📖 Biblical Definition
Acacia is the wood of the tabernacle — overlaid with gold for the Ark, the altar of incense, the bread table, the acacia poles by which all was carried through the wilderness (Ex 25-27). Scripture's choice of this humble desert tree for God's holiest furniture is a theological statement: God indwells the common and makes it glorious. Acacia stood through heat and drought; it would not warp or rot; its thorns gave no predator easy access. Overlaid with gold, the ordinary shittim became the throne of the Shekinah. Isaiah's restoration prophecy lists "the acacia" among the trees God will plant in the desert "that they may see and know... that the hand of the LORD has done this" (Isa 41:19-20).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
A-CA'CIA, n.
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A-CA'CIA, n. [Gr. akakia; L. acacia.] A genus of plants of many species; the most noted is the shittah-tree of Scripture (Acacia seyal and related), a thorny tree of the Arabian desert, whose hard, durable, close-grained wood was used for the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, the table of showbread, and the boards and bars of the Tabernacle. Overlaid with gold within and without, the despised desert-wood became the vessel of the Presence of the Most High.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 25:10 — "They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length."
Exodus 25:23 — "You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length."
Isaiah 41:19 — "I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress."
Exodus 26:15 — "You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Acacia is a dusty, thorn-bearing desert tree — exactly the kind of material God delights to overlay with gold and make His dwelling-place.
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Of all the trees God could have chosen for the tabernacle, He picked the thorny shittim of the wilderness — not the glamorous cedar of Lebanon, not the precious sandalwood. The acacia is a sermon about how God works: ordinary, despised, resilient material, taken up and overlaid with gold, becomes the throne of the Shekinah. Every Christian is shittim-wood: unimpressive in the wilderness, riddled with thorns, chosen nonetheless, overlaid with the imputed righteousness of Christ (the gold), and ultimately the carrier of the Presence. Do not despise humble material in yourself or in others. God still picks the desert tree for His ark.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H7848 — shittah (שִׁטָּה) — acacia tree.
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H7848 — shittah (שִׁטָּה) — acacia tree; plural shittim, the wood of the tabernacle furniture.
Usage
"God builds His ark of desert thorn-wood and plates it in gold. Do not despise the material He chose; you are it."
"Shittim in the wilderness is sermon: the humble, thorny, despised wood becomes the throne of the Presence when the gold is applied."