Cummin
“Cummin”
Summary
An aromatic plant whose seeds were used as a condiment and medicine, and which the Pharisees scrupulously tithed.
☩Description and Use
Cummin (Cuminum cyminum) is an annual herbaceous umbellifer with a slender, branching stem growing to about a foot in height. The ovoid seeds are strongly aromatic with a flavor resembling caraway but more pungent. It was used by the Jews as a condiment, for flavoring bread, and had carminative and other medicinal properties including remedies for colic and to stanch excessive bleeding. The plant is indigenous to Upper Egypt and Mediterranean countries but was also cultivated from early times in Western Asia, India, and China.
☩Agricultural Methods
Isaiah mentions cummin in illustrating God's wisdom in teaching farmers proper agricultural methods. Unlike wheat which is threshed, cummin is scattered in sowing and beaten out with a rod in threshing—a gentler method suited to its delicate seeds. These practices remain true in Palestine today.
☩Jesus's Rebuke of the Pharisees
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they paid tithe of mint, anise, and cummin while omitting the weightier matters of the Law—judgment, mercy, and faith. Their punctilious attention to tithing even the smallest garden herbs while neglecting justice demonstrated misplaced priorities. 'Cummin splitting' was a Greek adage for cheese-paring parsimony.
See Also
References
- 1.James Orr (ed.), "Cummin," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 2.James Hastings (ed.), "Cummin," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).
- 3.George Morrish, "Cummin," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Cummin," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).