"Corn" in the Old Testament

[Pastor_Bob]

A book I am reading on Bible customs makes the following statement:

"The word "corn" as used in English translations of the Bible, is actually the family name for cereal grains, because the "maize" or "Indian corn" of modern days was doubtless unknown to Bible writers." Manners and Customs of Bible Lands by Fred H. Wight - ©1953

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)?

 

[TCassidy]

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)?

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.

 

[robycop3]

"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.

 

[rlvaughn]

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).

 

[Rob_BW]

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

 

[TCassidy]

"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.

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.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

For the various crops of ancient times, a good place to look is Exodus 9:31-32.
Lovers of typology can then have fun with Leviticus 23:9-20 and Ruth 1:22.

 

[Pastor_Bob]

Thank you, these have been very helpful.