Post by Cornald KruytWeet je zeker dat er mosterdbomen bestaan? Ik heb veel plaatjes bekeken
maar het zijn altijd struikjes, met gele bloemen als ze bloeien (als de
brem).
Nee, ik weet het niet zeker. Ik heb deze tekst zo gekopieerd van de Bijbels
Theologische Encyclopedie, die op de Online Bible Studie CDRom 2003 staat.
Post by Cornald KruytDeze laatste opmerking Ps. 104:12 berust op de
waarneming dat kleine vogels mosterdzaad komen eten.
"De vogelen des hemels zitten er bij, en zingen onder de takken."
Ook in de context kom ik daar niets tegen over mosterdzaad, of over het
feit dat uit een klein zaadje een grote plant kan groeien (wordt dit
'wonderlijke' feit aangewend om de grootsheid van het opperwezen aan te
tonen?)
Zover had ik niet eens gekeken. Inderdaad slaat deze verwijzing zo te zien
nergens op. Ik kan ook geen mosterd ontdekken.
Het schijnt om de salvadora persica te gaan. Op deze site, die ik overigens
verder niet kan lezen :) staat een plaatje, waaraan je kan zien dat het best
om een grote struik kan gaan:
http://www.taamasrar.com/ghiyahan_darooi/gh_List.asp (5e plaatje van boven)
Maar goed, ik zie inderdaad ook zat plaatjes waarbij het om een kleinere
plant gaat. Ik weet het ook niet.
Hier nog wat stukjes van de CD:
mosterd, de naam van een plant die in oosterse landen uit een heel klein
zaadje groeit en de hoogte van een boom kan bereiken, 3 meter en meer;
vandaar dat een heel kleine hoeveelheid van iets met een mosterdzaadje
vergeleken wordt en ook iets dat tot grote hoogte groeit.
en
de mostaard of mosterd (Lat. sinapi), uit het zaad van een plant
vervaardigd, die dezelfde naam draagt en in het Oosten, waar zij veelvuldig
in het wild groeit, een aanmerkelijk grotere wasdom verkrijgt dan bij ons,
zodat Jezus haar (volgens de gew. opvatting) in een van Zijn parabelen
vergelijkenderwijze een boom heeft kunnen noemen. anderen willen daar echter
aan een werkelijke boom (de Chardal of mostaardboom) gedacht hebben.
en
MUSTARD
(sinapi: sinapis) occurs in (#Mt xiii:31; Mr iv:31; Lu xiii:19), in which
passages the kingdom of heaven is compared to a grain of mustard-seed which
a man took and sowed in his garden; and in (#Mt xvii:20, Lu xvii:6), where
our Lord says to his Apostles, "if ye had faith as a grain of mustard- seed,
ye might say to this mountain, remove hence to yonder place."
The subject of the mustard-tree of Scripture has of late years been a matter
of considerable controversy, the common mustard-plant being supposed unable
to fulfill the demands of the Biblical allusion. In a paper by the late Dr.
Royle, read before the Royal Asiatic Society, and published in No. xv. of
their Journal (1844), entitled, "On the Identification of the Mustard-tree
of Scripture," the author concludes that the Salvadora persica is the tree
in question. He supposes the Salvadora persica to be the same as the tree
called Khardal (the Arabic for mustard), seeds of which are employed
throughout Syria as a substitute for mustard, of which they have the taste
and properties. This tree, according to the statement of Mr. Ameuny, a
Syrian, quoted by Dr. Royle, is found all along the banks of the Jordan,
near the lake of Tiberias, and near Damascus, and is said to be generally
recognized in Syria as the mustard-tree of Scripture. It appears that
Captains Irby and Mangles, who had observed this tree near the Dead Sea,
were struck with the idea that it was the mustard-tree of the parable. As
these travellers were advancing towards Kerek from the southern extremity of
the Dead Sea, after leaving its borders they entered a wooded country with
high rushes and marshes. "Occasionally," they say, "we met with specimens of
trees, etc., such as none of our party had seen before. ... Amongst the
trees which we knew, were various species of Acacia, and in some instances
we met with the dwarf Mimosa. ... There was one curious tree which we
observed in great numbers, and which bore a fruit in bunches, resembling in
appearance the currant, with the color of the plum; it has a pleasant,
though strong aromatic taste, resembling mustard, and if taken in any
quantity, produces a similar irritability in the nose and eyes. The leaves
of this tree have the same pungent flavor as the fruit, though not so
strong. We think it probable that this is the tree our Saviour alluded to in
the parable of the mustard-seed, and not the mustard-plant which is to be
found in the north" (Trav. May 8). Dr. Royle thus sums up his arguments in
favor of the Salvadora persica representing the mustard- tree of Scripture:
"The S. persica appears better calculated than any other tree that has yet
been adduced to answer to every thing that is required, especially if we
take into account its name and the opinions held respecting it in Syria. We
have in it a small seed, which sown in cultivated ground grows up and
abounds in foliage. This being pungent, may like the seeds have been used as
a condiment, as mustard-and-cress is with us. The nature of the plant is to
become arboreous, and thus it will form a large shrub or a tree, twenty-five
feet high, under which a horseman may stand when the soil and climate are
favorable; it produces numerous branches and leaves, under which birds may
and do take shelter, as well as build their nests; it has a name in Syria
which may be considered as traditional from the earliest times of which the
Greek is a correct translation; its seeds are used for the same purposes as
mustard; and in the a country where trees are not plentiful, that is, the
shores of the lake of Tiberias, this tree is said to abound, that is in the
very locality where the parable was spoken" (Treatise on the Mustard-tree,
etc., p. 24).
Notwithstanding all that has been adduced by Dr. Royle in support of his
argument, we confess ourselves unable to believe that the subject of the
mustard-tree of Scripture is thus finally settled. But, before the claims of
the Salvadora persica are discussed, it will be well to consider whether
some mustard- plant (Sinapis) may not after all be the mustard-tree of the
parable: at any rate this opinion has been held by many writers, who appear
never to have entertained any doubt upon the subject. Hiller, Celsius,
Rosenmuller, who all studied the botany of the Bible, and older writers,
such as Erasmus, Zegerus, Grotius, are content to believe that some common
mustard-plant is the plant of the parable; and more recently Mr. Lambert in
his "Note on the Mustard-plant of Scripture" (see Linnean Trans. vol. xvii.
p. 449), has argued in behalf of the Sinapis nigra.
The objection commonly made against any Sinapis being the plant of the
parable is, that the seed grew into "a tree" (dendron), or as St. Luke has
it, "a great tree" (dendron mega), in the branches of which the fowls of the
air are said to come and lodge. Now in answer to the above objection it is
urged with great truth, that the expression is figurative and oriental, and
that in a proverbial simile no literal accuracy is to be expected; it is an
error, for which the language of Scripture is not accountable, to assert, as
Dr. Royle and some others have done, that the passage implies that birds
"built their nests" in the tree, the Greek word kataskhnow has no such
meaning, the word merely means "to settle or rest upon" any thing for a
longer or shorter time; the birds came, "insidendi et versandi causa" as
Hiller (Hierophyt. ii. 63) explains the phrase: nor is there any occasion to
suppose that the expression "fowls of the air" denotes any other than the
smaller insessorial kinds, linnets, finches, etc., and not the "aquatic
fowls by the lake side, or partridges and pigeons hovering over the rich
plain of Gennesareth," which Prof. Stanley (S. & P. p. 427) recognizes as
"the birds that came and devoured the seed by the way-side"for the larger
birds are wild and avoid the way-sideor as those "which took refuge in the
spreading branches of the mustard- tree." Hillers explanation is probably
the correct one; that the birds came and settled on the mustard- plant for
the sake of the seed, of which they are very fond. Again, whatever the
sinapi may be, it is expressly said to be an herb, or more properly "a
garden herb" (lacanon, olus). As to the plant being called a "tree" or a
"great tree," the expression is not only an oriental one, but it is clearly
spoken with reference to some other thing; the sinapi with respect to the
other herbs of the garden may, considering the size to which it grows,
justly be called "a great tree," though of course, with respect to trees
properly so named, it could not be called one at all. This, or a some-what
similar explanation is given by Celsius and Hiller, and old commentators
generally, and we confess we see no reason why we should not be satisfied
with it. Irby and Mangles mention the large size which the mustard-plant
attains in Palestine. In their journey from Bysan to Adjeloun, in the Jordan
Valley, they crossed a small plain very thickly covered with herbage,
particularly the mustard-plant, which reached as high as their horses
heads. (Trav. March 12.) Dr. Kitto says his plant was probably the Sinapis
orientalis (nigra), which attians under a favoring climate a stature which
it will not reach in our country Dr. Thomson also (The Land and the Book, p.
414) says he has seen the Wild Mustard on the rich plain of Akkar as tall as
the horse and the rider. Now, it is clear from Scripture that the sinapi was
cultivated in our Lords time, the seed a "man took and sowed in his field;"
St. Luke says, "cast into his garden:" if then, the wild plant on the rich
plain of Akkar grows as high as a man on horseback, it might attain to the
same or a greater height when in a cultivated garden; and if, as Lady
Callcott has observed, we take into account the very low plants and shrubs
upon which birds often roost, it will readily be seen that some common
mustard-plant is able to fulfill all the Scriptural demands. As to the story
of the Rabbi Simeon Ben Calaphtha having in his garden a mustard- plant,
into which he was accustomed to climb as men climb into a fig-tree, it can
only be taken for what Talmudical statements generally are worth, and must
be quite insufficient to afford grounds for any argument. But it may be
asked Why not accept the explanation that the Salvadora persica is the tree
denoted?a tree which will literally meet all the demands of the parable.
Because, we answer, where the commonly received opinion can be shown to be
in full accordance with the Scriptural allusions, there is no occasion to be
dissatisfied with it; and again, because at present we know nothing certain
of the occurrence of the Salvadora persica in Palestine, except that it
occurs in the small, tropical, low valley of Engedi, near the Dead Sea, from
whence Dr. Hooker saw specimens, but it is evidently of rare occurrence. Mr.
Ameuny says he had seen it all along the banks of the Jordan, near the lake
of Tiberias and Damascus; but this statement is certainly erroneous. We know
from Pliny, Dioscorides, and other Greek and Roman writers, that
mustard-seeds were much valued, and were used as a condiment; and it is more
probable that the Jews of our Lords time were in the habit of making a
similar use of the seeds of some common mustard (Sinapis), than that they
used to plant in their gardens the seed of a tree which certainly cannot
fulfill the Scriptural demand of being called "a pot-herb."
The expression "which is indeed the least of all seeds," is in all
probability hyperbolical, to denote a very small seed indeed, as there are
many seeds which are smaller than mustard. "The Lord, in his popular
teaching," says Trench (Notes on Parables, 108), "adhered to the popular
language;" and the mustard- seed was used proverbially to denote anything
very minute (see the quotations from the Talmud in Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p.
322: also the Koran, Sur. 31).
The parable of the mustard-plant may be thus paraphrased: "The Gospel
dispensation is like a grain of mustard-seed which a man sowed in his
garden, which indeed is one of the least of all seeds; but which, when it
springs up, becomes a tall, branched plant, on the branches of which the
birds come and settle seeking their food." {a} W. H.
* The writer, in crossing the Plain of Akka from Birweh, on the north
side, to Mount Carmel, on the south, met with a fielda little forest it
might almost be calledof the common mustard- plant of the country. It was
in blossom at the time, full grown; in some cases, as measured, six, seven,
and nine feet high, with a stem or trunk more than an inch thick, throwing
out branches on every side. It might well be called a tree, and certainly,
in comparison with its tiny seed, "a great tree." But still the branches, or
stems of the branches, were not very large, and to the eye did not appear
very strong. Can the birds, I said to myself, rest upon them? Are they not
too slight and flexible? Will they not bend or break beneath the superadded
weight? At that very instant, as I stood and revolved the thought, lo! one
of the fowls of heaven stopped in its flight through the air, alighted down
on one of the branches, which hardly moved beneath the shock, and then
began, perched there before my eyes, to warble forth a strain of the richest
music.
In this occurrence every condition of the parable was fully met. As remarked
above, the Greek expression does not say that the birds build their nests
among such branches, but light upon them or make their abode among them.
[Nests, Amer. ed.] This plant is not only common in Palestine in a wild
state, but is cultivated in gardens comp. (#Mt xiii:31). This circumstance
shows that the Khardal or mustard-tree of the Arabs (Salvadora persica)
cannot be meant, for that grows wild only. Certain birds are fond of the
seeds, and seek them as food. The associating of the birds and this plant as
in the parable was the more natural on that account. Further, see Tristram,
Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 472 f. H
{a} Dr. Hooker has read the proof-sheet of this article, and returned it
with the following remarks: "I quite agree with all you say about Mustard.
My best informants laughed at the idea of the Salvadora persica other being
the mustard, or as being sufficiently well known to be made use of in a
parable at all. I am satisfied that it is a very rare plant in Syria, and is
probably confined to the hot, low, sub- tropical Enged, valley, where
various other Indian and Arabian types appear at the Ultima Thule of their
northern was derings. Of the mustard-plants which I saw on the banks of the
Jordan, one was 10 feet high, draws up among bushes, etc., and not thicker
than whipcord. I was told it was well-known condimant, and oultivated by the
Arabs; it is the common wild Sinapis Nigra."