Snoopy on More of Mark

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chansen said:
Just a correction for the next edition of the bible: The mustard seed is not the smallest seed.
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Regardless, they sure are pretty small and might well have been the smallest he knew of at that time.
 
Apparently some scholars think "lilies of the field" might refer to orchids. Beats me why Jesus would call an "orchid" a "lily" if this is true.
 
paradox3 said:
Apparently some scholars think "lilies of the field" might refer to orchids. Beats me why Jesus would call an "orchid" a "lily" if this is true.
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Naming of plants in ancient languages (and even many modern languages) is quite a different thing from how we do it in modern English. Perhaps the word for "lily" in Aramaic was similar to or the same as the word they used for "orchid" and then that got reflected or confused in the translation to the Greek. After all, modern classification of organisms, while it has roots in older natural philosophy, really starts with Linnaeus just 300ish years ago.
 
There is similar confusion about the text where it refers to wheat & grain because the writers might have meant corn. I recall a discussion about this on one of the bible study threads.

Grapes are grapes, right?
 
paradox3 said:
corn
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Keeping in mind that "corn" pre-colonization meant "wheat or grain". Maize, the thing we call corn today, is a Western Hemisphere plant and wasn't known in the Eastern Hemisphere pre-colonization. It spread quickly as a staple starch after that, but no one in Jesus' time and place had even heard of it.
 
@Mendalla Okay, opposite to what I posted above. When the Bible says corn it means any grain (wheat, etc). Not what we call corn today which is actually maize. I think the last time we discussed this, we were told they still call it maize in the UK.
 
paradox3 said:
I think the last time we discussed this, we were told they still call it maize in the UK.
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Because of that very confusion. In UK English, "corn" still equals "grain". Yep, English is a wonderful language for keeping linguists and other language scholars gainfully employed. :giggle:
 
My favorite thing is the words that have opposite meanings. Cleave is one of those (to split or to cling to). Tabling a discussion topic is another example.(Put it forward for discussion or delay the conversation).

But I digress. Snoopy is thinking about moving along in Mark.

As much as I say I will continue my bible reading without WC2 threads for my posts, I really don't. And journalling doesn't do much for me.
 
Mendalla said:
Regardless, they sure are pretty small and might well have been the smallest he knew of at that time.
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I think your right here ------

AI

Jesus likely used the mustard seed in his parables not because it was literally the smallest seed, but because it was a common and recognizable symbol of smallness in his time and culture, effectively conveying the idea of something starting small but growing into something significant
 
paradox3 said:
My favorite thing is the words that have opposite meanings. Cleave is one of those (to split or to cling to). Tabling a discussion topic is another example.(Put it forward for discussion or delay the conversation).
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TANGENT ALERT!!!
The technical term for those (apparently) is contronyms. In the last year my daughter and I have started following a couple of Etymology folk on YouTube and that is one of the things I have learned
 
GordW said:
TANGENT ALERT!!!
The technical term for those (apparently) is contronyms. In the last year my daughter and I have started following a couple of Etymology folk on YouTube and that is one of the things I have learned
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Hey thanks for the interesting tangent. Who knew there were 75 examples of this phenomenon in English?

Anyone ever read the Amelia Bedelia books with their kids? When Mrs Rogers asked Amelia Bedelia to dust the furniture, Amelia grabbed the talcum powder and spread it on the furniture.

The verb to dust, of course, means to remove dust OR to add it.
 
Mendalla said:
Oh yeah, those were popular here at one point. Amelia was fun that way. Lots of silly wordplay.
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I remember her "dressing" a chicken. And "drawing" the drapes. Among other things. She made many blunders but she baked a great pie so all was forgiven.
 
Hey @chansen thanks for giving this thread a bit of new life. That was an interesting discussion about seeds, contronyms and Amelia Bedelia

Bible study can take us down some unexpected paths :p
 
paradox3 said:
Hey @chansen thanks for giving this thread a bit of new life. That was an interesting discussion about seeds, contronyms and Amelia Bedelia

Bible study can take us down some unexpected paths :p
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No problem. I think it's interesting that Jesus wasn't aware that the mustard seed wasn't the smallest seed. Even though orchids probably grew in ancient Israel, the population may not have recognized their dust-like seeds as seeds. And neither did Jesus, who clearly had no further botanical knowledge than anyone else at the time.
 
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