What is the significance of acacia wood in the Bible?

There are certain characteristics about the acacia tree which made it particularly suitable as a type of our Lord upon earth. It is the tree of the desert, as we have seen; and there are many varieties, which might suggest the varied characteristics of our blessed Lord. One yields a gum which has a healing effect; from another is obtained a tonic medicine; the leaves of another are peculiarly sensitive to outward influences; and the wood, by its durability, particularly points to the incorruptibility of His humanity. Upon this last we must dwell in some detail, for it is the prominent material, not only in the framework of the tabernacle, but in all its furniture, except the laver and the candlestick.

Christ is the substance of all these shadows, and in the ark we have surely Christ. The acacia-wood as the wood of the desert, — the only timber-tree in it — speaks of Him as the "root out of a dry ground," as which He grew up before God (Isa. 53:2), precious and durable, the type of victory over surrounding circumstances — of life conquering death. Such was Christ in His humanity; His divine glory is intimated by the gold which covered it, yet was distinct from it, as His deity was distinct from His humanity. The rings are of gold, in which the staves were to remain constantly; for divine love makes Him ever a pilgrim with His pilgrim-people.

Shittim wood, they say, was a kind of acacia, and figurative, in general, of the human side of things, as gold was of the divine. For when you have a covenant in the law, man is brought in; but the covering was of gold only, and this was divine alone.

"The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us" (John 1:14). Those who have studied the symbolism of the tabernacle know how rich it is in setting forth the perfections and beauties of our Lord Jesus Christ. The boards of acacia, wood covered with gold, and the different articles in the holy places made of the same materials, show our Lord in His incorruptible humanity, overlaid with His divine glory. We might say it is God's appreciation of His beloved Son who has taken the form of a servant. So, acacia wood, speaking of His humanity, gives the form to everything. This is all overlaid with gold: the form of man, the display of God.

In the Court were the Brazen Altar and the Laver. The Altar would remind us that the will of God, now so fully revealed to us, could only be established on the basis of sacrifice. The acacia wood (or shittim wood) of which it was made speaks of the holy Manhood of Christ; its being overlaid with brass would signify His ability to endure every test and phase of suffering, including the judgment of a holy God against sin, in order that God's will might be fully secured and manifested. Primarily it is the Altar of burnt-offering — in which offering is seen the unswerving devotion of Christ to the will of God, and the securing of His eternal pleasure and joy by His obedience even to death.

Acacia wood is from a hardwood desert tree, speaking of the enduring humanity of the Lord Jesus as “a root out of a dry ground” (Isa. 53:2). Oil for the light is typical of the Holy Spirit. Spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense are the varied fragrances of the Lord Jesus united with the energy of the Holy Spirit (v. 6). Onyx stones and other precious stones to adorn the special dress of the high priest symbolize the bright reflections of the many beauties of the Lord Jesus.

The consideration of the materials used in the construction of the ark cannot fail to be of the deepest interest to every true child of God, since in its typical significance it speaks, on the one hand, of the manifestation of God in Christ, and on the other of God's throne and government in Israel. The first material mentioned is shittim or acacia-wood, a wood considered by reliable authority to be imperishable or incorruptible. If this is so, it provides a most appropriate type of the true humanity of our blessed Lord, for His was a holy and incorruptible humanity as conceived by the Holy Spirit, as it is written, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

"The acacia wood is said to have great power of resisting the inroads of corruption and decay; so the humanity of the Lord Jesus was free from the slightest taint of moral evil, and his body was preserved from all taint, even of external corruption."

But there is peculiar appropriateness in the choice of the shittim wood for the tabernacle boards, rather than the cedar or olive. These latter two were used in the construction of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:15, 31-33), which prefigured millennial glory and the habitation of God among the restored nation, the very time referred to in the passage we have quoted. Perhaps the myrtle, used in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh. 8:15), may have been significant for its fragrance and foliage. The acacia, or shittim, however, was the only tree which grew in the desert — the only one practically available for the purpose intended — a habitation in the desert, made of the wood of the desert.

This is generally understood to be the Acacia, which is adopted in the R.V. There are several varieties which grow in Egypt and Palestine, the Acacia seyal being the most common. They differ from the acacias known in England, which are from North America. The wood was extensively used in building the tabernacle, and the ark, the table of showbread, and the altars were also made of the same. Ex. 25 — Ex. 38; Deut. 10:3. It is called the SHITTAH TREE (after the Hebrew, which is shittah in the singular) in Isa. 41:19. The 'burning bush' (Heb. seneh), has been considered to be the wild acacia, A. nilotica. Livingstone judged that for the tabernacle the A. giraffa (Camel-thorn) was used, which he calls an 'imperishable' wood.