Dates Fruits
The date comes from the palm trees. The palm trees mentioned in the Bible are date palms trees. They have a deep, water-seeking root systems and support long, slender trunks that culminate in circles of fanlike fronds that shade the fruit maturing beneath them. A full-grown date palm takes twenty years to mature and can be more than ninety feet tall, including the circle of fronds, which itself can be from seven to ten feet in diameter. Those living in Bible times found a use for nearly every component of the tree. The fruit, which matures at the close of the summer, was eaten fresh or dried and pressed into cakes. It was also mashed and boiled down into an edible paste called dibs, which was spread on bread. And some in the ancient Near East used the harvested fruit to make liqueur or wine. Apart from the fruit, the palm fronds were used as roofing material while fibers from the tree were woven to make mats, baskets, ropes, sandals, and other household items.
The date is the sweet fruit of the date palm. The trees grow must be wind or hand-pollinated in order to bear fruit five years after reaching maturity. The fruits hang in clusters from the top of the trees and are collected when they ripen in the late summer and early fall. The date palm is often found in oases and watered places, the fruit is especially valued by the desert traveler. It provides a quick, high-energy source when fresh, and also becomes a storable, easily transportable food when dried or made into small cakes. The ground and soaked seeds provide a nutritious food for camels and other animals. A sweet wine is made from the fermented juice of the terminal buds. The date has been valued as a trade item since early times. (Achtemeier, 1985, p.207).
Dates are only once mentioned in the King James AV version of the Bible. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. (Joel 1:12).
Dates were not only eaten as they came from the palm, but were dried in clusters and also pressed into cakes for convenience of transport.
And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to everyone a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed everyone to his house. (2 Samuel 6:19; 1 Chronicles 16:3).
References:
Achtemeier, Paul J, (1985). Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 1st ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature.
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MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Dates Fruits:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2368,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) “Dates Fruits:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2368,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “Dates Fruits:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2368, (accessed).
