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Bible Dictionaries
Almond Tree
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or לוז Arabic, lauz. Translated hazel, Genesis 30:37; שקד , rendered almond, Genesis 43:11; Exodus 25:33-34; Exodus 37:19-20; Numbers 17:8; Ecclesiastes 12:5; and Jeremiah 1:11 . The first name may be that of the tree; the other, that of the fruit, or nut. A tree resembling the peach tree in its leaves and blossoms, but the fruit is longer and more compressed, the outer green coat is thinner and drier when ripe, and the shell of the stone is not so rugged. This stone, or nut, contains a kernel, which is the only esculent part. The whole arrives at maturity in September, when the outer tough cover splits open and discharges the nut. From the circumstance of its blossoming the earliest of any of the trees, beginning as soon as the rigour of the winter is past, and before it is in leaf, it has its Hebrew name shakad, which comes from a verb signifying to make haste, to be in a hurry, or to awake early. To the forwardness of the almond tree there seems to be a reference in Jeremiah: "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it;" or rather, "I am hastening, or watching over my word to fulfil it," Jeremiah 1:11-12 . In this manner it is rendered by the Seventy; and by the Vulgate, Vigilabo ego super verbum meum. [I will watch over my word.] This is the first vision with which the Prophet was honoured; and his attention is roused by a very significant emblem of that severe correction with which the Most High was hastening to visit his people for their iniquity: and from the species of tree to which the rod belonged, he is warned of its near approach. The idea which the appearance of the almond rod suggested to his mind, is confirmed by the exposition of God himself: "I am watching over, or on account of, my word to fulfil it;" and this double mode of instruction, first by emblem, and then by exposition, was certainly intended to make a deeper impression on the mind both of Jeremiah and of the people to whom he was sent.
It is probable that the rods which the princes of Israel bore, were scions of the almond tree, at once the ensign of their office, and the emblem of their vigilance. Such, we know from the testimony of Scripture, was the rod of Aaron; which renders it exceedingly probable, that the rods of the other chiefs were from the same tree.
The hoary head is beautifully compared by Solomon to the almond tree, covered in the earliest days of spring with its snow white flowers, before a single leaf has budded: "The almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail," Ecclesiastes 12:5 . Man has existed in this world but a few days, when old age begins to appear, sheds its snows upon his head, prematurely nips his hopes, darkens his earthly prospects, and hurries him into the grave.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Almond Tree'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/a/almond-tree.html. 1831-2.
