RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
G-rotius
Groves and Trees
With a view to taking orders he studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where he associated with John Nelson Darby and other early Plymouth Brethren (see Darby, John Nelson; and Plymouth Brethren). His proposal in 1828 that Christians meet together in brotherhood, with no other tenets than faith in Christ, entitles him to be regarded as one of the founders of this sect. In 1829 he went as an independent missionary to Bagdad, whence he proceeded to Bombay in Apr., 1833. With the exception of two visits to England to secure recruits for the missionary cause, he spent the next nineteen years in effective missionary work in India. Of interest are his Journal During a Journey
from London to Bagdad (London, 1831); and his Journal of a Residence at Bagdad During the Years 1830 and 1831 (1832).
Bibliography: Memoir and Correspondence of A. N. Groves, by his widow, London, 1855; W. B. Neatby, Hist, of the Plymouth Brethren, ib. 1902; DNB, xxii. 299-300.
GROVES AND TREES, SACRED : In all stages
of religious development the use of groves as places of worship is attested. These groves were not the result of deliberate choice, but marked the locality in which some superhuman being was supposed to be or to have been manifest. It is most probable that sacred groves in populated regions and in historical times were survivals of parts of the early forest around the spot where a divinity had revealed itself, since the area thus honored was protected by taboo (see Comparative Religion, VI., 1, c). It often happened, however, that these groves were in part the result of man's assistance of nature, that trees were planted and carefully reared and protected, as in the case of the great sacred park at Antioch; but where this was the case it was always because tradition, generally a very ancient one, regarded the place as hallowed by some supposed theophany or like manifestation. Not seldom the tradition suggests the actual divinity of the grove itself or of some individual tree in it (as when a part of the sacred oak was built into the Argo in the expedition of the Golden Fleece). The progress in the development of regard for a sacred grove may be stated in this way: in the animistic period the tree itself was divine and gave omens or warnings, in a later period the tree was the home of a spirit or deity, while still later a deity used the tree to indicate his will.
Among the Semites the tree cult was indigenous, so that the Hebrews on coming into Canaan found the practise established. The Semites regarded certain trees as connected with the fructifying powers of nature, and in many cases with female deities — and this is doubtless one cause of the severe denunciations of the prophets of Israel (see below). So the moon was brought into this connection, especially as giving moisture in the shape of dew (see Asherah; Ashtoreth; and Moon); and in the Astarte-Aphrodite circle of cult, the cypress, myrtle, palm, and pomegranate were sacred to this deity. But a large portion of the great region inhabited by the Semites is characterized by a scarcity of tree growth. As a consequence, among Semites it is much more common to hear of the sacred tree than of the grove. Hence the passages in the Old Tes-
tament where the A. V. speaks of groves the R.V. either changes the translation or, where proper, correctly transcribes the Hebrew original "Asherah" (see Asherah).
Aside from the Asherah, which was probably a survival of tree-worship (cf. G. A. Barton, Semitic Origins, pp. 87 sqq., New York, 1902), the traces of a tree cult in the Old Testament are quite numerous. Abraham built an altar to Yahweh at "the tree of the seer" (Gen. xii. 6-7, Hebr. 'elon moreh, A.V. "plain of Moreh," R.V- "oak of Moreh," margin, "terebinth"; cf. Judges iv. 5, according to which Deborah dwelt under "the palm-tree of Deborah"). Moreover, Abraham took up his residence, built an altar, and witnessed a theophany by the terebinths of Mamre (Gen. xiii. 18, xiv. 13, xviii. 1, Hebr. 'elonim, Septuagint tei drui, A.V. "plain," R.V. "oaks," margin "terebinths"). He planted a tamarisk (Hebr. 'eshel, A.V. "grove") at Beersheba and "called there on the name of Yahweh" (Gen. xxi. 33), and this place was held sacred by Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 25) and by Jacob (xlvi. 1), and apparently by Joshua, who set up the stone of witness "under the oak (Hebr. 'allah) that was by (in) the sanctuary" at Shechem (Josh. xxiv. 26); but cf. Judges ix. 6, where the terebinth (Hebr. 'elon) seems to have been sacred to Baal-berith, while in Judges ix. 37 it is called (R.V margin) "the augurs' terebinth," and note II Sam. v. 24, where the signal for marching is given by rustling in the mulberry-trees. Jacob buried the rejected idols under the terebinth (Hebr. 'elah) which was by Shechem; Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried beneath "the oak of weeping" below Bethel (Gen. xxxv. 8), and the ashes of Saul and his sons were buried under the tamarisk in Jabesh (I Sam. xxxi. 13). The theophany of Ex. hi. 2 is connected with a bush. Gideon witnessed a theophany under the terebinth at Ophrah (Judges vi. 11 sqq.) and built an altar there. Possibly Saul's place of encampment under "the pomegranate" (I Sam. xiv. 2) and his place of judgment under the tamarisk on the height (I Sam. xxii. 6; cf. Judges iv. 5 sqq.) were sacred spots. The "green tree" as a place of idolatry is noted in I Kings xiv. 23; II Kings xvi. 4; II Chron. xxviii. 4. In later times, just as the worship at the high places and at the numerous altars came under the ban of the prophets, though these altars seem to have existed with the approval of earlier prophets (cf. I Kings xix. 14, "altars" in the plural), so this worship under "oaks, poplars, and terebinths" was regarded as sinful (Hos. iv. 13; cf. Isa. i. 29, lvii. 5, lxv. 3, lxvi. 17; Deut. xii. 2; Jer. ii. 20, xvii. 2). Ezek. vi. 13 (cf. xx. 28) is quite decisive of the trees as places where idolatry was practised. Barton (ut sup., p. 90) thinks that the story of Judah and Tamar (Gen. xxxviii.; note that Hebr. tamar means "palm") indicates that a palm clan was incorporated into the tribe of Judah, the palm in this case being a totem (cf. the place name Baal-tamar, Judges xx. 33). The same authority sees sanctity in the mention (Ex. xv. 27) of seventy palm-trees and twelve springs (possibly a combination of sacred trees and springs). It is not unlikely that Jericho, the city of palm-trees (Deut. xxxiv. 3; Judges i. 16, iii. 13),
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