Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets:
All Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 12:5 Go To Ecclesiastes 12
Didymus the Blind
AD 398
Those who have dealt with the world of plants say the following about the almond: Among all the plants it grows leaves in springtime and sheds them not before all the other trees have gotten bare; it is very durable. This is why it is said about the “priestly rod” that it was of almond wood. It did not last a short time; from Moses until the coming of the Savior it was a visible sign.… This is what we think: Even if there are plants from other teachings, they bloom later, that is, after the true teaching, and cease before it; they vanish when it appears. This rod, therefore, has extinguished the other rods, those of the false apostles, and of the false prophets.… The sentence “the almond blooms” can be understood in a moral sense. The almond has two layers around the edible kernel: something hard that has to be cracked and something bitter, that is, the outer shell. The outer shell can be seen as the body, since it is bitter, tending to the sensual. The hard part, however, is the soul, since it is strong and big. The edible in the kernel is the spirit. When the sentence of the apostle comes to fruition—“May the God of peace sanctify you, perfect your spirit, your soul, and your body”—then the almond blooms. In its blooming it envelops all the three. The human being blooms, when it progresses in virtue, when it transforms its body so that it imitates the body of Christ.
