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Answer
The pomegranate was a familiar fruit in the land of Israel (see Numbers 13:23; Deuteronomy 8:8). The pomegranate tree or shrub has dark green glossy leaves and beautiful flowers with crinkled petals ranging in color from pale pink to bright orange-red. When ripened, the fruit of the pomegranate is bright red and about the size of an orange. The scarlet flesh of the fruit has a sweet-to-tart taste and contains many nutrients. When fully ripened, the pomegranate bursts open, and the numerous seeds pour out.
Pomegranates are first mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 28:33–35 as part of God’s instructions for the making of priestly garments. God said, “Make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them. The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. Aaron must wear it when he ministers.” Later, brass pomegranate designs were featured prominently in the building of Solomon’s temple: “On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital” «And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter. », (1 Kings 7:20). These ornate pomegranate sculptures were part of the plunder carried off to Babylon when the temple was destroyed (2 Kings 25:17; Jeremiah 52:22-23).
The reason that pomegranate designs were chosen as decorations in the temple and on priestly garments is not clear, but some Jewish traditions suggest that the pomegranate symbolizes righteousness, fruitfulness, and knowledge.Additions suggest that the pomegranate’s 613 seeds correspond to the 613 laws in the Torah. Others claim that the pomegranate symbolizes Israel. They were bruised on the outside like the pomegranate’s peel but capable of blessing others from within. God does not reveal to us His reasons for using pomegranates symbolically, but we understand that everything He does serves a purpose (Isaiah 46:9-11).
Elsewhere in the Bible, pomegranates are associated with fruitfulness, blessing, and prosperity (Numbers 13:23;Deuteronomy 8:8). The presence of pomegranate trees symbolized a nation’s financial and material wealth (Joel 1:12;Haggai 2:19). The grumbling Israelites cited the absence of pomegranates as evidence that God had abandoned them: “Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? . . . It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates” (Numbers 20:4-5).
The Song of Solomon extensively uses the pomegranate to depict the beauty of the bride (Song of Solomon 6:11;Song of Solomon 7:12;Song of Solomon 8:2). The bridegroom tells the Shulamite, “Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate” Song of Solomon 4:3. The subtle blush on the bride’s cheeks reminds the groom that her true beauty resides within.
