122 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



of David and the pretty and discreet Abigail, i Sam. xxv. 

 1 8, also in i Sam. xxx. 12, 2 Sam. xvi. i, and i Chron. 

 xii. 40. In all these passages the phrase employed in 

 the A. V. is either " bunches of raisins " or " clusters of 

 raisins," the Revised reducing all to the uniformity of 

 "clusters." There is reason to believe that, although 

 "clusters" is the term approved by the Revisers, the 

 original Hebrew word, tsimmuqim, denotes, rather, com- 

 pressed masses or cakes of the dried fruit, such as are 

 still prepared for winter consumption. The etymology 

 allows of either view, the sense of tsimmuqim being 

 simply that which has been desiccated. These cakes are 

 also spoken of in the Old Testament under the name of 

 'ashishah, this latter term involving, perhaps, the added 

 idea of dried figs. It occurs in 2 Sam. vi. 19, in i Chron. 

 xvi. 3, in Hosea iii. i, where the article in question is 

 mentioned as one of the offerings made to idols; and very 

 curiously, in the Song of Solomon, when the Bride, feeling 

 faint, cries out, "Stay me with 'ashishah; comfort me 

 with apples." The early translators thought that 'ashishah 

 meant "flagons of wine" the phrase employed in the 

 A. V. The genuine sense, " raisin cakes," or " cakes of 

 raisins," has long been familiar to scholars. Happily the 

 Revised has now placed it distinctly before the world, 

 giving us, in place of " Stay me with flagons " 



" Stay ye me with raisins, 

 Comfort me with apples." 



All the other passages in which 'ashishah occurs have 

 been similarly corrected. 



