Sunspots 985

 

Gizmodo reports that lightning kills more trees than we thought.

CBS News, and other sources, reports that corn plants release water vapor into the air, which contributes to the uncomfortable humidity you may be feeling now.

Cereal grains in the Bible

 

                            Wheat field, North Carolina

Cereal grains include corn (maize), rice, wheat, spelt, rye, oats, barley, millet, sorghum and others. Maize was domesticated in the New World, and therefore, was not known by people in the Bible. Rice requires conditions not found by people in the Bible. 

The King James version of the Bible mentions corn several times. One such is in Genesis 27, in which Isaac is said to have blessed Jacob, but not Esau, with corn crops. In Genesis 41-47, the word "corn" is used several times, but, for reasons given above, this can't have been maize, but must have been some other grain. 

John 12:24 (KJV) 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. In this verse, "corn" has a different meaning. It refers to the grain (or fruit) as a corn. Apparently this word use was legitimate in the time of the KJV translators.

The Bible uses some of the types of grain. One verse refers to four different grains:

Ezekiel 4:9a "Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel...." (World English Bible, public domain. Beans and lentils are not cereal grains.)

Consider wheat. Several related species of grasses are called wheat. These include durum, emmer, einkorn, and others. 

Spelt is mentioned three times in the Old Testament. Each time, wheat is also mentioned. 

I did not find the word, "rye", the word, "oats," or the word, "sorghum," in the Bible. Nor did I find "durum," "emmer," or "einkorn."

Barley is mentioned several times. In John 6, the boy with his food had barley loaves as part of his provisions for the day.

Cereal grains, especially wheat, are food crops that are very important to us today, and were, if anything, even more important in Bible times. These grains could be stored for a long time. They were used to make bread. Jesus said, in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life." (WEB) Adam and Eve were told, in Genesis 3:19, that they would earn their bread through hard labor. In Genesis 41-47, the famine in Egypt is described as a lack of bread. In Exodus 12-13, the Hebrews were instructed to eat unleavened bread. Exodus 25:30, and Exodus 29, and Leviticus 8, and other passages, give instructions about bread as part of Tabernacle worship. In Judges 7, a loaf of barley bread appears in a dream of a Midianite invader of Israel, a sign that God is with Gideon, and against the Midianites.

The word, bread, occurs many times in the Bible. It usually seems to refer to the ordinary events of daily life, especially eating. Sometimes it is a symbol of hospitality, or of friendship. In the Lord's Prayer, we ask God to give us our daily bread.

At the Last Supper: Matthew 26:26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” There have been, and are, theological disputes among Christians over what that means. I won't settle that here.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 890

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: (And politics) CNN talks with an author who argues that white evangelicals honor supposed masculinity, regardless of what various sins that these male figures have committed, and that speaking out against this hypocrisy often leads to consequences for those who speak out.

Education: (and politics) Slate, and other outlets, report on Carson v. Makin, which Supreme Court ruling requires state funding instruction based on the beliefs of  conservative Christians.

Food: Gizmodo reports that Texas has the worst corn in the US.

Health: A report says that, if you can't stand on one leg for 10 seconds, you are twice as likely to die within 10 years as if you can.

Science: Gizmodo tells us more than we want to know about the tiny mites that live in the pores of your facial skin.

Terry Gross, of NPR, interviews a scientist who describes sensory experiences in some animals that are quite different from those of humans.

Gizmodo reports that wild bats can remember a phone-made sound for at least four years.

Gizmodo has posted some fine photos of several of the moons in the solar system.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 493

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Computing: National Public Radio says that Facebook won't let you have an account, if you are 100 or older, and give your real age.

Humor: (or something) NPR reports on corn-picking contests. No machinery, just the person.

Politics: (sort of) NPR reports on the reluctance to accept that Ebola is not an air-borne virus.

Relevant reports that, if you have $3,650, or more, after debt is figured in, you have more money than half of the people on earth. (That's $10 a day, by the way.)

Science:  NPR reports that we might have been better off living in villages with about 150 people, than living with the type and number of social interactions that most of us have.

Wired reports on new techniques to determine if there really is awareness in a person in a coma, or an apparent persistent vegetative state. Apparently, sometimes, there is.
 



Sports: from USA Today, and other media: Lauren Hill, college freshman basketball player, hopes to enter her first game on November 2, provided she hasn't been incapacitated completely by an inoperable brain tumor by that time. There are videos of this, from CBS, and ABC.
Image source (public domain)