Olive
The fruit of the olive-tree. This tree yielded oil which was highly valued. The best oil was from olives that were plucked before being fully ripe, and then beaten or squeezed (Deut. 24:20; Isa. 17:6; 24:13). It was called "beaten," or "fresh oil" (Ex. 27:20). There were also oil-presses, in which the oil was trodden out by the feet (Micah 6:15). James (3:12) calls the fruit "olive berries." The phrase "vineyards and olives" (Judg. 15:5, A.V.) should be simply "olive-yard," or "olive-garden," as in the Revised Version. (See [451]OIL.)
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Dictionary
Beaten oil
(Ex. 27:20; 29:40), obtained by pounding olives in a mortar, not by crushing them in a mill. It was reckoned the best. (See [55]OLIVE.)
Dictionary
Fig
First mentioned in Gen. 3:7. The fig-tree is mentioned (Deut. 8:8) as one of the valuable products of Palestine. It was a sign of peace and prosperity (1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4; Zech. 3:10). Figs were used medicinally (2 Kings 20:7), and pressed together and formed into "cakes" as articles of diet (1 Sam. 30:12; Jer. 24:2). Our Lord's cursing the fig-tree near Bethany (Mark 11:13) has occasioned much perplexity from the circumstance, as mentioned by the evangelist, that "the time of figs was not yet." The explanation of the words, however, lies in the simple fact that the fruit of the fig-tree appears before the leaves, and hence that if the tree produced leaves it ought also to have had fruit. It ought to have had fruit if it had been true to its "pretensions," in showing its leaves at this particular season. "This tree, so to speak, vaunted itself to be in advance of all the other trees, challenged the passer-by that he should come and refresh himself with its fruit. Yet when the Lord accepted its challenge and drew near, it proved to be but as the others, without fruit as they; for indeed, as the evangelist observes, the time of figs had not yet arrived. Its fault, if one may use the word, lay in its pretensions, in its making a show to run before the rest when it did not so indeed" (Trench, Miracles). The fig-tree of Palestine (Ficus carica) produces two and sometimes three crops of figs in a year, (1) the bikkurah, or "early-ripe fig" (Micah 7:1; Isa. 28:4; Hos. 9:10, R.V.), which is ripe about the end of June, dropping off as soon as it is ripe (Nah. 3:12); (2) the kermus, or "summer fig," then begins to be formed, and is ripe about August; and (3) the pag (plural "green figs," Cant. 2:13; Gr. olynthos, Rev. 6:13, "the untimely fig"), or "winter fig," which ripens in sheltered spots in spring.
Dictionary
Hanging
(as a punishment), a mark of infamy inflicted on the dead bodies of criminals (Deut. 21:23) rather than our modern mode of punishment. Criminals were first strangled and then hanged (Nu. 25:4; Deut. 21:22). (See 2 Sam. 21:6 for the practice of the Gibeonites.) Hanging (as a curtain). (1.) Heb. masak, (a) before the entrance to the court of the tabernacle (Ex. 35:17); (b) before the door of the tabernacle (26:36, 37); (c) before the entrance to the most holy place, called "the veil of the covering" (35:12; 39:34), as the word properly means. (2.) Heb. kelaim, tapestry covering the walls of the tabernacle (Ex. 27:9; 35:17; Num. 3:26) to the half of the height of the wall (Ex. 27:18; comp. 26:16). These hangings were fastened to pillars. (3.) Heb. bottim (2 Kings 23:7), "hangings for the grove" (R.V., "for the Asherah"); marg., instead of "hangings," has "tents" or "houses." Such curtained structures for idolatrous worship are also alluded to in Ezek. 16:16.
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Nuts
Were among the presents Jacob sent into Egypt for the purpose of conciliating Joseph (Gen. 43:11). This was the fruit of the pistachio tree, which resembles the sumac. It is of the size of an olive. In Cant. 6:11 a different Hebrew word (egoz), which means "walnuts," is used.
Dictionary
Olive-tree
Is frequently mentioned in Scripture. The dove from the ark brought an olive-branch to Noah (Gen. 8:11). It is mentioned among the most notable trees of Palestine, where it was cultivated long before the time of the Hebrews (Deut. 6:11; 8:8). It is mentioned in the first Old Testament parable, that of Jotham (Judg. 9:9), and is named among the blessings of the "good land," and is at the present day the one characteristic tree of Palestine. The oldest olive-trees in the country are those which are enclosed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is referred to as an emblem of prosperity and beauty and religious privilege (Ps. 52:8; Jer. 11:16; Hos. 14:6). The two "witnesses" mentioned in Rev. 11:4 are spoken of as "two olive trees standing before the God of the earth." (Comp. Zech. 4:3, 11-14.) The "olive-tree, wild by nature" (Rom. 11:24), is the shoot or cutting of the good olive-tree which, left ungrafted, grows up to be a "wild olive." In Rom. 11:17 Paul refers to the practice of grafting shoots of the wild olive into a "good" olive which has become unfruitful. By such a process the sap of the good olive, by pervading the branch which is "graffed in," makes it a good branch, bearing good olives. Thus the Gentiles, being a "wild olive," but now "graffed in," yield fruit, but only through the sap of the tree into which they have been graffed. This is a process "contrary to nature" (11:24).
Dictionary
Vine of Sodom
Referred to only in Deut. 32:32. Among the many conjectures as to this tree, the most probable is that it is the osher of the Arabs, which abounds in the region of the Dead Sea. Its fruit are the so-called "apples of Sodom," which, though beautiful to the eye, are exceedingly bitter to the taste. (See [657]EN-GEDI.) The people of Israel are referred to here by Moses as being utterly corrupt, bringing forth only bitter fruit.