Category:Apple

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Apple - (Heb. tappuah, meaning "fragrance"). Probably the apricot or quince is intended by the word, as Palestine was too hot for the growth of apples proper. It is enumerated among the most valuable trees of Palestine (Joel 1:12), and frequently referred to in Canticles, and noted for its beauty (Song of Songs 2:3, Song of Songs 2:5; Song of Songs 8:5). There is nothing to show that it was the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Dr. Tristram has suggested that the apricot has better claims than any other fruit-tree to be the apple of Scripture. It grows to a height of 30 feet, has a roundish mass of glossy leaves, and bears an orange colored fruit that gives out a delicious perfume. The "apple of the eye" is the Heb. ishon, meaning manikin, i.e., the pupil of the eye (Proverbs 7:2). (Compare the promise, Zechariah 2:8; the prayer, Psalms 17:8; and its fulfillment, Deuteronomy 32:10.) The so-called "apple of Sodom" some have supposed to be the Solanum sanctum (Heb. hedek ), rendered "brier" (q.v.) in Micah 7:4, a thorny plant bearing fruit like the potato-apple. This shrub abounds in the Jordan valley. (See Apples and ENGEDI.)