Bible Dictionary

APPLES OF SODOM

Agriculture & Daily Life • Old Testament

The apples of Sodom is a traditional name for attractive fruit associated with the region near the Dead Sea that supposedly turned to smoke or ashes when picked. The identification is uncertain, and the “vine of Sodom” in Deuteronomy is generally understood figuratively.

Definition

“Apples of Sodom,” or “Dead Sea apples,” is a traditional designation for attractive fruit associated with the region of Sodom and the Dead Sea. The identification of the fruit is uncertain. Suggestions include the fruit of the osher tree or the wild colocynth, both of which may appear fair while containing dust or bitter, dried pulp.

Biblical Usage

The “vine of Sodom” in Deuteronomy has often been connected with this fruit, but the supplied material says that most modern writers regard that passage as figurative. The wild vine of another passage has been associated with the colocynth.

Historical Background

Josephus describes fruit near the five cities that appeared edible but dissolved into smoke and ashes when picked. The suggested plants grow around Jericho and the Dead Sea, but no identification is certain.

Historical Bible Dictionaries

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)

sod'-um: Josephus (BJ, IV, viii, 4) says that "the traces (or shadows) of the five cities (of the plain) are still to be seen, as well as the ashes growing in their fruits, which fruits have a color as if they were fit to be eaten; but if you pluck them with your hands they dissolve into smoke and ashes." What this "Dead Sea fruit" is, is uncertain. The name "Dead Sea apples" is often given to the fruit of the Solanum Sodomaean "a prickly shrub with fruit not unlike a small yellow tomato." Cheyne thinks that the fruits referred to by Josephus (compare Tacitus Hist. v.37) may be either(1) those of the `osher tree (`usar, Calotropis procera, described by Hasselquist (Travels, 1766)), found in abundance about Jericho and near the Dead Sea, which are filled with dust when they have been attacked by an insect, leaving the skin only entire, and of a beautiful color. Tristram describes the fruit as being "as large as an apple of average size, of a bright yellow color, hanging three or four together close to the stem"; or as suggested by Tristram(2) those of the wild colocynth; the fruit is fair of aspect with a pulp which dries up into a bitter powder (EB, article "Sodom," col. 4669, note 2). This colocynth is supposed to be the "wild vine" mentioned 2Ki 4:39. The "vine of Sodom" of De 32:32 has been supposed to bear the "Dead Sea fruit"; but most modern writers regard the passage as figurative.W. L. Walker

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