grass Summary and Overview

(1.) Heb. hatsir, ripe grass fit for mowing (1 Kings 18:5; Job 40:15; Ps. 104:14). As the herbage rapidly fades under the scorching sun, it is used as an image of the brevity of human life (Isa. 40:6, 7; Ps. 90:5). In Num. 11:5 this word is rendered "leeks." (2.) Heb. deshe', green grass (Gen. 1:11, 12; Isa. 66:14; Deut. 32:2). "The sickly and forced blades of grass which spring up on the flat plastered roofs of houses in the East are used as an emblem of speedy destruction, because they are small and weak, and because, under the scorching rays of the sun, they soon wither away" (2 Kings 19:26; Ps. 129:6; Isa. 37:27). The dry stalks of grass were often used as fuel for the oven (Matt. 6:30; 13:30; Luke 12:28).

GRASS . Isa 51:12. This word is frequently applied in the Scriptures to herbage generally, Isa 15:6, though sometimes distinction is made between such herbs as are used by man as grain and vegetables, and such as are used chiefly by cattle. Ps 104:14. The quick growth and tenderness of this species of vegetation furnish several of the most striking illustrations of the Scriptures. Ps 90:5-6; Ps 92:7; Ps 103:15-16; Isa 40:6-8; Jer 51:12; Jas 1:10; 1 Pet 1:24. The passage in Prov 27:25 would be more accurately rendered thus: "The grass (hay) appeareth, and the green herb (tender grass) showeth itself, and the plants (herbs) of the mountains are gathered." So in Isa 15:6: "The grass (hay) withereth, the green herb (grass) faileth, there is no green thing." Nothing can exceed in beauty and appropriateness the gradation of images employed by the prophet, 2 Kgs 19:26; the weakness and tenderness of the first shoots of any green herb; the frailty of the few spires of grass that sometimes spring up in the vegetable mould or shallow earth upon the housetop, or the withered blade of corn (grain) blasted before it rises into a stalk. Coarse herbage was often dried, as it is still, for the purpose of heating ovens. Under the fierce rays of a Syrian sun, joined to parching winds, it often happens that "the grass of the field which to-day is, . . . to-morrow is cast into the oven." Matt 6:30; Matt 13:30; Luke 12:28.

Its rapid fading in the heat of Israel is a frequent image of man's frailty (Psalm 103:14-15; Psalm 90:5-6; Isaiah 40:6-7). In Jeremiah 50:11 for "the heifer at grass" (i.e., fat and frisky), since the gender of "at grass" dasha, confounded with desha "grass") does not agree with eglah "a heifer," translated "a heifer threshing (treading out) grain." The strongest were used for threshing, and as the law did not allow their mouth to be muzzled in threshing (Deuteronomy 25:4) they waxed wanton with superabundant food, an image of Judea's insolent destroyers. It is a coincidence undesigned, and therefore a mark of genuineness, that by three evangelists the "grass" is noticed in the miraculous feeding of the 5,000; John (John 6:10) saying, "there was much grass in the place" (a notable circumstance in Israel, where grass is neither perennial nor universal; the latter rain and sunshine stimulate its rapid growth, but the scorching summer soon withers it and leaves the hills bare); Mark (Mark 6:39), with his usual graphic vividness, mentioning "the green grass"; Matthew (Matthew 14:19) simply stating Christ's command to "sit down on the grass." But in the feeding of the 4,000 the multitude in both Gospels (Matthew 15:35; Mark 8:6) are commanded to "sit down on the ground." This delicate distinction disproves the notion that the two miracles are really different versions of the same miracle, as also that of the 12 (small) baskets (kofinoi) in the miracle of the 5,000, and the seven (larger) baskets (spurides) in that of the 4,000. Compare Matthew 16:9-10 with Matthew 14:20; Luke 9:17; kofinoi) being uniformly applied to the former miracle, spurides) to the latter (Blunt, Undesigned Coincidences). In Matthew 6:30 "the lily" is classed with "the grass of the field." "Grass" must here be used for all that grows in the field, wild flowers as well as grasses, herbage.