THE SYCOMORE FIG. 



131 



ness and has no seeds in it ; also for its fruitfulness, which, however, 

 can only be ensured by making incisions in the fruit with ' finger nails ' of 

 iron, for otherwise it will not come to maturity. But when this is done 

 it may be gathered within four days ; immediately upon which another 

 shoots up in its place. Hence it is that in the year it produces seven * 

 abundant crops ; and throughout all the summer there is an abundance 

 of milky juice in the fruit. Even if the incisions are not made, the 

 fruit will shoot afresh four times during the summer, the new fruit 

 supplanting the old and forcing it off before it has ripened." 



It will be noticed that while these ancient authors thought the 

 " sweetening " indicated " ripening," it is in the sense of being " edible,' 

 as no seeds are produced, in Egypt at least, now, any more than as Pliny 

 records. The real purport is to rid the Figs of the Sycophaga, the 

 sweetening being a secondary result. 



With regard to the etymology of the Hebrew word balas,t I have to 

 thank the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Adler, for the following communication : 

 "Balas [in Arabic and yEthiopic, 'a Fig'] — 'cutting in' or 'nipping' 

 into the Mulberry Fig, or Sycomore, in order to hasten their maturing, 

 according to Pliny and Theophrastus — was an employment probably of 

 shepherds (Amos vii. 14). 



" With this verb the roots paratz and par ah may be related with the 

 English ' break,' as I and r are interchangeable. Dr. Davies in his 

 ' Student's Hebrew Lexicon ' gives a similar interpretation." i 



* This seems doubtful. 



t This word occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. 



J Gesenius in his Lex. Heb., and Bochart in Hieroz. i. 384, rL, Smith's Diet. Bib. 

 (s.v. Sycamore), vol. iii. 1394, and Pusey on Minor Prophets all follow the old 

 writers, but add nothing new. 



K 



2 



