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The feast of the fruit harvest features every Israelite carrying branches of the citron, according to Walker's reference to "goodly fruit." She also notes Josephus reporting that citron fruit comes from "goodly trees". Citron or citrus medica is more like a shrub than a tree. Native to India, it has been grown in the Middle East for many hundreds of years.
Citron is a heavy, unusual fruit with a knobby texture like the cucumber. Its smell is pleasant and the juice is sour. The tree grows up to ten feet in an irregular shape. The branches are thick with a gray bark. The flowers are like the orange tree's. Its petals are fleshy, rose-like and the center is filled with gold stamens. Because it is believed by some to be the forbidden fruit of the Garden of the Eden, it has been given the name pomum adami (Walker).
In Revelation 18:12 "Thyine" is translated as citron for the sandarac tree's fragrant, valuable wood (Nelson). The sandarac tree grows to a height of 30 feet or approximately 9 meters.
Some scholars, when translating to the word "apple" identify the citron fruit. (Song. 2: 5; 7:8) Apricot and quince, both beautiful and fragrant fruits are often referred to instead of citron. The quince (cydonia oblonga) was sacred to Venus. Royle writes, “The rich color, fragrant odor, and handsome appearance of the citron, whether in flower or in fruit, are particularly suited to the passages” (Song. of Solomon 2 and 5).
Leviticus 23:39 (KJV) Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
Leviticus 23:40 (KJV) And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
Revelation 18:11-13 And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.
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