Pomegranate

i.e., "grained apple" (pomum granatum), Heb. rimmon. Common in Egypt ( Numbers 20:5 ) and Palestine ( 13:23 ; Deuteronomy 8:8 ). The Romans called it Punicum malum, i.e., Carthaginian apple, because they received it from Carthage. It belongs to the myrtle family of trees. The withering of the pomegranate tree is mentioned among the judgments of God ( Joel 1:12 ). It is frequently mentioned in the Song of Solomon (Cant Joel 4:3 Joel 4:13 , etc.). The skirt of the high priest's blue robe and ephod was adorned with the representation of pomegranates, alternating with golden bells ( Exodus 28:33 Exodus 28:34 ), as also were the "chapiters upon the two pillars" ( 1 Kings 7:20 ) which "stood before the house."

The pomegranate tree, Punicu granatum , derives its name from the Latin pomum granatum , "grained apple." The Romans gave it the name of Punica, as the tree was introduced from Carthage. It belongs to the natural order Myrtaceae (Myrtle), being, however, rather a tall bush than a tree, The foliage is dark green, the flowers are crimson, the fruit, which is about the size of art orange, is red when which in Palestine is about the middle of October. It contains a quantity of juice. Mention is made in ( Solomon 8:2 ) of spiced wine of the juice of the pomegranate. The rind is used in the manufacture of morocco leather, and together with the bark is sometimes used medicinally. Mr. Royle (Kittos Cyc., art "Rimmon") states that this tree is a native of Asia and is to be traced from Syria through Persia, even to the mountains of northern India. The pomegranate was early cultivated in Egypt; hence the complaint of the Israelites in the wilderness of Zin, ( Numbers 20:5 ) this "is no place of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates." Carved figures of the pomegranate adorned the tops of the pillars in Solomons temple, ( 1 Kings 7:18 1 Kings 7:20 ) etc.; and worked representations of this fruit, in blue, purple and scarlet, ornamented the hem of the robe of the ephod. ( Exodus 28:33 Exodus 28:34 )

POMEGRANATE

pom'-gran-at, pom-gran'-at, pum'-gran-at (rimmon (tree and fruit); the Hebrew name is similar to the Arabic, Aramaic and Ethiopic; rhoa):

1. A Tree Characteristic of Palestine:

One of the most attractive and most characteristic of the fruit trees of Syria, probably indigenous to Persia, Afghanistan and the neighborhood of the Caucasus, but introduced to Palestine in very ancient times. The spies brought specimens of figs and pomegranates, along with grapes, from the Vale of Eshcol (Numbers 13:23). Vines, figs and pomegranates are mentioned (Numbers 20:5) as fruits the Israelites missed in the wilderness; the promised land was to be one "of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates" (Deuteronomy 8:8), a promise renewed in Haggai 2:19. In the lamentation in Joel 1:11,12 we have the pomegranate, the palm tree and the apple tree represented as withered, "for joy is withered away from the sons of men."

2. The Fruit:

The pomegranate tree, Punica granatum (Natural Order, Granateae) occurs usually as a shrub or small tree 10-15 ft. high, and is distinguished by its fresh green, oval leaves, which fall in winter, and its brilliant scarlet blossoms (compare Song of Solomon 7:12). The beauty of an orchard of pomegranates is referred to in Song of Solomon 4:13. The fruit which is ripe about September is apple-shaped, yellow-brown with a blush of red, and is surmounted by a crown-like hard calyx; on breaking the hard rind, the white or pinkish, translucent fruits are seen tightly packed together inside. The juicy seeds are sometimes sweet and sometimes somewhat acid, and need sugar for eating. The juice expressed from the seeds is made into a kind of syrup for flavoring drinks, and in ancient days was made into wine:

"I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice (margin "sweet wine") of my pomegranate" (Song of Solomon 8:2). The beauty of a cut section of pomegranate--or one burst open naturally, when fully ripe--may have given rise to the comparison in Song of Solomon 4:3; 6:7: "Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate." The rind of the pomegranate contains a very high percentage of tannic acid, and is employed both as a medicine and for tanning, particularly in making genuine morocco leather.

Whether the pomegranate tree in Migron under which Saul is said (1 Samuel 14:2) to have abode with his 600 men was really a tree or a place, Rimmon, is doubtful.

See RIMMON.

3. The Pomegranate in Art:

A large number of references to the pomegranate are to the use of the form of the fruit in ornamentation, in which respect it appears among the Hebrews to have something of the position of the lotus bud as a decorative motive in Egypt. It was embroidered in many colors on the skirts of Aaron's garments, together with golden bells (Exodus 28:33; 39:24-26 compare Ecclesiasticus 45:9). Hiram of Tyre introduced the pomegranate into his brass work ornamentation in the temple:

"So he made the pillars; and there were two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars" (margin "So the Syriac The Hebrew has `pomegranates'") (1 Kings 7:18). "And the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon the other capital" (1 Kings 7:20 compare also Ps 7:42; 2Ki 25:17; 2Ch 3:16; 4:13).

E. W. G. Masterman