ETZ-GOPHER (1 eta-golher) is men tioned only once in Scripture, as the material of which Noah was directed to build the ark (Gen. vi, 14), Make thee an ark of gopher wood ; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch' (khemar, probably `bitumen'). In endeavouring to ascertain the par ticular kind of wood which is mentioned in the above passage, we can get assistance only from the name, the country where the wood was supposed to have been procured, or the traditional opinions respecting it. That nothing very satisfactory has been ascertained is evident from the various in terpretations that have been given of this word, so that some have preferred, as in our A. V., to retain the original Hebrew. The Septuagint renders it squared timbers,' and Jerome, in the Vulgate, renders it planed wood' and pitched wood.' Some have adopted the opinion that a kind of pine-tree is intended ; and others that several species may be included, as they all yield resin, tar, and pitch. The Persian translator has also adopted the pine ; but Celsius objects that it was never common in Assyria and Babylonia. The Chaldee version and others give the cedar, because it was always plentiful in Asia, and was distin guished by the incorruptible nature of its wood. But cedar is a very general term, and correctly ap plied, as we have seen [ERES], only to different kinds of juniper. These, though yielding excel lent wood, remarkable for its fragrance, never grow to a large size in any warm country. Euty chius, patriarch of Alexandria, relates in his Annals (p. 34), as quoted by Celsius (Hierobot. i. p. 331), that the ark was made of a wood called sag or saj 1.6.31 . The sag or saj has been thought by some to be ebony, but apparently with out any foundation. Still less is there any likeli hood of its being a shrub like juniper= sabina, as indicated in a note by Rosenmtiller, Eng. transl. p. 261. It is curious, as already alluded to in the Essay on the Antiquity of Hineloo Medicine, as mentioned by Forskal, that the woods imported from India into Arabia are saj, abnoos (ebony), and sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo). Some Persian writers on Materia Medica consider saj to be the sal (shorea ro busta), another valued and much used Indian timber tree, but common only along the foot of the Hima layan mountains. The teak is the best known and the most highly valued timber tree on the Mala bar coast, and it has long been imported into Arabia, and also into Egypt. One of the names by which it is known in India is sagoon. The saj is described in some Persian works, chiefly transla tions from the Arabic, as having large leaves like elephants' ears. This applies well to the leaves of the teak tree • and there is little doubt, therefore, that the saj of Arab authors is the teak tree. With
respect to its being the gopher wood, the• present writer has already remarked in the above work : The gopher wood of Scripture is so differently translated by different commentators, that it is difficult to form even a conjecture on the subject ; besides being used at so early a period, and men tioned only once. It need not have been alluded to, except that the Arabic version translates it saj, which is the teak, and not likely to have been the wood employed-' The Chaldee Samaritan trans lator, for gopher, gives, as a synonym, sisam, of which Celsius says (Hierobot. i. p. 332), Vocem obscuram, sive referas ad Etaa /Twat/A/Pa, gum ex Indiis adferri scribit Arrianus (Peripl. Mar. Erythr. p. 562), et Ebeno similia perhibent alii (Salmas. in Solin. p. 727).' The sisam is proba bly the above =sop, mentioned by Forskal as im ported in his time into Arabia, and which is a highly-valued,, dark-coloured wood, of which one kind is called blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia). The greatest number of writers have been of opinion that by the gopher wood we are to understand the cypress; and this opinion is supported by such autho rities as Fuller in his Miscell. Sac. iv. 5Bochart (Geogr. Sacra, i. 4); as well as by Celsiu4Hienzhat. i. p. 328). It has been stated that the letters Band ph, k and A differ only in the soft or hard manner in which they are pronounced, and therefore that gopher and kupar differ very little in sound, and that urcos in the Greek lanrcipecrcros is a mere addi tion to the root. It is argued, further, that the wood of the cyprus, being almost incorruptible, was likely to be preferred ; that it was frequently employed in later ages in the construction of tem ples, bridges, and even ships ; and that it was very abundant in the countries where, according to these authors, the ark is supposed to have been built, that is, in Assyria, where other woods are scarce. But wherever the ark was built, there would be no deficiency of timber if there was a cer tain degree of moisture with warmth of climate ; and we know not what change of climate may have taken place at the Deluge. The pine tribe, in cluding the cyprus, appears as likely as any other to have been employed, usually growing as they do in extensive forests, and yielding straight and easily worked timber, calculated, from its resinous nature, effectually to resist moisture, especially if covered with pitch and tar, which might easily have been prepared from the refuse branches and timber, and used as well as the natural bitumen. But the whole of these suggestions amount only to conjectures, and there seems no possibility of arriv ing at a satisfactory conclusion.—J. F. R.