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"Corn" in the Old Testament

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Pastor_Bob, Nov 1, 2016.

  1. Pastor_Bob

    Pastor_Bob Well-Known Member

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    A book I am reading on Bible customs makes the following statement:
    There seems to be a couple of different Hebrew words for "corn" in the Old Testament: "dagan" and "shibbol," the latter being used to describe the ears of corn in Joseph's dream.

    Do either of these refer to the corn with which we are familiar here in the United States (sweet corn)?
     
  2. TCassidy

    TCassidy Late-Administator Emeritus
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    Corn, as we use the word in the US, does not occur naturally. It is a hybrid created by man. It was indigenous to and found only in the New World so would not have existed in Eurasia in Old Testament times.

    It was developed in what is now Mexico several thousand years ago from wild grass called teosinte.

    Corn as we know it cannot survive unless planted and cultivated my man.
     
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  3. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
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    "Back in the day", almost any grain was called "corn".

    The first mention in Scripture I can find of corn as we know it is in Gen. 41:5.
     
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  4. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    Pastor Bob, I realize yours is mainly an Old Testament question. Nevertheless, I'd point to John 12:24 in the King James Bible as perhaps the best illustration that corn is used to mean grain generically, and not a specific type of grain? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

    Ruth chapter 2 also provides a good illustration that corn is used for the grain of barley and wheat (cf. also 1:22 and 3:2, 7, 15, 17).
     
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  5. Rob_BW

    Rob_BW Well-Known Member
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    The old Oxford dictionary spells it out nicely:

    Corn
    1 British: The chief cereal crop of a district, especially (in England) wheat or (in Scotland) oats.

    ‘fields of corn’

    1. 1.1The grain of a cereal crop.

    2. 1.2

      North American, Australian, and New Zealand term for maize
    https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/corn
     
  6. TCassidy

    TCassidy Late-Administator Emeritus
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    How does "seven heads of grain" equate to maize? שִׁבֹּלֶת = shibbôleth = a "growing out" from a branch or stalk.

    Again, maize (what we Americans call "corn") is a New World crop that was not "discovered" by Eurasian explorers until the late 15th century AD.
     
  7. Martin Marprelate

    Martin Marprelate Well-Known Member
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  8. Pastor_Bob

    Pastor_Bob Well-Known Member

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    Thank you, these have been very helpful.
     
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