Psalm 132 proclaims: "Your priests will wear righteousness and your kind ones will sing with joy." This recalls the pomegranate, which decorated the hems of the priestly robes in ancient times. The pomegranate is the teacher of the indwelling of God. The fruit itself is an abundant globe full of bright red seeds, like a world full of life. In this psalm, God announces a desire to dwell among human beings, nurture the hungry and care for the needy, establish a just government, and "clothe its priests in deliverance." These are all ways of acknowledging the Shekhinah. The pomegranate reminds us that we are always filled with seeds of light, and that our lives can be God's resting-place.

Other cultures have also embraced the heavily seeded fruit as well. The fruit being full of seeds readily lends itself to be a symbol of fertility, bounty, and eternal life. Ancient Egyptians were buried with pomegranates in the hope of rebirth. The Hittite god of agriculture is said to have blessed followers with grapes, wheat, and pomegranates. At Chinese weddings, sugared pomegranate seeds were served to guests and pomegranates were thrown on the floor of the wedding chamber to ensure a fruitful union. Pomegranates arrived in California in the 1769 with Spanish missionaries.

Pomegranates were offered as the fruit of paradise in the Quran. In ancient Rome, the rinds of pomegranates were tanned and used like leather.

Pomegranates became known as the royal fruit because the triangular sections folded back at the tip to look like a crown. Homer, Chaucer and Shakespeare wrote of the virtues of this fruit.

The Pomegranate fruit tree goes back to the Garden of Eden... that and the Fig tree. The Fig tree is the Tree of Knowledge in the Old Testament... Adam and Eve became one with what they embraced (ate), therefore being in essence the fruit of the fig... God dressed them with fig leaves. This is looking at the Garden of Eden and the garden and the tree is literal, not the symbolism of it, not the spiritual aspect of it.

Note on figs: "The remains of parthenocarpic fig syconia (edible figs) have been discovered in archeological sites of the Jordon Valley that date back to 11,400 years bp. The carbonized syconia are clearly parthenocarpic because the drupelets are without embryos or seeds. Wild populations of Ficus carica are gynodioecious with male trees (caprifigs) and female trees. Edible figs are produced on female trees only if they are pollinated by fig wasps (Blastophaga psenes) from the syconia of male trees. The male syconia contain wasps and pollen, and are generally not eaten. They were named "caprifigs" because they were commonly fed to goats." (Krislev, M.E., Hartmann, A. and O. Bar-Yosef. 2006. "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley." Science 312 (5778): 1273-1275. 2 June 2006)

Medical Research: It's believe that pomegranate has anitoxidant, anti-viral, anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. Also, that it helps maintaining healthy cholesterol and tryglyceride levels, etc. Recently, pomegranates have emerged as a super food, full of fiber, potassium, vitamin C, niacin and cancer-fighting properties. Recent studies suggest that the juice offers three times more antioxidants than green tea or red wine.

The benefits of pomegranate include reversing atherosclerosis, a disorder that often occurs in hypothyroidism, reducing joint degeneration and inflammation in osteoarthritis, promoting liver health, and protecting the cardiovascular system from diabetes-induced damage. In addition, pomegranate is currently being studied for its ability to alleviate the pain and discomfort of arthritis and support optimal brain, dental, skin, and liver health.

If you do not have the benefit going to the store to purchase the pomegranate fruit..., then go online and purchase Pom Pomegranate juice. Some of your local grocery stores do carry this as well. It taste good and it is good for you!