Husks

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

HUSKS. —The only mention of husks (κεράτια, so called from their shape, which resembles ‘horns’) occurs in  Luke 15:16. Husks were the pods of the carob-tree, which is also known as the locust-tree ( Ceratonia siliqua ). This tree, which is common in Palestine, belongs to the order Leguminosae, and is an evergreen. It attains to a height of about 30 feet, and has a dense foliage. Its leaves are of a dark, glossy green. The pods are from 6 to 10 inches in length and 1 in breadth. They contain a thick, sweet pulp, not unpleasant to the palate, and are used as food for pigs, cattle, and horses. They are also, because of their cheapness, eaten by the very poor.

Some have identified the pods of the carob with the ‘locusts’ (ἀκρίδες) which John the Baptist ate ( Matthew 3:4). It is true they are sometimes called ‘St. John’s bread,’ this name having been given to them by the monks of Palestine or by ‘pious pilgrims’ (Thomson, L B [Note: The Land and the Book.] p. 655), but there can be little doubt that the Baptist’s food was not carob-pods, but the insect, which is still eaten by the wandering Arabs. See Locust.

Hugh Duncan.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The prodigal son desired to feed on the husks, or pods, given to the hogs,  Luke 15:16 . The Greek word here used means the carob- beans, the fruit of a tree of the same name. This fruit is common in all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean: it is suffered to ripen and grow dry on the tree; the poor eat it, and cattle are fattened with it. The tree, the Ceratonia Siliqua, is an evergreen of a middle size, full of branches, and abounding with round dark green leaves, an inch or two in diameter. The blossoms are little red clusters, with yellowish stalks. The fruits are flat brownish pods, from six to eight inches long, and an inch or more broad: they resemble the pods of our locust-tree; and are composed of two husks, separated by membranes into several cells, and containing flat, shining seeds, and when ripe a sweetish, honey like kind of juice. In all probability, their crooked figure occasioned their being called, in Greek, keratia, which signifies little horns. The tree is called by the Germans, Johannisbrodaum, that is, "John's-bread-tree," because John the Baptist was supposed to have lived on it fruit.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Κεράτιον (Strong'S #2769 — Noun Neuter — keration — ker-at'-ee-on )

"a little horn" (a diminutive of keras, "a horn;" see HORN), is used in the plural in  Luke 15:16 , of carob pods, given to swine, and translated "husks."

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

HUSKS ( keratia ,   Luke 15:16 ) are almost certainly the pods of the carob tree ( Ceratonia siliqua ), commonly called the locust tree. This common Palestine tree is distinguished by its beautiful dark glossy foliage. The long pods, which ripen from May to August according to the altitude, are even to-day used as food by the poor; a confection is made from them. But they are used chiefly for cattle. The name ‘St. John’s bread’ is given to these pods, from a tradition that these, and not locusts, composed the food of St. John the Baptist, but see Food, 18.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Husks. This word in  Luke 16:16, describes really the fruit of a particular kind of tree, namely, the carob or Ceratonia siliqua of botanists. It belongs to the locust family.

This tree is very commonly met with in Syria and Egypt; it produces pods, shaped like a horn, varying in length from six to ten inches, and about a finger's breadth, or rather more; it is dark-brown, glossy, filled with seeds and has a sweetish taste. It is used much for food by the poor, and for the feeding of swine.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

κερατιον ,  Luke 15:16; the husks of leguminous plants, so named from their resemblance to κερας , a horn; but Bochart thinks that the κερατια were the ceretonia, the husks or fruit of the carob tree, a tree very common in the Levant. We learn from Columella, that these pods afforded food for swine; and they are mentioned as what the prodigal desired to eat, when reduced to extreme hunger.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Husks. This word in  Luke 15:16 describes really the fruit of the carob. It belongs to the locust family. This tree is common in Syria and Egypt: it produces pods, shaped like a horn, varying in length from six to ten inches, and about a finger's breadth, or rather more; it is dark brown, glossy, filled with seeds, and has a sweetish taste. It is used much for food by the poor, and for the feeding of swine.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Greek Keratia ("horns"), the horn-like pods of the carob tree, abounding in Syria and Egypt, Ceratonia siliqua ( Luke 15:16). The sweet pithy pulp affords food for pigs, and also for very poor men. Tradition makes it the Baptist's food in the wilderness; from whence it is called also John's bread. It has been exported to England for feeding cattle.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ceratonia Siliqua

The word which is thus rendered in the Auth. Vers. is really the name of a tree called in English Carob-tree. It is extremely common in the south of Europe, in Syria, and in Egypt. Celsius states that no tree is more frequently mentioned in the Talmud, where its fruit is stated to be given as food to cattle and swine: it is now given to horses, asses, and mules. During the Peninsular war the horses of the British cavalry were often fed on the beans of the Carob-tree. Both Pliny and Columella mention that it was given as food to swine. By some it has been thought, but apparently without reason, that it was upon the husks of this tree that John the Baptist fed in the wilderness: from this idea, however, it is often called St. John's Bread and Locust-tree.

The Carob-tree grows in the south of Europe and north of Africa, usually to a moderate size, but it sometimes becomes very large, with a trunk of great thickness, and affords an agreeable shade. The quantity of pods borne by each tree is very considerable, being often as much as 800 or 900 pounds weight: they are flat, brownish-colored, from six to eight inches in length, of a sub-astringent taste when unripe, but when come to maturity they secrete, within the husks and round the seeds, a sweetish-tasted pulp. When on the tree, the pods have an unpleasant odor; but when dried upon hurdles they become eatable, and are valued by poor people, and during famine in the countries where the tree is grown, especially in Spain and Egypt, and by the Arabs. They are given as food to cattle in modern, as we read they were in ancient, times; but at the best can only be considered very poor fare.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

husks ( κεράτια , kerátia , i.e. "little horns,"   Luke 15:16 ): These are the pods of the carob tree (Revised Version, margin), also called the locust tree ( Ceratonia siliqua ). This tree flourishes all over Palestine, especially on the western mountain slopes toward the sea; by the Arabs it is called kharrûb . It is dioecious, has dense, dark, evergreen foliage, glossy leaves and long, curved pods, like small horns (hence, the name). These pods which are from 4 to 9 inches in length, have a leathery case containing a pulpy substance in which the beans are imbedded; this pulp is of a pleasant, sweetish flavor and has a characteristic odor, and is much loved by children. The pods are sold in the markets, both as cattle food and for the poor, who extract by boiling them a sweetish substance like molasses. The tradition that the "locusts" of  Matthew 3:4;  Mark 1:6 were carob pods is preserved in the name given to them, "St. John's bread," but it has little to be said for it.