Fruit

Fruit (properly פּרַי, peri', καρπός), an extensive term, denoting produce in general, whether vegetable or animal, and also used in a figurative sense (see Gesenius's Heb. Lex. and Robinson's Greek Lex.). The Hebrews had three generic terms designating three great classes of the fruits of the land, closely corresponding to what may be expressed in English as, 1. Corn- fruit, or field produce; 2. Vintage-fruit; 3. Orchard-fruit. The term קִיַוֹ, ka'yits, "summer-fruits," appears to denote those less important species of fruit which were adapted only to immediate consumption, or could not easily or conveniently be conserved for winter use (Jer 40:10,12). The three terms spoken of as being so frequently associated in the Scriptures, and expressive of a most comprehensive triad of blessings, are thefollowing:

1. דָּגָז, dagan', "fruit of the field," or agricultural produce. Under this term the Hebrews classed almost every object of field-culture see AGRICULTURE. Jahn says, "The word is of general signification, and comprehends in itself different kinds of grain and pulse, such as wheat, millet, spelt, wall-barley, barley, beans, lentils, meadow-cumin, pepper- wort, flax, cotton, various species of the cucumber, and perhaps rice" (Bib. Archaeol. § 58). There is now no doubt among scholars that dagan comprehends the largest and most valuable species of vegetable produce, and therefore it will be allowed that the rendering of the word in the common version by "corn," and sometimes by "wheat," instead of "every species of corn" or field produce, tends to limit our conceptions of the divine bounty, as well as to impair the beauty of the passages where it occurs. See CORN.

2. תַּירוֹשׁ, tirosh', "the fruit of the vine" in its natural or its solid state, comprehending grapes, moist or dried, and the fruit in general, whether in the early cluster or the mature and ripened condition (Isa 65:8, which is rendered by βότρυς, grape, in the Sept., refers to the young grape; while Jg 9:13, where "the vine said, Shall I leave my tirosh [fruit], which cheereth God and man?" as evidently refers to the ripened produce which was placed on the altar as a first-fruit offering in grateful acknowledgment of the divine goodness). "Sometimes," says Jahn, "the grapes were dried in the sun, and preserved in masses, which were called עֲנָבַים, anabim', אֲשַׁישַׁים, ashishim', and צַמּוּקַים, tsimmukim' (1Sa 25:18; 2Sa 16:1; 1Ch 12:40; Ho 3:1)" (Bib. Archol. § 69). It is also distinctly referred to as the yielder of wine, and therefore was not wine itself, but the raw material from which it was expressed or prepared, as is evident from its distinctive contrast with wine in Am 6:14, last clause. See WINE.