| Translation | Verse | Text |
| Strong Concordance | Jas 3:12 | Can [3361] [1410] the fig tree [4808], my [3450] brethren [80], bear [4160] olive berries [1636]? either [2228] a vine [288], figs [4810]? so [3779] can no [3762] fountain [4077] both yield [4160] salt [252] water [5204] and [2532] fresh [1099]. |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| BEAR | That bears were common in Palestine appears from several passages in the Old Testament, 1Sa 17:34,36,37; 2Sa 17:8; 2Ki 2:24. The species known in Syria resembles the common brown bear; it is sill met in the recesses of Lebanon. To a sullen and ferocious disposition, the bear joins immense strength, considerable sagacity, and the power of climbing trees. Her ferocity, especially when her young are injured, is proverbial. See 2Sa 17:8; Pr 17:12; Isa 11:7; Ho 13:8. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| BEAR | a native of the mountain regions of Western Asia, frequently mentioned in Scripture. David defended his flocks against the attacks of a bear (1 Sam. 17:34-37). Bears came out of the wood and destroyed the children who mocked the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 2:24). Their habits are referred to in Isa. 59:11; Prov. 28:15; Lam. 3:10. The fury of the female bear when robbed of her young is spoken of (2 Sam. 17:8; Prov. 17:12; Hos. 13:8). In Daniel's vision of the four great monarchies, the Medo-Persian empire is represented by a bear (7:5). |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| FIG | The fig tree is common in Palestine and the East, and flourishes with the greatest luxuriance in those barren and stony situations where little else will grow. Its large size, and its abundance of five-lobed leaves, render it a pleasant shade tree; and its fruit furnished a wholesome food, very much used in all the lands of the Bible. Thus it was a symbol of peace and plenty, 1Ki 4:25 Mic 4:4 Zec 3:10 Joh 1:49-51. Figs are of two sorts, the "baccore," and the "kermouse." The black and white boccore, or early fig, is produced in June; thought the kermouse, the fig properly so called, which is preserved, and made up into cakes, is rarely ripe before August. There is also a long dark-colored kermouse, that sometimes hangs upon the trees all winter. The fruit of the fig tree is one of the delicacies of the East, and is very often spoken of in Scripture. The early fig was especially prized, Isa 28:4 Jer 24:2 Na 3:12, though the summer fig is most abundant, 2Ki 20:7 Isa 38:21. It is a peculiarity of the fig tree that its fruit begins to appear before the leaves, and without any show of blossoms. It has, indeed, small and hidden blossoms, but the passage in Hab 3:17, should read, according to the original Hebrew, "Although the fig tree should not bear," instead of "blossom." Its leaves come so late in the spring as to justify the words of Christ, "Ye know that summer is nigh," Mt 24:32 So 2:13. The fresh fruit is shaped like a pear. The dried figs of Palestine were probably like those which are brought to our own country; sometimes, however, they are dried on a string. We likewise read of "cakes of figs," 1Sa 25:18 2Ki 20:7 1Ch 12:40. These were probably formed by pressing the fruit forcibly into baskets or other vessels, so as to reduce them to a solid cake or lump. In this way dates are still prepared in Arabia. The barren fig tree which was withered at our Savior's word, as an awful warning to unfruitful professors of religion, seems to have spent itself in leaves. It stood by the wayside, free to all; and as the time for stripping the trees of their fruit had not come, Mr 11:14, it was reasonable to expect to find it covered with figs in various stages of growth. Yet there was "nothing thereon, but leaves only," Mt 21:19. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| 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. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| FOUNTAIN | (Heb. 'ain; i.e., "eye" of the water desert), a natural source of living water. Palestine was a "land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills" (Deut. 8:7; 11:11). These fountains, bright sparkling "eyes" of the desert, are remarkable for their abundance and their beauty, especially on the west of Jordan. All the perennial rivers and streams of the country are supplied from fountains, and depend comparatively little on surface water. "Palestine is a country of mountains and hills, and it abounds in fountains of water. The murmur of these waters is heard in every dell, and the luxuriant foliage which surrounds them is seen in every plain." Besides its rain-water, its cisterns and fountains, Jerusalem had also an abundant supply of water in the magnificent reservoir called "Solomon's Pools" (q.v.), at the head of the Urtas valley, whence it was conveyed to the city by subterrean channels some 10 miles in length. These have all been long ago destroyed, so that no water from the "Pools" now reaches Jerusalem. Only one fountain has been discovered at Jerusalem, the so-called "Virgins's Fountains," in the valley of Kidron; and only one well (Heb. beer), the Bir Eyub, also in the valley of Kidron, south of the King's Gardens, which has been dug through the solid rock. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are now mainly dependent on the winter rains, which they store in cisterns. (See WELL.) |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| OLIVE | This is one of the earliest trees mentioned in Scripture, and has furnished, perhaps ever since he deluge the most universal emblem of peace, Ge 8:11. It is always classed among the most valuable trees of Palestine, which is described as a land of oil olive, and honey, De 6:11 8:8 Hab 3:17. No tree is more frequently mentioned in the Greek and Roman classics. By the Greeks it was dedicated to Minerva, and employed in crowning Jove, Apollo, and Hercules. The olive is never a very large or beautiful tree, and seldom exceeds thirty feet in height: its leaves are dark green on the upper surface, and of a silvery hue on the under, and generally grow in pairs. Its wood is hard, like that of box, and very close in the grain. It blossoms very profusely, and bears fruit every other year. The flower is at first yellow, but as it expands, it becomes whiter, leaving a yellow center. The fruit resembles a plum in shape and in color, being first green, then pale, and when ripe, black. It is gathered by shaking the boughs and by beating them with poles, De 24:20 Isa 17:6, and is sometimes plucked in an unripe state, put into some preserving liquid, and exported. It is principally valuable for the oil it produces, which is an important article of commerce in the east. A full-sized tree in full bearing vigor is said to produce a thousand pounds of oil, Jud 9:8,9 2Ch 2:10. The olive delights in a stony soil, and will thrive even on the sides and tops of rocky hills, where there is scarcely any earth; hence the expression "oil out of the flinty rock," etc., De 32:13 Job 29:6. It is an evergreen tree, and very longlived, an emblem of a fresh and enduring piety, Ps 52:8. Around an old trunk young plants shoot up from the same root, to adorn the parent stock when living, and succeed it when dead; hence the allusion in describing the family of the just, Ps 128:3. It is slow of growth, and no less slow to decay. The ancient trees now in Gethsemane are believed by many to have sprung from the roots of those, which witnessed the agony of our Lord. The "wild olive-tree" is smaller than the cultivated, and inferior in all its parts and products. A graft upon it, from a good tree, bore good fruit; while a graft from a "wild" olive upon a good tree, remains "wild" as before. Yet, "contrary to nature," the sinner engrafted on Christ partakes of His nature and bears good fruit, Ro 11:13-26. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| 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 OIL.) |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| SALT | Was procured by the Jews from the Dead Sea, wither from the immense hill or ridge of pure rock salt at its southwest extremity, or from that deposited on the shore by the natural evaporation. The Arabs obtain it in large cakes, two or three inches thick, and sell it in considerable quantities throughout Syria. It well-known preservative qualities, and its importance as a seasoning for food, Job 6:6, are implied in most of the passages where it is mentioned in Scripture: as in the miraculous healing of a fountain, 2Ki 2:21; in the sprinkling of salt over the sacrifices consumed on God's altar, Le 2:13 Eze 43:24 Mr 9:49; and its use in the sacred incense, Ex 30:35. So also good men are "the salt of the earth," Mt 5:13; and grace, or true wisdom, is the salt of language, Mr 9:50 Col 4:6. See also Eze 16:4. To sow a land with salt, signifies its utter barrenness and desolation; a condition often illustrated in the Bible by allusions to the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, with its soil impregnated with salt, or covered with acrid and slimy pools, De 29.33; Job 39.9; Ezekiel 47.11; Zep 2.9. Salt is also the symbol of perpetuity and incorruption. Thus they said of a covenant, "It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord," Nu 18:19 2Ch 13:5. It is also the symbol of hospitality; and of the fidelity due from servants, friends, guests, and officers, to those who maintain them or who receive them at their tables. The governors of the provinces beyond the Euphrates, writing to the king Artaxerxes, tell him, "Because we have maintenance from the king's palace," Ezr 4:14. VALLEY OF SALT. This place is memorable for the victories of David, 2Sa 8:13 1Ch 18:12 Ps 60:1-12, and of Amaziah, 2Ki 14:7, over the Edomites. There can be little doubt that the name designates the broad deep valley El-Ghor, prolonged some eight miles south of the Dead Sea to the chalky cliffs called Akrabbim. Like all this region, it bears the marks of volcanic action, and has an air of extreme desolation. It is occasionally overflowed by the bitter waters of that sea, which rise to the height of fifteen feet. The driftwood on the margin of the valley, which indicates this rise of the water, is so impregnated with salt that it will not burn; and on the northwest side of the valley lies a mountain of salt. Parts of this plain are white with salt; others are swampy, or marked by sluggish streams or standing pools of brackish water. The southern part is covered in part with tamarisks and coarse shrubbery. Some travellers have found here quicksand pits in which camels and horses have been swallowed up and lost, Ge 14:10 Zep 2:9. See JORDAN and SEA 3. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| SALT | used to season food (Job 6:6), and mixed with the fodder of cattle (Isa. 30:24, "clean;" in marg. of R.V. "salted"). All meat-offerings were seasoned with salt (Lev. 2:13). To eat salt with one is to partake of his hospitality, to derive subsistence from him; and hence he who did so was bound to look after his host's interests (Ezra 4:14, "We have maintenance from the king's palace;" A.V. marg., "We are salted with the salt of the palace;" R.V., "We eat the salt of the palace"). A "covenant of salt" (Num. 18:19; 2 Chr. 13:5) was a covenant of perpetual obligation. New-born children were rubbed with salt (Ezek. 16:4). Disciples are likened unto salt, with reference to its cleansing and preserving uses (Matt. 5:13). When Abimelech took the city of Shechem, he sowed the place with salt, that it might always remain a barren soil (Judg. 9:45). Sir Lyon Playfair argues, on scientific grounds, that under the generic name of "salt," in certain passages, we are to understand petroleum or its residue asphalt. Thus in Gen. 19:26 he would read "pillar of asphalt;" and in Matt. 5:13, instead of "salt," "petroleum," which loses its essence by exposure, as salt does not, and becomes asphalt, with which pavements were made. The Jebel Usdum, to the south of the Dead Sea, is a mountain of rock salt about 7 miles long and from 2 to 3 miles wide and some hundreds of feet high. |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| VINE | Of this valuable and familiar plant there are several varieties, the natural products of warm climates, where also it has been cultivated from the earliest times. Hence the early and frequent mention of its products in Scripture, Ge 9:20 14:18 19:22 Job 1:18. The grape-vine grew plentifully in Palestine, De 8:8, and was particularly excellent in some of the districts. The Scriptures celebrate the vines of Sibmah and Eshcol; and profane authors mention the excellent wines of Gaza, Sarepta, Lebanon, Sharon, Ascalon, and Tyre. See SOREK. The grapes of Egypt, Ge 40:11, being small, we may easily conceive of the surprise which was occasioned to the Israelites by witnessing the bunch of grapes brought by the spies to the camp, from the valley of Eshcol, Nu 13:23. The account of Moses, however, is confirmed by the testimony of several travelers; and even in England a bunch of Syrian grapes has been produced which weighed nineteen pounds, was twenty-three inches in length, and nineteen and a half in its greatest diameter. At the present day, although the Mohammedan religion does not favor the cultivation of the vine, there is no want of vineyards in Palestine. Besides the large quantities of grapes and raisins which are daily sent to the markets of Jerusalem and other neighboring places, Hebron alone in the first half of the eighteenth century, annually sent three hundred camel loads, or nearly three hundred thousand pounds weight of grape juice, or honey of raisins, to Egypt. In the East, grapes enter very largely into the provisions at an entertainment, and in various forms contribute largely to the sustenance of the people. See GRAPES. To show the abundance of vines which should fall to the lot of Judah in the partition of the promised land, Jacob, in his prophetic benediction, says of this tribe, he shall be found Binding his colt to the vine, And to the choice vine the foal of his ass; Washing his garments in wine, His clothes in the blood of the grape. Ge 49:11. In many places the vines spread over the ground and rocks unsupported. Often, however, they are trained upon trellis-work, over walls, trees, arbors, the porches and walls of houses, and at times within the house on the side of the central court. Thus growing, the vine became a beautiful emblem of domestic love, peace, and plenty, Ps 128:3 Mic 4:4. The law enjoined that he who planted a vine should not eat of the produce of it before the fifth year, Le 19:23-25. Nor did they gather their grapes on the sabbatical year; the fruit was then left for the poor, the orphan, and the stranger, Ex 23:11 Le 25:4,5,11. See also Le 19:10 De 24:21. At any time a traveler was permitted to gather and eat grapes in a vineyard, as he passed along, but was not permitted to carry any away, De 23:24. Another generous provision of the Mosaic code exempted from liability to serve in war a man who, after four years of labor and of patience, was about to gather the first returns from his vineyard, De 20:6. Josephus describes a magnificent and costly vine of pure gold, with precious stones for grapes, which adorned the lofty eastern gate of the Holy Place. It was perhaps in view of this that our Savior said, "I am the true Vine;" and illustrated the precious truth of his oneness with his people, Joh 15:1-8. In the expression, "The vine of Sodom," De 32:32, there does not seem to be an allusion to any then existing degenerate species of vine. The writer means rather to say that their vine, that is figuratively their corrupt character, instead of yielding good grapes, bears only poisonous fruit, like that for which the shores of the Dead Sea have always been famed- such as "the apples of Sodom," for example, said to be beautiful without, but nothing but shreds or ashes within. For the "wild grapes" in Isa 5:2,4, see under GRAPES. The Jews planted their VINEYARDS most commonly on the side of a hill or mountain, Jer 31:5, (See MOUNTAIN,) the stones being gathered out, and the space hedged round with thorns, or walled, Isa 5:1-6 Ps 80:1-19 Mt 21:33. Vineyards were sometimes rented for a share of their produce, Mt 28:20; and from other passages we may perhaps infer that a good vineyard consisted of a thousand vines, and produced a rent of a thousand silverlings, or shekels of silver, Isa 7:23, and that it required two hundred more to pay the dressers, So 8:11-12. In these vineyards the keepers and vinedressers labored, digging, planting, propping, and pruning or purging the vines, Joh 15:2, gathering the grapes, and making wine. They formed a distinct class among cultivators of the ground, and their task was sometimes laborious and regarded as menial, 2Ki 25:12 2Ch 26:10 So 1:6 Isa 61:5. Scripture alludes to the fragrance of the "vines with the tender grapes," So 2:13, and draws from the vineyard many illustrations and parables, Jud 9:12 Mt 20:1 21:28. The vineyard of Naboth, 1Ki 21:1-29, has become a perpetual emblem of whatever is violently taken from the poor by the rich or the powerful. The deserted hut or tower, in which a watchman kept guard during, the season of ripe grapes, Ps 80:12-13 So 2:15, becomes, when all are gathered, an apt image of desolation, Isa 1:8. A beautiful allegory in Ps 80:1-19 represents the church as a vineyard, planted, defended, cultivated, and watered by God. The VINTAGE followed the wheat harvest and the threshing, Le 26:5 Am 9:13. The "first ripe grapes" were gathered in June, or later on elevated ground, Nu 13:20; and grapes continued to be gathered for four months afterwards. The general vintage, however, was in September, when the clusters of grapes were gathered with a sickle, and put into baskets, Jer 6:9, carried and thrown into the wine-vat or wine-press, where they were probably first trodden by men, and then pressed, Re 14:18-20. It was a laborious task, lightened with songs, jests, and shouts of mirth, Jer 25:30 48:33. It is mentioned as a mark of the great work and power of the Messiah, that he had trodden the figurative wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him, Isa 63:1-3 Re 19:15. The vintage was a season of great mirth, Isa 16:9,10, and often of excesses and idolatry, Jud 9:27; while the mourning and languishing of the vine was a symbol of general distress, Isa 24:7 Hab 3:17 Mal 3:11. Of the juice of the squeezed grapes were formed wine and vinegar. See PRESS. Grapes were also dried into raisins. A part of Abigail's present to David was one hundred clusters of raisins, 1Sa 25:18; and when Zibah met David, his present contained the same quantity, 2Sa 16:1 1Sa 30:12 1Ch 12:40. Respecting other uses of the fruits of the vine, see GRAPES, HONEY, VINEGAR, and WINE. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| VINE | one of the most important products of Palestine. The first mention of it is in the history of Noah (Gen. 9:20). It is afterwards frequently noticed both in the Old and New Testaments, and in the ruins of terraced vineyards there are evidences that it was extensively cultivated by the Jews. It was cultivated in Palestine before the Israelites took possession of it. The men sent out by Moses brought with them from the Valley of Eshcol a cluster of grapes so large that "they bare it between two upon a staff" (Num. 13: 23). The vineyards of En-gedi (Cant. 1:14), Heshbon, Sibmah, Jazer, Elealeh (Isa. 16:8-10; Jer. 48:32, 34), and Helbon (Ezek. 27:18), as well as of Eshcol, were celebrated. The Church is compared to a vine (Ps. 80:8), and Christ says of himself, "I am the vine" (John 15:1). In one of his parables also (Matt. 21:33) our Lord compares his Church to a vineyard which "a certain householder planted, and hedged round about," etc. Hos. 10:1 is rendered in the Revised Version, "Israel is a luxuriant vine, which putteth forth his fruit," instead of "Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself," of the Authorized Version. |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| WATER | See CISTERN and WELLS. In Isa 35:7, the Hebrew word for "parched ground" that shall become a pool of water, is the same with the Arabic term for the mirage, a peculiar optical illusion by which travelers in hot and dry deserts think they see broad lakes and flowing waters; they seem to discern the very ripple of the waves, and the swaying of tail trees on the margin in the cool breeze; green hills and houses and city ramparts rise before the astonished sight, recede as the traveler advances, and at length melt away in the hot haze. Not so the blessings of the gospel; they are no alluring mockery, but real waters of everlasting life, Isa 55:1 Joh 4:14 Re 22:1. Compare Isa 29:8 Jer 15:18. |
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