the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Bush
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or BUSH (βάτος).—Mark 12:26 || Luke 20:37* [Note: The parallel passage in Matthew (22:31) omits the reference to ‘the Bush.’] refers to the ‘Burning Bush’ (Exodus 3:2-4, Deuteronomy 33:16 where LXX Septuagint uses βάτος to translation סְנָה of the original). Before the [probably mediaeval] division into chapters and verses it was not easy to cite Scripture with precision. ‘In or at the Bush’ (Authorized Version in Mark and Luke respectively) means not ‘beside that memorable bush,’ but ‘in the passage in Scripture describing the theophany in the bush’ ( Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885, ‘in the place concerning the Bush’).
The derivation of סְנָה is not known, and all attempts to identify it have failed.’ There is no justification for the suggestion of Gesenius (, s.v.) that it is connected with the plant, nor for Stanley’s assumption (. of the Jewish Church [ed. 1883], i. 97) that it was the wild acacia. The fact that in the LXX Septuagint it is translated by βάτος shows that it was believed to be a thorn bush. βάτος is specially used of the bramble (Rubus), but according to Post (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, s.v. ‘Bush’), ‘Rubus has not been found wild in Sinai, which is south of its range, and climatically unsuited to it.’
βάτος occurs once again in the Gospels: Luke 6:44; Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘bramble bush’ [Matthew’s parallel (Matthew 7:16) has ‘thorns’]. It was thought necessary to alter the translation; the word which in the other passage had such lofty associations is here used by Christ almost with contempt. Moreover, a vine might well enough be described as a ‘bush’ in the abstract; it does not grow high, and has no strength of wood (Ezekiel 15). ‘Bramble’ in older English means ‘thorn bush’ not necessarily ‘blackberry bush.’ Yet the translation seems apt enough, even according to modern usage. Liddell and Scott give βάτος as = ‘blackberry bush’ or ‘wild raspberry,’ but the adjective βατόεις = ‘thorned.’
Robert Mackintosh.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Bush'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/b/bush.html. 1906-1918.
