1 Kings 13:14

And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak [Heb. the oak; i.e; the well-known oak. Possibly there was but one, or one of great size, in the neighbourhood—such trees are comparatively rare in Palestine. Possibly also this tree became well known from these events. It is singular that in another place ( Genesis 35:8 ) we read of "the oak" ( אַלּוֹן ) of Bethel, whilst in 4:5 we read of the "palm tree" ( תֹּמֶר ) of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel ." And it is not at all improbable, seeing that in 1 Samuel 10:3 we read of the terebinth ( אֵלוֹן ) of Tabor— in the A.V. rendered " plain of Tabor"—which Ewald ("Hist. Israel," 1 Samuel 3:21 ; 1 Samuel 4:1-22 :31) considers to be only a dialectic variation of Deborah, and remembering the great age to which these trees attain, that the same tree is referred to throughout. The word here used, it is true, is אֵלָה (which is generally supposed to indicate the terebinth, but is also "used of any large tree" (Gesenius), and which, therefore, may be used of the אַלּוֹן of Bethel. Both names are derived from the same root ( אוּל fortis . Cf. Amos 2:9 ), and both indicate varieties— what varieties it is not quite clear—of the oak. Some expositors have seen in this brief rest the beginning of his sin, and certainly it would seem against the spirit of his instructions to remain so near a place (see note on 1 Samuel 10:16 ) from which he was to vanish speedily, and, if possible, unperceived. In any case the action betrays his fatigue and exhaustion], and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.