Bible Dictionaries

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Pomegranates, Rimmon

This tree and its fruit are often referred to, though it is rather a shrub. It is named among the vines and fig trees as of the products of Palestine. The fruit is as large as an apple. It was represented alternately with bells, at the bottom of the high priest's robe, as a type of fruitfulness, and was copied as an ornament on the columns of Solomon's temple. The temples, or cheeks, of the bride in the Canticles are compared to 'a piece of a pomegranate.' Song of Solomon 4:3; Song of Solomon 6:7 . Spiced wine was made of its juice. Song of Solomon 8:2; Exodus 39:24-26; Numbers 20:5; Deuteronomy 8:8; 1 Kings 7:18,42; Jeremiah 52:22,23; Joel 1:12; Haggai 2:19 . It is the Punica granatum, which both wild and cultivated still grows in Palestine, and is highly valued.