I can't make sense out of Matthew 13:31-32, the mustard parable?
Posted by pano | Under Herb Garden Wednesday Aug 11, 2010I googled "mustard" and it seems that the mustard plant is an herb, not a tree: Sinapis nigra seems to be what Jesus was talking about. There are some sites that reference Salvadora persica, for reasons I don’t understand, but even if this were the tree that Jesus meant, its seeds aren’t small. Why would the creator of these plants have trouble talking about them coherently? Or have I missed something important about mustard? And of course, it’s a parable, not a statement of scientific facts, but come on, why would he choose such a confusing example? Why not just talk about a mighty oak that grows from a tiny acorn or something?
Matthew 13:31-32
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."
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Bible’s parables are totally spiritual in understanding one must have His Spirit to understand it especially new testament or else he will be seriously offended at his words yet they are true in all aspects and science does not qualify when spirituality comes in. Science has to still discover lots more what God has created. It is beyond science’s imagination. Science does not understand the language of Spirit and it will never understand the depth of a Spirit.
Jesus used a mustard seed because it is insignificant. The church begins as something insignificant that was not destined (like an acorn) to become a mighty oak. Yet, it grows almost miraculously into a huge tree where all sorts of creatures find rest.
It is an odd story, and Christians seem determined to make it even sillier.
If the man sowed sinapis nigra in his field, then it isn’t going to grow into a tree. Even calling sinapis nigra a bush is pushing it. Only a very small bird would perch in the branches of sinapis nigra, and probably only a very small and feebleminded one at that.
You can get a tree by sowing salvadora persica. But what sort of a clown sows salvadora persica? The thing grows wild as a weed, and isn’t very useful (you can use the twigs for chewing on, but you can do that with quite a few different types of twig).
(I have never seen any example of the seed of salvadora persica referred to as ????? ????????, and I don’t believe it would be. But perhaps someone has evidence to the contrary).
So either the birds are halfwits, or the farmers are.
The usual explanation (see link) is that none of this really matters. Jesus is not talking about especially small seeds, nor about especially tall trees. He is just very excited about how fully grown plants are larger than seeds are.
So either the birds are halfwits. Or the farmers are halfwits. Or Jesus is.
You should let your faith guide you toward choosing the correct interpretatioin.
Jesus was referring to the black "mustard grain (Brassica nigra), which gives off a particularly virulent essence capable of causing blisters on the skin. This seed was the tiniest of the seeds commonly sown in Israel in Jesus’ day.
While some may argue that a mustard grain is not “the tiniest” of all seeds, orchid seeds being smaller, and that it does not actually become “a tree,” it must be borne in mind that Jesus was speaking in terms familiar to his audience. As far as Jesus’ listeners were concerned, the mustard grain was indeed among the tiniest seeds planted, and it is noteworthy that the Arabs designate as “trees” plants smaller than the mustard.
Surprisingly, the black “mustard grain” itself is exceedingly small. It has a diameter of about one twentieth of an inch [1 mm], justifying its use as the smallest unit of measure in the Talmud.—Berakhot 31a.
When growing wild, black mustard thrives on stony ground and alongside paths and rivers in Africa, India, and Europe. It also flourishes on the green hillsides of the Sea of Galilee, in Israel. When properly cultivated, it matures rapidly and can grow to the point of attaining “in the Orient, and sometimes even in the south of France, the height of our fruit trees.”—Vigouroux’s Dictionnaire de la Bible.
The striking contrast between the tiny mustard seed and the large full-grown plant added meaning to Christ’s teaching about the growth of a “kingdom of the heavens” that came to provide lodging for the birds of the heavens. (Matthew 13:31, 32;)
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The mustard grain was tiny and so it could be used to designate anything extremely small. (Lu 17:6) When fully developed, some mustard plants actually attain a height of 3 to 4.5 m (10 to 15 ft) and have sturdy branches, thus virtually becoming “a tree,” as Jesus said.
Jesus was a carpenter, not a farmer.
Its all about illustrations fitting the audience.
You suggest oaks and acorns because you are familiar with that.
The farming jews, in Jesus’ time, were familiar with mustard seeds.
It helped them get the main point.
Yet another mistake in the Bible…hmm……
ha
it becomes large enough to birds to perch on it. like a large shrub.
It turns out the mustard seed is bigger than your faith…
Mustard tree:
http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/alsaid/Pictures%20Library/Salvadora%20persica%20(Miswak%20tree).Jizan%20area.gif
Notice the middle eastern man, the middle eastern landscape, and the giant mustard tree, also called a toothbrush tree.
Here is another mustard tree:
http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Flowgallery/Salvadora_persica_flower.jpg
It’s in Israel, ya know, where Jesus lived.
Or are you just making fun of the Bible and trying to sound smart. FAIL!!
I never studied the etymological roots for the words in this parable, but in general questions like this one refer back to three things: translation, euphemism and analogy.
The Aramaic words that got translated into Koine Greek words for "mustard" and "tree" might have been anything, might have been referring to some kind of plant that went extinct since then or to some kind of native ligustrum that now has a different name. Or certain herb shrubs might have been euphemistically called "trees" in that time and culture.
The word "small" is comparative, too. The seed is smaller than the bush / shrub / tree it produces.
The point is that faith starts off small, but cultivated, can grow into something larger and beautiful.