It is not necessary to think that Jesus had such cases of recklessness in His mind. We prefer to believe that He was thinking of bonAfide vows, made to the Temple, hastily, perhaps angrily, without sufficient regard to the claims of aged parents. The question was a very intricate one, What ought the Rabbis to advise the man to do? The Law was most emphatic in its insistence that all vows, when once made, must be kept (Dt 23-'-'--^). Which lias the higher claim on a man's conscience ? Tlie service of God, promoted by the gift, and the Law obeyed by keeping the vow inviolate? or, the support of poor aged parents, the Law broken and the vow violated? It was a delicate matter, and we can scarcely wonder that the Rabbis of Christ's day adhered to the literal significance of Dt 23'-'--', and . lield that nothing could justify the retractation of a vow. In other words, they allowed the literal and the ceremonial to override the ethical. Jesus disclosed a different ' spirit,' as He ruled that duty to parents is a higher obligation than upholding ■religious worship, or than observance of a vow rashly or thoughtlessly made.
In Nedarim, ix. 1, we find Eliezer ben Hyrkanos (c. A.D. 90), who in many respects felt the influ- ence of Christianity, give the same view as the Lord Jesus with regard to rash vows. We trans- late the passage thus—
' U. Eliezersaid that when rash vows infringe at all on parental obli^'ations, Rabbis should suggest a retractation (lit. " bv appealing to the honour due to parents. Th
honour i to God ; theu length agreed
yVtw
door) bv appealing to the honour due to parents. The sages
dissented. R. Zadok said, instead of appealing (
due to parenU, let them appeal to the honour ilut
might tash vows cease to be made
with R. Eliezer that if the ease be directly
his parents [as in Mk TH), they might suggest
appealing to the honour due to parents."
The words of R. Metr (c. A.D. 150) are also inter- esting in this connexion as given in Nedarun, ix. 4—
' One mav effect a retractation of a rash vow by quoting what is written "in the Law. One may say to him : It thou hailst known that thou wast transgressing such commandments as these, "Thou shaft not take vengeance nor bear a grudge ';
Corn
Corner-stone
36f)
"Thou Shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart"; "Thou Shalt love thy neighbour as thyself " [Lv 19i7f] ; " Thy brother shall live with thee" [Lv 25^],— wouldst thou have made the vow? Perhaps thy brother may become poor, and thou (because of tily rash vow) wilt not be able to support him. If he shall say, If I had known that it was so, I would not have made the vow, — he may be released from his vow.'
These quotations show that, in some directions, the spirit of humaneness was triumphing over the literalism which Jesus combated in His day.
Literature. — The Mishnio treatise, Nedarim ; artt. on
' Corban '
Hastin
; Wetstein, Grotius, and Bruce on Mt 15S and Mk 7" ; Light- foot's Hor. Heb., and Wiinsche's Ei-tanterung, in loco.
J. T. Marshall. CORN.— In AV of the Gospels 'corn' is used to translate four distinct words in the original :
(1) ffTrSpi/xa : 'Jesus went on tlie Sabbath day- through the corn' (IVIt 12^). Here 'corn' should be 'cornfields,' the rendering of RV in this verse, and of botli AV and RV in the parallel passages in Mk. (2-3) and Lk. (6M. (riropifia properly means seed land {tnretpu), and in classical Greek is not found in its NT sense of ' cornfields.'
(2) (TITOS, in Mk 4-^, where a contrast is drawn between the difi'erent stages in tlie growth of the cornstalk — ' first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.' In LXX, as in classical Greek, o-iros is a generic word for cereals, but refers especially to wheat as the staple grain food. Corre- sponding to this, we find that elsewhere in the NT, both in AV and RV, the word is always translated 'wheat' (Mt 3'= 13=«- -»■ '», Lk 3" 16' '223i, Jn 12=«).
(3) <rrdxvs=' a.n ear of corn' (Mt 12' || Mk 4=«). So in LXX as an equivalent for nhip in Gn 41= etc.
(4) (t(i/f (COS = a single grain or ' corn.' It is rendered ' corn ' only in Jn 12^ (AV) : ' Except a com of wheat [o KOK/cos tov airov] fall into the ground and die . . .' (cf. the use of the words 'peppercorn,' ' barleycorn '). Elsewhere in AV (Mt 13" II 17^" II ), as always in RV, it is rendered ' a grain.'
' Com ' is thus used in AV in foiu- distinguishable senses — as applying to a cornfield, to a ripe coi'n- stalk, 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 King- dom 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 botli the ilii^iiity of the Son of Man and the graciousness of liiui ivliu loves mercy more than sacrifice. The ileath and fi-uitful resurrection of the grain of wlieat became the prophecy and type of Christ's Passion and con- sequent 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 (Jn 4'=) ; how at Capernaum He