Apple

The conditions to be fulfilled by the tappuah are that it should be a fine tree, suitable to sit under (Ca 2') : 'As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight.' It should be of size sullicient to overshadow a booth or house (Ca 8°) : 'I raised thee up under the apple tree ; there thy mother brought thee forth ; tliere she brouglit thee forth that bare thee.'

It had a sweet fruit (Ca 2^) : ' and his fruii was sweet to my taste.' It also had a pleasant smell (Ca 7') : ' and the smell of thy nose like apples.' It was used to revive a person who was languid (Ca 2') : ' Stay me with raisiuc, comfort me with apples ; for I am sick of love. The apple fulfils all the conditions perfectly. It is a fruit tree which often attains a large size, is planted in orchards and near houses, and is a special favourite of the people of Palestine and Syria.

It is true that the fruit of the Syrian apple is far inferior to that of Europe, and especi- ally to that of America. Nevertheless it is a favourite with all the people, and in a few places fine varieties have been mtroduced and thriven well. Doubtless such an epicure as Solomon would have had many of the choicest kinds. Almost all the apples of Syria and Palestine are sweet. To European and American palates they seem insipid.

But they have the delicious aroma of the better kinds, and it is for this quality that they are most prized. It is very common, when visiting a friend, to have an apple Landed to you, just to smell. Sick people almost invariably ask the doctor if they may have an apple ; and if he objects, they urge their case with the plea that they only want it to smell. If a person feels faint or sea-sick, he likes nothing better than to get an apple to smell.

It is an everyday sight to see an apple put over the mouth of the small earthenware water pitcher (called in Arabic ahrtn) to give a slight aroma of apple to the water. The first thing with which the capricious appetite of a convalescent child is tempted is an apple, which he fondles and squeezes with his fingers to develop the aroma, but perhaps never so much as bites. A very favourite preserve is also made of the apple.

It will be seen by these facts that the apple fulfils all the conditions of the tappuah. Add to this that the Arabic name ajfclh k* identical, and noway ambiguous as to its signification, and the evirVence is complete. There Is no other fruit wliich at all realises all these conditions. The quince has a sour, acerb taste, never sweet. The citron was probably introduced later than OT times ; it has a fruit with a thick rind, eatable only after a very elaborate process of preserving with sugar.

The pulp is never eaten in any form. The orange is a fruit introduced from the Spanisli Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name, burdekiin, is a corruption of the Arabic name for Portugal, bartughal. It was probably not known to the Hebrews. Tlie apricot is not a fruit with any special fragrance, and is never used as the apple to refresh the sick. A further confirmation of the identity of tappuah with tiff'dh, the Arabic for apple, is the present name 'leffdh for Beth- tappuah (Jos 15^).

The 'pictures of silver' (Pr 25") in which .apples of gold are said to be placed, may have been filigree silver baskets for fruit. The Oriental silversmiths excel in thi! manufacture of such ware. G. E. Post. APPLE OF THE EYE (lit. •child [[W'x, dim. of ^'x man] of the eye ' ; sometimes nj ' daughter of the eye.' Ps 17', in combination, M'ns pi^'x? 'as child, daughter of, the eye.' Once, Zee 2*, .i?

5 ' the opening, door, of the eye ') is the ' eyeball," or globe of the eye, especially the pupil or centre, the organ of vision ; composed of exceedingly delicate and sensitive structures, carefullyshielJed from external injury. It is enclosed in the bony orbit, supported behind and on the sides by a quantity of loose fat, protected above by the eyebrows, and in front by the eyelashes and eyelids, the lids closing instinc- tively in presence of danger.

The surface is kept continually moist by an almost imperceptible flow of tears. Hence its preciousness makes it a fitting emblem of God's unceasing and tender care for Hia people, as in Dt 32"', Ps 17», Zee 2». In Pr 1" the same figure represents the preciousness of th divine law ; and in La 2'* continuous weeping ia enjoined because of the terrible calamities that had befallen the inhabitants of Jerusalem. S. T. GwiLLIAM.