About a week ago, we began a series of 12 expressions and idioms that is bound to enrich your Hebrew vocabulary, both in physical and spiritual aspects, all involving a common noun that most of us use daily without giving it too much thought. This noun is p’ri: fruit.
Today’s expression is all about joy. Pri me•ga•dim is the biblical expression that is still in use today, but only in Hebrew fine literature and poetry. Me•ga•dim is the plural of ‘me•ged,’ which means ‘precious thing,’ ‘pleasant thing,’ ‘goodness,’ or more rarely, ‘sweet thing’ and ‘sweet delicacy.’
In the Bible me•ga•dim appears 12 times. In most of the references it means a precious thing; but in one verse, the first part relates to precious fruit while the second part remains a mystery:
“And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,”
While we perfectly understand the first part, there is no clue of the nature of the “precious things put forth by the moon.”
In II Chronicles the form of the word is slightly different in the plural feminine: ‘mig•da•not,’ which also means ‘precious things’:
“And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold, and of precious things”
In Song of Solomon, it is again ‘precious’ or ‘pleasant fruit’ in masculine possessive form: me•ga•dav:
“Awake, O north wind; and come, O south wind! blow upon my garden, let its spices flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat its pleasant fruits”
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