Bible Dictionary
Husk
Husk can mean the skin of a grape, a sack for grain, or the pods of the carob tree. In Jesus’ parable, the husks were the poor food desired by the prodigal son.
Definition
Husk can refer to different materials in Scripture. It denotes the skin of a grape, a sack used for grain, and the pods of the carob tree. In the account of the prodigal son, it refers to carob pods, a food associated with the poorest people.
Biblical Usage
In the Passover-related law of Numbers, the word means grape skin; in the account of Elisha, it means a grain sack. In the parable of the prodigal son, it describes the food he desired while feeding swine.
Historical Background
Carob trees produce long, curved, brown pods with a sweetish taste. The pods were eaten as food, especially by the poor, and were also used as animal feed. The common identification with “St. John’s bread” is based on a mistaken association with John the Baptist.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
In Num. 6:4 (Heb. zag) it means the “skin” of a grape. In 2 Kings 4:42 (Heb. tsiqlon) it means a “sack” for grain, as rendered in the Revised Version. In Luke 15:16, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, it designates the beans of the carob tree, or Ceratonia siliqua. From the supposition, mistaken, however, that it was on the husks of this tree that John the Baptist fed, it is called “St. John’s bread” and “locust tree.” This tree is in “February covered with innumerable purple-red pendent blossoms, which ripen in April and May into large crops of pods from 6 to 10 inches long, flat, brown, narrow, and bent like a horn (whence the Greek name keratia, meaning ‘little horns’), with a sweetish taste when still unripe. Enormous quantities of these are gathered for sale in various towns and for exportation.” “They were eaten as food, though only by the poorest of the poor, in the time of our Lord.” The bean is called a “gerah,” which is used as the name of the smallest Hebrew weight, twenty of these making a shekel.