By Jacqueline Kelly.
Fruits are one of the oldest forms of food known to man. The people in ancient times revered them and dedicated them to their gods and goddesses. They also used their designs in decorating temples, vestments, ceremonial garments and sacred vessels. Fruits were much more than food for the ancient Israelites. It was a symbol that appeared prominently in the cultures, names, laws, proverbs, traditions and as curses and blessings.
Grapes were well-known in the days of Noah. Wine was a “must” at banquets, according to accounts in the Books of Esther and Judith.
Many people were named after a fruit- Tamar in [Genesis 38:6] which means “date”.
Cities and Towns were named after a fruit- Rimmon in [Joshua 15:32] which means “pomegranate”.
Also read: Part I: A Deeper Understanding of Biblical Fiesta
Fruits were used as decorations – Engraved date palm trees in Solomon’s Temple [1Kings 6:29]. Fruits were the subjects of laws – The law in [Deuteronomy 24:20] that one may eat from an olive tree once[the remaining olives are for the poor]. Fruits were used in a number of metaphors such as “Your breath is like the fragrance of apples” [Song of Songs 7:8]
Fruits appear in curses and blessings such as “Your olives shall drop off (the tree)” – [Deuteronomy 28:40].
Fruits were used in proverbs such as- “He who tends to a fig tree will enjoy its fruit” – [Proverbs 27:18]
Fruits appear as objects in narratives- Eve eats the forbidden fruit and is cast from Eden [Genesis 3]
The ravines in the slopes and the rocky ground were suitable for the cluster of trees where olives were gathered, crushed with large grinding stones, pitted and pressed for oil.
Olive oil was used in cooking, as a condiment and for burning lamps. Terraces were built and irrigated along the sleeper slopes for grain harvest and promoted the growth of fig and pomegranate trees.
Various grains like wheat, barley and millet were grown in the fields on the slopes. The husk was separated from the seeds on the threshing floors with winnowing. In the South of the village the alluvial soil was found to be fertile and suitable for the growth of vegetables and legumes. Historians tell us that Babylonians ate melons, plums and prunes. Vegetables included peas, lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, turnips, garlic, shallots, cress, leaks and beet. Primary meats were pork, poultry, beef, mutton and goat.
People living in the Galilee region of pre-historic Israel loved their beans. The Neolithic diet favoured fava beans but also included other types of legumes, such as lentils, beans, peas and chickpeas. The fava seeds were the oldest domesticated seeds.
In the pre-historic site near Ramla, Israel animal bones of an extinct type of wild cattle along with the bones of rhinoceros, horses, fallow deer, gazelles and land turtles were discovered.
In the Neolithic period introduction of agriculture and domestication of animals took place.
Fish was common and dried fish industry was a source of income for the people around the Sea of Galilee. The town of Magdala, not far from Nazareth, was a centre of the dried fish industry. The Book of Tobit, tells how Tobias protected by the Archangel Saint Raphael, caught a large fish in the Tigris river. [Tobit 6:1-5].
Spices were very expensive because they had to be imported from distant countries. Spices were not only condiments but also used for cosmetics and in religious rites, including burials and the embalming of bodies.
The Gezer calendar highlights the seasonal patterns of the agricultural year. The produce mentioned in the Gezer calendar is consistent with the Biblical description of the Promised Land as “a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where Israelites may eat bread without scarcity”. [Deuteronomy 8:8-9]
Family and kinship relationships were organized largely around agrarian activities. In ancient Israel, nearly everyone even those living in royal cities such as Jerusalem and Samaria, was involved in agriculture, hunting, fishing and animal husbandry for their food, as can be seen from the presence in the Bible of herds of goats, sheep, cows and references to deer hunting.
Rituals feasts and banquets proved to be important social and political tools throughout Israel’s history. Thanks to the Book of Samuel [2Samuel 17:28-29] we get an insight of what King David ate. “They brought …. basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds, sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat”.
Many wild vegetables and herbs served as primary ingredients of the Hebrew diet for thousands of years. According to Israel’s foremost food archaeologist Tova Dickstein, Ezekiel bread is a rare example of a recipe in the Bible.
God instructs the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel during captivity [Ezekiel 4: 9-12] “Take you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make your bread thereof…..”
Tova Dickstein believes that this recipe was never meant to produce bread, but rather a dish of fava beans, millets and nutrient-rich seeds. She explained that the word for “bread” in Biblical Hebrew translates to “hearty stew”.