Citron

The Mosaic instructions for celebrating the Festival of Shelters mentioned in Leviticus 23:40 include the Hebrew words ‘ets hadar, often translated as “goodly tree.” The word hadar, however, could be the name of a specific tree (note the similarity to “cedar” in English and cedro in Italian). Some botanists (Moldenke and Goor, for example) hold that the Citron Citrus medica (now called etrog in modern Hebrew) was introduced into the Middle East in ancient times. Excavations in Mesopotamia have revealed citron seeds going back to 4000 B.C., and a Jewish coin made in 136 B.C. shows a picture of the citron on one side. Some say that Nehemiah and others brought the tree to Israel from Babylonia on their return from exile. Nehemiah’s instructions for celebrating the Festival of Shelters (Nehemiah 8:15) only mention going out “to the hills” to collect various branches for the construction. He doesn’t mention fruit. So probably ‘ets hadar is a generic phrase. No English version that I know of uses “citron” in Leviticus. NLT, however, uses “citrus trees” (with a footnote saying “or ‘majestic trees’”), and NJPSV transliterates, saying “hadar trees.” Many commentators, such as Keil and Delitzsch, believe that the phrase does not refer to a specific tree but is a generic expression introducing the others in the list. Both Zohary and Hepper likewise cast some doubt on the interpretation of hadar as citron, but both include it in their discussion as possible, in deference to Jewish tradition.