1 32 PLANTS IN SCRIPTURE 



therefore it is said that King David 1 appointed Baal- 

 hanan to be over his olive trees and sycamores, which 

 were in great plenty ; and it is accordingly delivered, 

 that " Solomon made cedars to be as the sycamore 

 trees that are in the vale for abundance." 2 That is, he 

 planted many, though they did not come to perfection 

 in his days. 



And as it grew plentifully about the plains, so was 

 the fruit good for food ; and, as Bellonius and late 

 accounts deliver, very refreshing unto travellers in 

 those hot and dry countries : whereby the expression 

 of Amos 3 becomes more intelligible, when he said he 

 was an herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. 

 And the expression of David 4 also becomes more 

 emphatical : " He destroyed their vines with hail, and 

 their sycamore trees with frost." That is, their sicmoth 

 in the original, a word in the sound not far from the 

 sycamore. 



Thus, when it is said, " If ye had faith as a grain 

 of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, 

 be thou plucked up by the roots, and be thou placed 

 in the sea, and it should obey you : " 5 it might be 



1 I Chron. xxvii. 28. - 1 Kings x. rj. 



3 Amos vii. 14. * Psalm lxxviii. 47. 



5 Luke xvii. 6. 



