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Bible Dictionaries
Corn
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or CORN.—In Authorized Version of the Gospels ‘corn’ is used to translate four distinct words in the original:
(1) σπόριμα: ‘Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn’ (Matthew 12:1). Here ‘corn’ should be ‘cornfields,’ the rendering of Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 in this verse, and of both Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 in the parallel passages in Mk. (Mark 2:23) and Lk. (Luke 6:1). σπόριμα properly means seed land (σπείρω), and in classical Greek is not found in its NT sense of ‘cornfields.’
(2) σῖτος, in Mark 4:28, where a contrast is drawn between the different stages in the growth of the cornstalk—‘first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’ In LXX Septuagint, as in classical Greek, σῖτος is a generic word for cereals, but refers especially to wheat as the staple grain food. Corresponding to this, we find that elsewhere in the NT, both in Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885, the word is always translated ‘wheat’ (Matthew 3:12; Matthew 13:25; Matthew 13:29-30, Luke 3:17; Luke 16:7; Luke 22:31, John 12:24).
(3) στάχυς = ‘an ear of corn’ (Matthew 12:1 || Mark 4:28). So in LXX Septuagint as an equivalent for שִׁבּל֥ח in Genesis 41:5 etc.
(4) κόκκος = a single grain or ‘corn.’ It is rendered ‘corn’ only in John 12:24 (Authorized Version): ‘Except a corn of wheat [ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου] fall into the ground and die …’ (cf. the use of the words ‘peppercorn,’ ‘barleycorn’). Elsewhere in Authorized Version (Matthew 13:31 || 17:20 ||), as always in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885, it is rendered ‘a grain.’
‘Corn’ is thus used in Authorized Version in four distinguishable senses—as applying to a cornfield, to a ripe cornstalk, to an ear of wheat, and to a single grain. And it is noteworthy in each case how intimately the Gospel references to corn are associated with our Lord’s revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom and the truth regarding His own person and saving work. The parable of the Blade, the Ear, and the Full Corn was used to unfold the law of growth in the Kingdom of God. The incident of the plucking of the ears of corn in the cornfields on the Sabbath day served as the occasion for a notable declaration regarding both the dignity of the Son of Man and the graciousness of Him who loves mercy more than sacrifice. The death and fruitful resurrection of the grain of wheat became the prophecy and type of Christ’s Passion and consequent power to draw all men unto Himself. And these lessons from the corn in the records of the Lord’s ministry may be greatly extended as we recall what He said about the sowing of the corn (parable of the Sower) and its reaping (the Tares and the Wheat); how He saw in the white fields a vision of a great spiritual harvest only waiting to be gathered (John 4:35); how at Capernaum He turned the people’s minds from the barley bread of the previous day’s miracle to think of Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6); and said of the broken loaf at the Last Supper, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’
For further information the reader is referred to Agriculture, Barley, Sowing, etc.
Literature.—Candolle, Origine des Plantes Cultivées; Löw, Aramaische Pflanzennamen; Tristram, Natural History of the Bible; see also Bruder’s Concord. NT Graeci; Grimm-Thayer’s Lex. s.vv.
J. C. Lambert.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Corn'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/c/corn.html. 1906-1918.
