Pomegranate

The pomegranate tree is small and thorny, rarely more than five metres tall, with glossy leaves and striking orange-red flowers. Its fruit is round and about the size of a large apple, with a tough red-orange leathery skin and a crown-like calyx at one end. Inside, hundreds of seeds are packed in compartments, each seed enclosed in translucent red flesh that is both sweet and tart. The pomegranate grows well in the dry heat of the Mediterranean and Middle East, and it was one of the most beautiful and distinctive fruits of the ancient Near East.

It was one of the seven agricultural species that God used to define the goodness of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 8:8), and the spies brought pomegranates back from Canaan as evidence of its fertility (Numbers 13:23). Four hundred bronze pomegranates were cast to decorate the great pillars Jachin and Boaz at the entrance of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 7:18–20) — the fruit was the ornament chosen for the most visible part of the house of God. The hem of the High Priest's robe was decorated with alternating pomegranate shapes and golden bells (Exodus 28:33–34), so that every step he took in the presence of God was marked by this fruit. The pomegranate became a symbol of beauty, abundance, and the nearness of God.