DAY 156
CHALLENGE
“Scripture is inaccurate when it says the mustard seed is the smallest seed. It is larger than a poppy seed, for example. Also, it does not grow into a tree.”
DEFENSE
This objection presses the text beyond its intended limits.
Jesus tells this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mus- tard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matt. 13:31–32; cf. Mark 4:30–32, Luke 13:18–19).
The cultivated mustard plant of this parable (brassica nigra, or black mustard) is native to the Middle East. Though there are plants with smaller seeds, it is disputed whether first-century Jews cultivated any. “No one yet has proved that ancient Palestinians planted anything that bore a smaller seed than that of the black mustard, and that was the framework within which Jesus was speaking” (Gleason Archer, New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, 329).
If Jesus was speaking of plants commonly cultivated at the time— if that was his universe of discourse—he was not referring to other plants. However, if his universe of discourse was broader, it would be natural to understand him as using hyperbole. In ancient literature, the mustard seed was proverbial for its smallness (cf. Mishnah Tohorot 8:8H, Niddah 5:2D), and Jesus would have been drawing on this mode of speech without implying there was literally nothing smaller.
Regarding the size to which the mustard plant grows, the parable notes it is a “shrub” (Greek, lachanōn, “herb, vegetable, garden plant”), and thus not literally at tree. It does, however, grow to a prodigious size. The Encyclopedia of Life notes that, “The black mustard plant grows up to 2 m (a little over 6 ft), with many branches” (s.v. Brassica nigra; online at eol.org).
Fundamentally, Jesus is not making a point about botany. He is us- ing the growth of mustard as an analogy of how the kingdom of God will grow from his small band of followers to a worldwide commu- nion. To try to get precise, literal statements about botany from the parable presses the text beyond its intended limits.