POMEGRANATE
(Heb.: “rimmon”).
The pomegranate tree is a shrub with oblong leaves, with bright red flowers.
It is found in the wild in North Africa and Western Asia.
It is named with the vine and the fig tree as one of the products of Canaan (Num. 13:23).
They were represented, alternating with bells, on the hem of the high priest’s vestment (Ex. 28:33, 34; 39:24-26) as a type of fertility, and were also represented on the capitals of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 7:18, 20, 42).
The wife’s cheeks are compared to “pomegranate pods” (Song 4:3; 6:7).
An aromatic wine was made from its juice (Song 8:2). Cp. Deut. 8:8; Cnt. 4:13; 6:11; 7:12; JI. 1:12; Hagg. 2:19.
It is the “Punica granatum”, which continues to grow in the Middle East both wild and cultivated, and is highly prized.