they will still bear fruit in old age.'

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 7:7 לְתָמָ֔ר <to> a palm tree

    Your stature is like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of fruit.

    Here: 'To a palm tree.' This is the date palm: tall, slender, straight, with its crown and fruit high up. The picture is height, grace, fruitfulness and sweetness out of easy reach, which sets up 'I will climb the palm' in the next verse. Tamar was also a woman's name associated with beauty (2 Sam 13:1; 14:27).

  2. Song of Songs 7:8 בְתָמָ֔ר on [the] palm tree

    I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples,

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 1:12 תָּמָ֣ר [the] palm tree

    The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.

    Here: The date palm, a long-lived tree that copes well with heat and dry ground. Its failure suggests that the disaster has reached even a hardy tree, and it also meant the loss of dates and date syrup.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.