The twenty-fourth passage of the Sefer Yeshua is based Mk 4:30-32, Mt 13:31-32, Lk 13.18-19, and Thomas 20:2-4. The words of the sectary (a reconstruction, giving Yeshua’s saying some cultural context), is from Ezek 17:22-23; see also Ps 104:12, Ezek 31:6, and Dan 4:12.
24. 1There was a sectary who was speaking to the people about the kingdom of David, saying, 2‘When the Messiah comes, the House of Israel shall grow like a mighty cedar planted on a high mountain, and the nations of the earth shall pay homage to us, and we shall dwell like eagles in its branches.’ 3But Yeshua said, ’To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? What parable should I use?
4‘It’s like the tiny mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. 5Eventually it grew and became a bush, and little birds sheltered under its branches.’
6And Yeshua’s followers laughed.
Overview
One of the main obstacles to understanding the intent of this parable, is what kind of plant Yeshua was talking about. It confuses us, because the mustard plant is a small plant, not a tree. In recent times, the Toothbrush tree (Salvadora persica) has been renamed the Mustard tree, in order to give the impression that this is the tree that Yeshua was referring to. In my humble opinion, retroactively renaming a plant in order to make something true, is a little dishonest.
Another point to consider, is that the parable takes on a different interpretation depending on whether the plant in question becomes a bush (suggested by Mark and Thomas) or a tree (suggested by Matthew and Luke). If it is a tree, then it could refer back to the grandiose vision of Dan 4:7-9, which speaks of an Empire as a mighty tree with its top reaching to heaven, and all its subjects as the great beasts of the field. If it is a humble bush, then it may refer back to more modest biblical verses such as Ezek 17:14. In all the possible biblical references, there are birds under the branches of the plant.
The scholars of the Jesus Seminar (in ‘The Five Gospels’), concluded that the original, modest vision of a small mustard bush was probably changed to fall in line with a much grander vision of the messianic kingdom as a mighty empire. My reconstruction is therefore an attempt to restore what the original might have been, and in doing so, restore some insight into what Yeshua was originally trying to teach. The surprising image of a mustard seed to describe God’s Kingdom, instead of a mighty cedar (as in the biblical passages that the sectary was alluding to), would have been a great surprise to those listening to his words, in keeping with his personal oratory style.
Possible context: The reconstructed words of the sectary
This parable has no context in the gospels – it is simply one of several that Yeshua tells to an anonymous audience. In order for us to be able to discern a deeper meaning in the parable, and for any interpretation to have greater significance, I have reconstructed a possible context.
In Josephus’s writings, he gives the impression that there were only four Jewish sects: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots and the Essenes. I suspect he was deliberately giving an oversimplified view of the Jewish religion for his Roman and imperial readers. In reality, most Jews did not formally belong to any specific sect. They held to what is known as Common Judaism, which in a way is the lowest common denominator in terms of practising the Jewish faith – a form of Judaism which was common to most forms of Judaism. In practice, most Jews engaged in ‘mixing-and-matching’. They would listen to various teachers and preachers, and take on board whatever made sense to the individual. The four parties represent only the four organised parties of ancient Judaism.
At festival times, the Temple was always filled with Jewish pilgrims. Various independent preachers would take the opportunity to preach their own brand of fiery messianism and apocalypticism. There were a number of individuals who belonged to named and unnamed sects, and in the Sefer Yeshua, these people are anonymously referred to as sectaries – no specific sect is intended, simply a generic, non-specific sect for the purposes of context. It is likely that Yeshua would have had the chance to debate, not only with Pharisees and Sadducees, but also with various brands of sectaries too. There are some confrontations Yeshua has in the gospels, supposedly with Pharisees and Sadducees, but given the nature of the subject matter, it is more likely to have been with some sectary or other. I will point out these instances as I come to them in commentaries on other passages.
The sectary in the reconstruction is a generic messianist, of the type which would have been common in those days, preaching victory for the messiah, and a new empire of David. His words are taken from Ezek 17:22-23 –
Thus says my Sovereign YHVH:
I Myself will take a sprig
from the highest top of the cedar;
and I will set it apart.
I will break off a tender shoot
from the topmost of its young twigs;
And I Myself will transplant it
onto a high and lofty mountain.
Onto the mountain heights of Israel
I will transplant it,
and it will grow boughs and produce cones,
and become a noble cedar [in its own right].
Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
little birds of every kind.
We cannot understand these verses properly, without looking at earlier verses (Ezek 17:3-6, which speak of an eagle taking small seeds, which are planted and become a plant of low stature. The chapter mentions another eagle which plants seeds that become a mighty and noble tree.
It then explains (Ezek 17:12-21) that the eagle is the king of Babylon, and the branches plucked away are the king of Judah and his family, which was taken away to Babylon. The act was God’s will, “so that the kingdom might be humbled, and not exalt itself, so that by keeping his covenant, it [that is, the kingdom of Judah] might endure.” (Ezek 17:14)
Once the kingdom has been humbled, God will bring it back to the Land – which is the meaning of Ezek 17:22-23 which we first read. Once it is back in the Land, it will not be a mighty or grandiose empire, but a kingdom humble to God. By being a humble kingdom, it will be able to shelter ‘birds of every kind’ – that is, it will be able to speak to and touch the peoples of every nation, and the nations will find shelter in the teachings of Israel’s God.
Israel will accomplish her mission, not in self-arrogance or self-aggrandisement, but by becoming humble under God’s guidance.
The sectary (virtually analogous to modern right-wing Jews) saw only the grandiosity of the vision, and was blind to the true vision underlying God’s words. Yeshua pointed out the alternative – that God’s Kingdom was a vision for Israel which was as an instrument of God. Israel was not to be a great empire, with a conquering messiah, but rather a client kingdom in God’s empire. Only thus could little birds of all kinds shelter in the branches of her abundant growth.
The mustard plant as a bush
The Greek word used in the gospels for this plant is sinapi. In Galilean Aramaic, it is חרדלא chardlā (in the Galilean dialect, it would have been pronounced ‘ardlā). This is without doubt the herb mustard, not any kind of woody tree.
I prefer the interpretation of the mustard plant as a bush (as in Mark and Thomas). There are several species of mustard plant, all of which have yellow flowers. The one most commonly grown in Britain is white mustard (Sinapis alba), because it is easier to harvest. It is harvested once it has produced pods, and is about 70 cms tall (28 inches). However, there are other types of mustard, like black mustard (Sinapis nigra), which can grow up to 1.2 metres tall (48 inches), and if left to run wild, can even reach 2 metres in height (6 ft 8 ins). Coarse grain mustard is made from the seeds of both white and black mustard.
While not quite the very smallest of all seeds, mustard seeds are indeed very small (see this picture); the mustard seed was commonly and proverbially used in ancient Israel as a metaphor for something very tiny (i.e. it doesn’t have to literally be true). However, black mustard can grow into a very tall plant if left to run wild.
Nevertheless, the use of either a mustard seed or even the mustard plant itself, would have been a surprising metaphor for the Kingdom of God – to compare it to something small, or something so simple and leggy as a mustard plant. This is the point of the parable that Matthew and Luke failed to get, and so they changed it into a tree in their versions. In other words, you are right to be confused if you have ever said to yourself, ‘But a mustard plant is not a tree!’
Black mustard grows all over Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, as does white mustard; both types were found in ancient Israel. However, black mustard, being the taller species, is likely to be the one that Yeshua was referring to. The branches that grow from the top are not the wooden branches of a tree, as most people would understand them, but rather flexible herby branches, that put out spreading leaves in wild plants.
Mustard is an annual weed – an unlikely comparison for God’s Kingdom. However, left to its own devices – much like the yeast left to leaven in the flour in the next parable – it will eventually grow everywhere. In this aspect, it is similar to the parable that preceded it in Mark (Mk 4:26-29), where the plants grow, but the farmer knows not how.
We are also meant to take note of what the mustard seed starts out as, and what it eventually becomes. What something starts out as, should not put us off thinking about the potential of what something can become.
In ancient times, and even in modern times in some places, small birds would take shelter beneath the mustard plants. Birds such as song-birds, and even small quails and partridges in some places, could shelter beneath the thick growth of stands of mustard plants.
The little birds
In describing the birds, the Greek uses the phrase, πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ peteina tou ouranou – ‘the winged creatures of the skies’, which is the generic way of describing all birds and flying creatures in biblical times (Hebrew: ‘of ha-shamáyim).
However, in the biblical verses this parable is likely based on or alluding to, the word for ‘bird’ used there is instead, tsippor, which is the generic term for any small bird, particularly song-birds. This is why I have translated the word in Yeshua’s answer as ‘little birds’.
In Ezekiel’s prophecy, the little birds are the nations, which come to seek Israel to learn of the ethical teachings of Israel’s God. This is well in keeping with God’s vision of Israel as a light to the nations. The birds represent Gentiles who appreciate the God of Israel.
Yeshua’s possible humour
In ‘The Jewish Annotated New Testament’, Amy Levine writes that this parable is meant to be ‘satirical and humorous’.
There are several places where, if you are able to understand the imagery, then what Yeshua said could be interpreted as being quite humorous – not enough to give you stitches or make you roar with laughter, but nevertheless, sufficient to give you a wry smile (such as the advice to go the extra mile, Mt 5:39-41. Effectively this would mean going way past where you were originally being forced to go)!
This parable might be a humorous response to the sectary, a kind of tongue-in-cheek parody of the biblical passages that the sectary was basing his claims on. In Mark’s version, Yeshua prefaces the parable with a kind of mock pondering, as if he already knows what he is going to say, but wants to make it appear as if he is having some trouble thinking of something. It’s almost as if he was wittily drawing things out, saying something like, “Hmmm, what shall I compare the Kingdom to? What little parable shall I use, I wonder?” You can almost imagine him, brow furrowed, tapping his chin in thought.
The sectary’s messianic claim of a grand, restored, Davidic empire is contrasted by the more modest imagery of the mustard seed. Instead of the great cedar of an empire – the grand messianic kingdom – Yeshua likens the Kingdom of God to a more humble mustard plant. Instead of powerful, majestic eagles, Yeshua has little song-birds. All in all, when you understand Yeshua’s response in this context, it can be understood as breaking the sectary’s grandiose claims, not with harsh argument, but rather with innocent humour.
Matthew and Luke didn’t seem to quite get Yeshua’s humour, and so they changed the mustard bush into a mighty tree, alluding to the giant tree in Dan 4:7-9.
I guess you just had to be there to get it!
Final thoughts
With regard to what the mustard starts out as, as Talmidis we must not be put off by our humble beginnings, or how few we currently are in numbers. If we are faithful to the Message that God has entrusted us with – both as Jews and Godfearers, and also as disciples of the prophet Yeshua, then it is God’s own Self who will cause the seed to grow, and we need not know how. Eventually, what we sow will grow and ripen in the fullness of time, as the flowers on the mustard plant develop into pods, within which ripen the seeds.
With regard to contrasting greatness and smallness, some people like to picture their religion or culture in terms of great might and power, taking over the world, dominating and subjugating everyone. That’s not the Jewish people, and that’s not our God.
There are some religions whose followers see their ultimate destiny as imposing their religious law on the whole world, and no one will have any choice in the matter. They lie, goad, harass, and threaten people to follow their faith, and they really don’t like it when they are told, ‘No thank you’, or are presented with another point of view.
This is not the Jewish faith, and it most certainly is not the Talmidi Israelite faith. God’s Kingdom will not be the empire of a dictator, imposing an iron will on the whole of humanity. God’s Kingdom will be a reign of peace, in which all peoples and faiths will find rest and consolation. The nations will come to God’s holy mountain and God’s Temple, not because they have to, but because they want to – because they have seen the light of God’s wise and holy teachings, and wish to hear them for themselves.