Apples of Gold

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold

in pictures of silver.

Proverbs 25:11 

Jonathan Chapman, born in 1774 in Massachusetts, was an American pioneer, nurseryman, and planter of apple trees throughout the United States - particularly in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the northern counties of West Virginia.  Known as Johnny Appleseed, he loved to tell stories to children of his travels to children, and would often stay with families, reading to them in the evenings in exchange for a meal and a spot by the fire to sleep.  Johnny loved the Lord, he loved apples, and he loved the land that God created.  When he died in 1845, he had been planting apple trees for more than 50 years.

I was curious about apples in the Bible.  There is the old legend that the fruit Eve took from the forbidden tree was an apple, but the Scriptures give us no such information.  The Genesis record does refer to the creation of fruit trees, but no varieties are cited.  The first direct mention of apples is this verse in Proverbs, written by King Solomon.  The Canticles of the Song of Solomon refer to both apples and apple trees in several places. 

Solomon used the illustration of a golden apple to describe the beauty of words spoken in the right way, at the right time.  A word of kindness can change the course of someone’s day.  Choose your words wisely.  What you say, and how you say it, matters.

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Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life.

Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life.

Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.

Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.

Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.

The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 600