22 DATEGROWING 



on his face in adoration, and the angel Gabriel, appear- 

 ing, designated the palm as his future food, saying: 

 "You were created of the same material as this tree 

 which shall nourish you." 



Satan, of course, was not long in appearing on the 

 scene, and asked Adam why he was thus prostrated in 

 an attitude of worship before a tree. When he learned 

 of the circumstances of its creation, and realized what 

 a proof it was of the beneficence of God, he wept 

 bitterly; his tears falling on the roots of the palm 

 caused it suddenly to put forth the spines which still 

 make its leaves formidable. 



The earliest known records of Egypt and Assyria 

 show that the palm held almost as important a place 

 then as it does today.* In the Bible it appears only 

 as an ornamental, the climate of Palestine not being 

 well adapted to ripen the fruit; but it was one of the 

 chief motifs in the decoration of Solomon's temple, 

 and according to Arab historians it was that mighty 

 potentate who impressed on the back of the seed the 

 small circle (the germ pore), by the imprint of his 

 famous ring, of mingled iron and brass, inscribed with 

 the secret name of God, by virtue of which he possessed 

 control of all animal life and the spirit world. 



Still later the palm served as a shelter to Mary 

 when she gave birth to Jesus C hrist, and it was by the 

 sweet, ripe dates that the pains of her travail were 

 allayed. Muhammad tells the story as follows:! 



*Cf. Moldenke. IJber die altagyptische Baume, p. 31. 



tKoran, XIX, 23-26. Critics have not failed to point out that 

 this account strongly resembles that related by poets of the birth of 

 .\pollo, whose mother, Latona, is also said to have been delivered 

 under a palm, in the Isle of Delos; and in this case also, the infant 

 spoke to her. Pliny and Cicero say the palm in question was in 

 existence in their time. 



