The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

mustard seed

Mustard (Gk. sinapi).

A well-known plant of which two species, Sinapsis arvensis, L., and S. alba, L., flourish in the Holy Land. Besides these S. nigra, L., the black mustard is cultivated as a condiment. All produce minute seeds (Mt 17:20; Lk 17:6). All, in favorable soil in this warm climate, attain a great size (Mt 13:31-32; Mk 4:31-32; Lk 13:19).

The birds in (Lk 13:19). as it says, nest in the branches also with the word tree is to be taken only as an exaggerated contrast with the minute seed and to be explained by the parallel "but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree" (Mt 13:32). Palestinian mustard trees sometimes grow to a height of ten to fifteen feet or more.