Apples (n^Dn tiippiin/i, LXX n^Xov), mentioned in Ca2^'>7«8», Prt>5", Jl 1'^ cannot be the fruit to which we give this name, as it does not grow freely in Palestine, of which country it is not a native (see H. C. Hart, PEFSt, 188.">, isS). Thomson says that he has seen it growing luxuriantly (i. 17'2), but Tristram believes that he has mistaken the tree I.N.U. of ISiUe, 334). Robertson Smith, on philological grounds, has defended the claims of the common apple (Pt/rus jnnliis) to be identified with the tnp/ji'iah, but its scarcity renders this verj' improbable {Jounwd of Philologi/, xiii. 1885, p. 65). Kitto believed it to be the citron, which now grows freely in Palestine, and is described in Jos. (.In*. XIII. xiii. § 5) as one of the trees whose boiiglis were used at the feast of Tabernacles; but the citron is a native of N. India and China, and was iirohalily of late introduction. Tristram has claimed the apricot as the apple of Canticles. It is a very widely cultivated tree, but is a native of Armenia (hence called by Dioscorides ^^Xoi- 'ApfitviaKoy, IIP i. 160), and is probably also a late import. The characteristics suggested by the texts are — (1) a shadj' tree, (2) with golden coloured fruit, (3) which is fragi'ant, (4) and pleasant to taste, (5) and which is the symbol of love. All tlie.se conditions are fulfdled by the quince. The tree is not very large, but it is one under whose shade one could sit or lie, as in the texts, and it is as suitable for this purpose as the vine or fig tree. Its fruit is extremely fragrant, and some varieties might be c.al'.ed golden by contrast if gathered in a silver liligree basket (Vr 25"). It is pre-eminently the fruit of love (see the mass of eWdence on this gathered in Celsius' Hicro- hotnnicon, i. 2.")5 If. ). The quince is called ixfiXov without anj- adjective by some of the Greek authors (see, however, II. ix. 542, where t\\& iifjXov tree is called tall), and is the first of the apples described by Pliny (xxiii. 6). In the light of the description in the passage in Ca 8° the weight of evidence is in favour of regarding this tree as the quince, which, though unpleasing to the taste of most Europeans, is yet eaten with relish by many in the East, and esteemed most wholesome. Athenaeus says that full ripe quinces are better food than any other kind of apple (Deipnos, iii. 20). For a discussion on the nature of the tapjniah, see Houghton, PSBA, 1889, 42. The quince has a special name in the Talmud, parish (see Kelaim, 1. 4), and in Arabic, which forms the basis of Robertson Smith's argument ; but in Jerus. Tal- mud, according to Abu'l Walid, parishim means asparagus; see Guisius, in. loco, CIdlaim (I. iii.). A common tradition identifies the quince with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Dates, the fruit or the date-palm, Phir.nix dacty- Hfern, though given in the AVm 2 Ch 31' as a possible translation of eyi debnsh (elsewhere rendered 'honey'), are not otherwise mentioned in the Bible. This is remarkable considering how frequently palms are referred to, and it has been supjiosed that the word honey in the phrase so often used in the Pentateuch descriptive of Pales- tine may refer to dibs or date-honey made by boiling down the fruit. This sweetmeat was made in Babj'lonia where palms abounded (Herodotus, i. 193), and was also made at Jericho (Jos. BJlv. viii.
§ 3). LX.\ translates l"p in 2 S 16' (pohiKct, ' dates, and the palm is put niiiong the fruit trees in Jl 1'-. As a cultivated tree the palm is little grown now in Palestine west of the Jordan. In Egypt the date-palm was called lini and bd, and dates benrd. In Assyria the date-palm wan ffisimmaru, and date- honey dispu. According to Doughty (i. 14S), there is no worse food than the date, and he reports the Arabs as saying that when the date is eaten alone human nature decays. For references to the palic in classical and Oriental literature, see Celsius, HiRrobot. ii. 445 ff.
Figs (ijKa ti'cndh, LXX ami)), the fruit of Ficua cnrica, next to the grape the most highly prized of all the fruits of Bible lands, and 53 times mentioned in the Bible. Mohammed says of it that if any fruit has really come from Paradise it must have been the fig. Botanically speaking, what is called the fruit is the soft fleshy receptacle within which are the flowers and later the grain-like, hard, dry achenes. Hence the ancient authors speak of the fig tree as bearing fruit without flowers (Macrobius, Saturnrdia, ii. 16) ; but as the fig itself is the inflor- escence, the language of Hab 3'' is strictly correct. The buds or young figs appear before the leaves, hence a fig tree in full leaf should have its fruit developed. The precocious tree of Mt 21" and Mk 11" was therefore unnaturally barren. The fig tree bears every year (Thomson, ii. 101), but the Rabbinists speak of a variety called benoth shuah, which only brings forth fruit each third ye.ar (Maimon. Demai, i. 1, and Bartenora in Shebiith, V. V. 1), and it has been supposed that this is referred to in Mk 11". The manuring of such an unpromising tree is alluded to by Cato, as in the parable, Lk 13«.