Frowardness is used only in Pr 2" G" 10'-, rfDEnn, a word which is found only in the plu. and means lit. ' turnings about,' i.e. ' lines of action, or modes of speech, adopted for the sake of escaping un- pleasant realities, or evading the truth, perversions of truth or right ' — Driver on Dt 32-" ; see his note. 'I'lie word is tr'' by tlie adj. ' froward ' in Pr 8" (' tlie froward mouth,' lit. 'the rcouthof ev.asions') 10=' 10^; by 'very froward' in Dt 32'-"; and by 'froward things' in Pr 2'^ 16*'. Cf. Barlowe, Dialoge (Lunn's ed. p. 106), 'And no nieruell, thoughe Saull fared the worse for hys people, wher as Moyses the most faythfull seruaunte of god was partely by their frowardnes debarred fro the pleasaunl lande of behest.'
J. HA.STINGS.
FRUIT. — Palestine is always described as a fruitful land (Ps 107", Is 5'). The number of ' kindly fruits of the earth ' produced here is very large. The great diversity of climate makes possible the cultivation of plants from almost every quarter of the globe. TLe following list of the products of the soil may be taken as an index, not exhiiustive but illustrative of the capabilities of this ' land of promise ' : — Fitches (Is •28-'^- -'), opium poppv, mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, cress, radisli, flax, sorrel, rue, vine, Indian fig, jujube, lemon, orange, citron, lupine, beans, horsebeans, peas, lentils, chick peas, mash (Vir/nn Nilotica, L.), carob, strawberry, black berry, peach, plum, .almond, apricot, nectarine, apple, quince, medlar, Phoiinia Japonica, hawthorn, pomegranate, myrtle, wst«r- melon, cantelope, squash, pumpkin, cuciunber, coriander, dill, fennel, caraway, anise, celery, parsley, parsnip, carrot, carthr.mus (bastard safi'roajk
chicory, lettuce, artichokes, potato, tobacco, tomato, eggplant, henbane, nightshude, castor oil, sesame, olive, fig, sycomore, mulberry, hemp, walnut, edible pine, satiron, banana, date, colocasia, maize, wheat, barley, sorghum, sugar cane. G. E. POST.
FRUIT. — The figurative, and indeed all the literal uses of the word ' fruit,' except the primary one of the fruit of fruit-bearing trees, are sug- gested by the Hebrew idioms, and belong to what may be called biblical English. Thus it is used of the general products of the earth, Ex 23'° 'And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof (nNsnri, RV 'increase'). It is also used of the offspring of animals, including man, as Ps 127' ' Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord : and the fruit of the womb is his reward' (n?, the common word for 'fruit'). In this sense notice La 2^ ' Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long ? ' ("!?).
It has been maintained (Psahns Chran. Arranged, pp. 150, 446) tli.at ' fniit' in Ps 7216 has this meaning in AV, 'Tliere shall be an handful of com in the earth upon the top of the moun- tains ; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon ' ('")?)■ This might be true of Wyclif's tm (13S8), ' Stidefastnesse schal be in the erthe, in the higheste places of mounteyns ; the fruyt therof schal be enhaunsid aboue the Liban * ; and more con- fidently of Coverdale's, ' There shalbe an heape of corne in the earth hye vpon the hilles, his frute shal shake like Libanus,' though the 'his' probably refers to 'com.* But the Geneva trn is 'An handful of come shalbe sowen in the earth, euen in the top of the mountaines, and the frute thereof shal shake like the trees of Lebanon : and the children shal tlorish out of the citie like the grasse of the earth,' with the marg. note, * Vnder suche a King shalbe moste great plentie, bothe of frute and also of the increase of mankinde.' And there is little doubt that AV followed the Gen. Bible here.
Whether in the Heb. ' fruit ' refers to the fruit of the earth or of the King's body is another matter. Ewald takes it to be the King's offspring, his posterity, as in Ps 21^0 ; so also Burgess, 'Let His fruit be abundant, on the top of the hills, like (the cedars of) Lebanon,' who compares Ps 921'- and Hos 145. Cheyne refers the 'fruit' to the people, 'Slay abundance of corii be in the land, upon the top of the mountains may it wave : [and the people] — like Lebanon be its fruit.'
Figuratively four meanings are found : 1. The product of effort, as Pr 3P' ' Give her of the fruit of her hands ' ("i?) ; Ro 1" ' I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles' (».-a/)7r6s). 2. Benefit, profit, Jn 4^'' ' And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and g.atlier- eth fruit unto life eternal' {Kapir6$, cf. Eng. 'har- vest,' the same word philologically). Ro 6-' 'What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?' (Kapiros). 3. By a stronglj' idiom- atic Heb. phrase, 'The fruit of the lip,' that is, praise, Is 57'* 'I create the fruit of the lips' (3i:, cf. vb. in Pr 10^'), an idiom that was accepted into bibl. Gr., He 13" 'By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name' {xaprds from LXX of Hos 14- P), 'IS for c-i?). 4. Of moral consequences of action, 18 3'° ' the fruit of their doings,' cf. Jer \V 2V* etc. Tliis diliers from (1), for it is often undesigned, and from ^2), for it is often used of punishment.