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This is the only mention of the onion in the Bible even though it was used all through Bible times. The vegetable probably originated in what was Persia, though it has been cultivated in Egypt from earliest times. Representations of the vegetable can be seen carved on ancient tombs. Herodotus says that when the Great Pyramid of Khufu was built, a huge expense was keeping workers supplied with onions. To some Egyptian priests the vegetable symbolized the universe. They interpreted the globe of the onion as the spheres of heaven, earth and hell.
The vegetable grows very much larger in warm dry countries than in temperate places. Its flavor is sweet and pleasant, and the onion of Palestine is unequaled anywhere. This type of onion grows beneath the soil, but sends up a long inflated stem that terminates in a ball-shaped cluster of tiny white flowerets. Each floweret has six petals. The fresh young leaves are long and tubular. Ancient medical records include twenty-six remedies that mention the onion. It is considered sacred to St. Thomas.
Numbers 11:5 (KJV) We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
Numbers 11:6 (KJV) But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
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