. A comprehensive dictionary of the Bible . e word shdked, therefore, or the tree which hast-ened to put forth its blossoms, was a very beautifuland fitting synonyme for the luz, or almond-tree, inthe language of a people so fond of imagery andpoetry as were the Jews. The almond-tree has beennoticed in flower at Sidon as early as the 9th ofJanuary; the 18th, 19th, and 23d are also recordeddates at other places in Palestine. This fact will ex-plain Jer. i. 11, 12, The word of the Lord cameunto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou ? AndI said, I see the rod of an almond-tree (shdked).Then said
. A comprehensive dictionary of the Bible . e word shdked, therefore, or the tree which hast-ened to put forth its blossoms, was a very beautifuland fitting synonyme for the luz, or almond-tree, inthe language of a people so fond of imagery andpoetry as were the Jews. The almond-tree has beennoticed in flower at Sidon as early as the 9th ofJanuary; the 18th, 19th, and 23d are also recordeddates at other places in Palestine. This fact will ex-plain Jer. i. 11, 12, The word of the Lord cameunto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou ? AndI said, I see the rod of an almond-tree (shdked).Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, forI will hasten (shdked) my word to perform it. Theexpression in Eccl. xii. 5, the almond-tree shallflourish, is generally understood as emblematic ofths hoary locks of old age thinly scattered on the head, as the white blossoms appear on the yet leal-less boughs of this tree. Gesenius translates thealmond is rejected, because the flowers are gener-ally pink or rose-colored, though they are sometimes. Almond-tree and blossoms. nearly white. But all the old versions agree with theA. V., and the allusion may refer to the hastening ofold age in the case of him who remembered not hisCreator in the days of his youth. (See also underMedicine.)—The almond-tree has always been re-garded by the Jews with reverence, and even to thisday the English Jews on their great feast-days carrya bough of flowering almond to the synagogue, just| as the Jews of old presented palm branches in the[ temple. The almond-tree (Amygdalus communis) isI a native of Asia and northern Africa, but it is culti-vated in the milder parts of Europe, &c. The treeis about twelve or fourteen feet high ; the flowers arepink, and arranged mostly in pairs ; the leaves arelong, ovate, with a serrated margin, and an acutepoint. The covering of the fruit is downy and suc-culent, enclosing the hard shell which contains thekernel. It is curious to observe, in connection withthe almond-
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