FRUITS MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES. Part Three.

POMEGRANATE (Punica Granata) is native to the Southern Caspian belt (Iran) and North East Turkey, and has been cultivated for 5,000 years. The fruit was once known as the fruit of Carthage, hence the latin name 'Punica.'
The pomegranate was introduced into Egypt from Syria around 1600BC and reached Egypt though the inflow of Semitic people (Hyksos). It is widely used in jewish iconography and coins.
Skin color varies from bright red to leathery brown. It was long admired for its medicinal purposes.
- 1Kings 7:13-22 "King Solomon sent for a man named Huram who lived in Tyre and brought him to Jerusalem. Huram's mother was an Israelite from the tribe of Naphtali. His dead father was from Tyre. Huram made things from bronze. He was a very skilled and experienced builder. SoKing Solomon asked him to come, and Huram accepted. King Solomon put him in charge of all the bronze work, and Huram did all the work he was given to do. Huram made two bronze columns for the porch. Each column was 18 cubits tall and 12 cubits around. The columns were hollow and their metal walls were 3 inches thick. He also made two bronze capitals that were 5 cubits tall. He put these capitals on top of the two columns. Then he made two rows of bronze pomegranates. He put the bronze pomegranates on the nets of each column to cover the capitals at the top of the columns. The capitals on top of the columns were shaped like flowers. The capitals were on top of the columns, above the bowl-shaped net. There were 200 pomegranates in rows all around the capitals. Huram put these two bronze columns at the porch of the Temple. One column was put on the South side of the entrance and one was put on the North side of it. The column on the South was named Jakin. The column on the North was named Boaz. They put the flower-shaped capitals on top of the columns, and the work on the two columns was finished."
- Songs 8:1-2 "If you were a baby, like my little brother nursing at his mother's breast, and if I found you outside, I could kiss you, and no one would say it was wrong. I would lead you into my mother's house, to the room of she who taught me. I would give you spiced wine squeezed from my pomegranate."
ALMOND (Prunus Amydalus) grow wild throughout South West and Central Asia, from Turkey and Syria into the Caucasus and into the deserts of Tian-Shan and the Hindu Cush Mountains.
Based on the Scriptures, almonds were introductions into the Holy Land as early as 2000BC.
There are two principal types: sweet and bitter (amygdalin containing). Domestication involves selection of non-bitterness as a result of a single dominant gene and increased kernel size.
The famous sprouting rod of Aaron, mentioned in the Scripture in the Book of Numbers signifying that he and his descendants could be priests, was an almond.
Numbers 17: 1-8 "The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites. Get 12 wooden walking sticks from them. Get one from the leader of each of the 12 tribes. Write the name of each man on his walking stick. On the stick from Levi, write Aaron's name. The must be one stick for the head of each of the 12 tribes. Put these walking sticks in the Meeting Tent in front of the Box of the Agreement. This is the place where i meet with you. I will choose one man to be the true priest. You will know which man i choose because his walking stick will begin to grow new leaves. In this way I will stop the people from always complaining against you and Me... The next day Moses entered the Tent to witness; and, behold, the walking stick of Aaron for the House of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossom, and yielded almonds."
- Exodus 37:17-24 "Then he made the lamp stand. He used pure gold and hammered it to make the base and the shaft. Then he made flowers, buds, and petals, and joined everything together into one piece. The lamp stand had 6 branches -3 branches on one side and 3 branches on the other side. Each branch had 3 flowers on it. These flowers were made like almond flowers with buds and petals.
The shaft of the lamp stand had 4 more flowers. They were also made like almond flowers with buds and petals. There were 6 branches -3 branches coming out from each side of the shaft. And there was a flower with buds and petals below each of the 3 places where the branches joined the shaft.
The whole lamp stand, with the flowers and branches, was made from pure gold. Al this gold was hammered and joined together into one piece.
He made 7 lamps for this lamp stand. Then he made lamp snufflers and trays from pure gold. He used 75 pounds of pure gold to make the lamp stand and the things with it."