The twenty-seven wilderness trees and shrubs considered in Chapter 1 were known and used by people in Bible times but not cultivated. We now turn to trees and shrubs that were cultivated. In some cases it is difficult to know when a particular species was actually domesticated, since the process took place over centuries and much of it happened outside our area of study. Date palms, olives, and figs were probably cultivated quite early, as they could be grown from cuttings. Thirteen domestic trees are mentioned in the Bible, although in some cases, such as apple, carob, pistachio, citron and walnut, there is much debate about their identity in a particular passage. In any case, the species mentioned here were unquestionably grown in Israel in Bible times.
Despite its importance to the survival of human beings, agriculture in the Near East has devastated the original vegetation. Humans, with their tools (including fire) and grazing animals, have decimated the forest and other plant life to the point where almost none of it survives except in protected areas. Even the desert has been damaged by the removal of shrubs, leaving the slopes to be eroded down to the bare rock.
On the other hand, the vegetation of the land—both wild and cultivated—has also had a profound effect on the human beings who lived there. At the time of the conquest of Canaan, the scouts discovered a “land flowing with milk and honey.” They brought back with them figs and pomegranates and a cluster of grapes so huge it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them. When the conquest finally took place, the newcomers took over a well-developed agriculture that they then developed to a higher level, bringing in plants from Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and other countries.
The effect of agriculture, and particularly of trees, was not just a matter of producing food. The vocabulary of agriculture saturates the language and literature of the Holy Land. Apart from the emotional associations carried by trees such as cedars, oaks, palms, olives and vines, the images of seed, fruit, flower, root, and harvest occur as metaphors over and over in the language of the prophets and in the Wisdom literature, right through to the teachings of Jesus and his followers.
Regarding the translation of names for cultivated trees, our general strategy is that when a tree or shrub is used rhetorically, that is, as a metaphor or simile, then the focus is on the quality of the tree or shrub, not on the botanical details. In that case the translator is urged to find a cultural equivalent carrying that same quality. When the passage is not rhetorical, the translator is compelled by the historicity of the passage to find a botanically related species. When that is not available, it becomes necessary to use a transliteration from a major international language, seek a generic word, or use a descriptive phrase. There is a loss in that, of course. Translation is a matter of balancing losses and gains.
We are including the carob and citron here even though they could as well be treated under “1 Wild Trees and Shrubs.”