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Bible Dictionaries
Bushel
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or BUSHEL (ὁ μόδιος, Matthew 5:15, Mark 4:21, Luke 11:33—a Lat. word with a Gr. form).—The Roman modius, equal to 16 sextarii, or approximately one English peck, was not a measure in common use in Jewish households. Although the definite article is probably generic (‘the bushel,’ so Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885), the measure which would lend itself naturally to our Lord’s illustration, and that to which He actually referred, was the Hebrew seah measure used by the housewife in preparing the daily bread. While the seah measure varied in size according to locality, it is generally regarded as being equal to one modius and a quarter, though Josephus (Ant. ix. iv. 5) states: ‘A seah is equal to an Italian modius and a half.’
To the influence of Roman customs was no doubt due the substitution of modius for seah in the report of the saying (Matthew 5:15 etc.); and in like manner, since no importance was attached by our Lord to exactness of measure, the familiar ‘bushel’ of earlier English versions has been retained by the Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885, although ‘peck’ would be a more accurate rendering.
The saying of our Lord is as picturesque as it is forcible. It gives us a glimpse into a Galilaean home, where the commonest articles of furniture would be the lamp, the lampstand, the seah measure, and the couch. And who could fail to apprehend the force of the metaphor? ‘When the word has been proclaimed, its purpose is defeated if it be concealed by the hearers; when the lamp comes in, who would put it under the modius or the couch of the triclinium?’ (Swete on Mark 4:21).
Literature.—Art. ‘Weights and Measures’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iv. 911a, 913b, and the Encyc. Bibl. iv. col. 5294 f.
Alex. A. Duncan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Bushel'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/b/bushel.html. 1906-1918.
