Fitches

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

or VETCHES, a kind of tare. There are two words in Hebrew which our translators have rendered fitches, קצח and בסמת : the first occurs only in  Isaiah 28:25;  Isaiah 28:27 , and must be the name of some kind of seed; but the interpreters differ much in explaining it. Jerom, Maimonides, R. David Kimchi, and the rabbins understand it of the gith; and rabbi Obdias de Bartenora expressly says that its barbarous or vulgar name is ניילי . The gith was called by the Greeks μελανθιον , and by the Latins nigella; and is thus described by Ballester: "It is a plant commonly met with in gardens, and grows to a cubit in height, and sometimes more, according to the richness of the soil. The leaves are small like those of fennel, the flower blue, which disappearing, the ovary shows itself on the top, like that of a poppy, furnished with little horns, oblong, divided by membranes into several partitions, or cells, in which are enclosed seeds of a very black colour, not unlike those of the leek, but of a very fragrant smell." And Ausonius observes, that its pungency is equal to that of pepper:—

Est inter fruges morsu piper aequiparens git.

Pliny says it is of use in bakehouses, pistrinis, and that it affords a grateful seasoning to the bread. The Jewish rabbins also mention the seeds among condiments, and mixed with bread. For this purpose it was probably used in the time of Isaiah; since the inhabitants of those countries, to this day, have a variety of rusks and biscuits, most of which are strewed on the top with the seeds of sesamum, coriander, and wild garden saffron.

The other word rendered fitches in our translation of   Ezekiel 4:9 , is בסמת ; but in  Exodus 9:32 , and  Isaiah 28:25 , "rye." In the latter place the Septuagint has ξεα , and in the two former ολυρα ; and the Vulgate in Exodus, far, and in Isaiah and Ezekiel, vicia. Saadias, likewise, took it to be something of the leguminous kind, גלנאן , cicircula, (misprinted circula in the Polyglott version,) or, "a chickling." Aquila has ζεα , and Theodotion, ολυρα . Onkelos and Targum have בונתיא , and Syriac, בונחא , which are supposed to be the millet, or a species of it called panicum; Persian, בורבגדם , the spelt; and this seems to be the most probable meaning of the Hebrew word; at least it has the greatest number of interpreters from Jerom to Celsius. There are not, however, wanting, who think it was rye; among whom R. D. Kimchi, followed by Luther, and our English translators: Dr. Geddes, too, has retained it, though he says that he is inclined to think that the spelt is preferable.

Dr. Shaw thinks that this word may signify rice. Hasselquist, on the contrary, affirms that rice was brought into cultivation in Egypt under the Caliphs. This, however, may be doubted. One would think from the intercourse of ancient Egypt with Babylon and with India, that this country could not be ignorant of a grain so well suited to its climate.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Hebrew Qetsach , Septuagint Melanthion ,  Isaiah 28:25;  Isaiah 28:27; of the order Ranunculaceos , and suborder Ηelleboreos , in southern Europe and northern Africa; the black poppy. Νigella Sativa , "fennel," with black seed like cummin, easily "beaten out with a staff"; used in sauces as condiment like pepper; aromatic and carminative. In  Ezekiel 4:9 Kussemeth , KJV "fitches," is rather "spelt" or Dhourra , less suitably rendered "rye"  Exodus 9:32;  Isaiah 28:25, where the illustration from the husbandman shows that God also adapts His measures to the varying exigencies of the several cases and places, now mercy, now judgment, here punishing sooner there later (an answer to the scoff that His judgments were so slow that they would never come at all,  Isaiah 5:19); His aim not being to destroy His people any more than the husbandman's aim in threshing is to destroy his crop.

He will not use the threshing instrument where, as in the case of the "fennel," the "staff" will suffice. From the readiness with which the ripe capsules yield their tiny black seeds (the poor man's pepper, Poivrette ), nothing could be so absurd as to use a threshing instrument. Even in the case of the "bread grain" which needs to be "bruised" or threshed with the grain drag or trodden out by cattle, "He will not always be threshing it"; for "because" translated "but" (compare  Isaiah 27:7-8). Spelt has a smooth slender ear (as it were shorn, Kussemeth being from Kaasam "to shear"), the grains of which are so firm in the husk that they need special devices to disengage them.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Fitches 1. qetsach (  Isaiah 28:25;   Isaiah 28:27 ), RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘black cummin,’ the seeds of the aromatic herb Nigella sativa , commonly used to-day in Palestine as a condiment, especially on the top of loaves of bread. The contrast between the staff for the ‘fitches’ and the rod for the cummin is the more instructive when the great similarity of the two seeds is noticed. 2. kussemeth ,   Ezekiel 4:9 , in AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘spelt,’ and in   Exodus 9:32 ,   Isaiah 28:25 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘rie’ and RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘spelt.’ Spelt ( Triticum spelta ) is an inferior kind of wheat, the grains of which are peculiarly adherent to the sheath.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Isaiah 28:25 (b) In this passage types are used to illustrate the preaching of the Gospel, the harvesting of souls, and the use of the person after he is saved.

The fitches represent some of the things that accompany the Gospel. The wheat represents the saving message of the Gospel.

The four other grains may represent songs, prayers, humbleness of mind, and acceptance of the Word, all of which do usually accompany the preaching of the Gospel. GOD's Gospel must occupy the principal place in all of our ministry to the lost. For that reason, the wheat is to be planted in the principal places in this allegory.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. kussemeth, 'spelt,' a species of grain resembling wheat with shorn ears.  Ezekiel 4:9 . The same word is in  Exodus 9:32;  Isaiah 28:25 , translated RYE.

2. qetsach, 'black cummin,' R.V. margin. This is doubtless the nigella sativa. Its small black seeds are aromatic, and are used as a condiment and a medicine. The prophet says they are beaten out with a rod.  Isaiah 28:25-27 .

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Fitches. (that is, Vetches). Without doubt the Nigella sativa , an herbaceous annual plant belonging to the natural order, Ranunculaceoe , (the buttercup family), which grows in the south of Europe and in the north of Africa. Its black seeds are used like pepper, and have almost as pungent a taste. The Syrians sprinkle these seeds over their flat cakes before they are baked. See Rye .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Fitches. This word occurs in  Isaiah 28:25;  Isaiah 28:27. It would seem to be the black cummin, Nigella Sativa, used for both food and medicine. The seed is aromatic, and of a sharp taste. This plant was beaten out with a staff, because the heavy drag would have crushed the seeds. The "fitches" of  Ezekiel 4:9 was spelt.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Isaiah 28:25,27 Ketsah

In   Ezekiel 4:9 this word is the rendering of the Hebrew Kussemeth (Incorrectly rendered "rye" in the Authorized Version of   Exodus 9:32 and   Isaiah 28:25 , but "spelt" in the Revised Version). The reading "fitches" here is an error; it should be "spelt."

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Isaiah 28:25 28:27 Ezekiel 4:9Plants In The Bible

Webster's Dictionary

(pl.) of Fitch

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

This word occurs only in; . It is no doubt from the difficulty of proving the precise meaning of the original term ketzach, that different plants have been assigned as its representative. But if we refer to the context, we learn some particulars which at least restrict it to a certain group, namely, to such as are cultivated. Thus, , 'When he (the plowman) hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches?' And again, , 'For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the cummin; but fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.' From which we learn that this grain was easily separated from its capsule, and therefore beaten out with a stick.

Interpreters have had great difficulty in determining the particular kind of seed intended, some translating it peas, others, as Luther and the English Version, vetches, but without any proof. Meibomius considers it to be the white poppy, and others, a black seed. This last interpretation has the most numerous, as well as the oldest, authorities in its support. Of these a few are in favor of the black poppy-seed, but the majority, of a very black-colored and aromatic seed, still cultivated and in daily employment as a condiment in the East. The plant is called Nigella by botanists, and continues in the present day, as in the most ancient times, to be used both as a condiment and as a medicine. The various species of nigella are herbaceous (several of them being indigenous in Europe, others cultivated in most parts of Asia), with their leaves deeply cut and linear, their flowers terminal, most of them having under the calyx leafy involucres which often half surround the flower. The fruit is composed of five or six capsules, which are compressed, oblong, pointed, sometimes said to be hornlike, united below, and divided into several cells, and enclosing numerous, angular, scabrous, black-colored seeds. From the nature of the capsules, it is evident, that when they are ripe, the seeds might easily be shaken out by moderate blows of a stick, as is related to have been the case with the ketzach of the text.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fich´iz (the English word "fitch" is the same as "vetch"):

(1) קצח , ḳecaḥ ( Isaiah 28:25 ,  Isaiah 28:27; the Revised Version, margin has "black cummin" ( Nigella sativa )). This is the "nutmeg flower," an annual herb (Natural Order, Ranunculaceae ), the black seeds of which are sprinkled over some kinds of bread in Palestin. They were used as a condiment by the ancient Greeks and Romans. These seeds have a warm aromatic flavor and are carminative in their properties, assisting digestion. They, like all such plants which readily yield their seed, are still beaten out with rods. The contrast between the stouter staff for the "fitches" and the lighter rod for the cummin is all the more noticeable when the great similarity of the two seeds is noticed.

(2) כּסּמים , kuṣṣemı̄m (pl.) ( Ezekiel 4:9 ) the Revised Version (British and American) "spelt" (which see).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Fitches'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/f/fitches.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.