The Role of Almonds in Biblical Texts
By Elizabeth Prata
Why almonds? They appear a lot in the Bible. There must be some kind of symbolism to almonds, almond blossoms, and almond trees.
Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft; its cups, its bulbs, and its flowers were of one piece with it. There were six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand from the one side of it and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it; three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a bulb and a flower on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, a bulb and a flower on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And on the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers; and a bulb was under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand. Their bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold. And he made its seven lamps with its tongs and its trays of pure gold. He made it and all its utensils from a talent of pure gold. (Exodus 37:17-24).
Aaron’s Rod sprouted ripe almonds:
Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had sprouted and produced buds and bloomed with blossoms, and it yielded ripe almonds. (Numbers 17:8).
The LORD used almond trees in speaking to Jeremiah:
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” 12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:11-12).
What do almonds mean in biblical symbolism?
The early-appearing white bloom of the almond apparently serves as a picture of the early graying of a person’s hair, pointing the writer of Ecclesiastes to the certainty of death (Eccles. 12:5). The early blossom meant for Jeremiah that the almond watched for spring and gave the prophet a wordplay on the almond (Hb. shaqed) and his task to watch (Hb. shoqed) (Jer. 1:11). Source: Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
The reference to the image white hair of age is conspicuous, since the almond blossoms in early February, sometimes January, and the white blossoms would stand out as the only color on the hillside, as nothing else was blooming or growing yet.
The almond is Amygdalus communis (N.O. Rosaceae), a tree very similar to the peach. The common variety grows to the height of 25 feet and produces an abundant blossom which appears before the leaves; …This early blossoming is supposed to be the origin of the name shāḳēdh which contains the idea of “early.” The masses of almond trees in full bloom in some parts of Palestine make a very beautiful and striking sight. The bloom of some varieties is almost pure white, from a little distance, in other parts the delicate pink, always present at the inner part of the petals, is diffused enough to give a pink blush to the whole blossom. (The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vols. 1–5, p. 100), 1915.).
Barnes’ Notes says, “The name almond in Hebrew denotes the “waking-tree,” the “waking-fruit;” and is applied to this tree, because it blossoms early in the season. It serves here, as in Jeremiah 1:11-12, to set forth the speed and certainty with which, at God’s will, His purposes are accomplished. So again the blossoming and bearing of Aaron’s rod, naturally impotent when severed from the parent tree, may signify the profitableness, because of God’s appointment and blessing, of the various means of grace (e. g. the priesthood, the sacraments), which of themselves and apart from Him could have no such efficacy”
Beautiful!
