Bible Dictionary
Tares
The tares in Jesus’ parable were weeds resembling wheat, commonly identified with darnel. They were left until harvest so the wheat would not be uprooted with them.
Definition
Tares are weeds resembling wheat, generally identified with bearded darnel, or Lolium temulentum. Before the ears appear, darnel is difficult to distinguish from wheat; the difference becomes clear as the crop matures.
Biblical Usage
In Jesus’ parable, tares were sown among the wheat and were left until harvest so that the wheat would not be uprooted with them. The image depends on the weed’s close resemblance to wheat during early growth.
Historical Background
Darnel grows plentifully in Syria and Palestine. It was commonly removed near harvest, often by women and children. The supplied material notes that its grain may be harmful, especially when affected by ergot, though the sources differ in describing its poisonous effects.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The bearded darnel, mentioned only in Matt. 13:25-30. It is the Lolium temulentum, a species of rye-grass, the seeds of which are a strong soporific poison. It bears the closest resemblance to wheat till the ear appears, and only then the difference is discovered. It grows plentifully in Syria and Palestine.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
There can be little doubt that the zizania of the parable, (Matthew 13:25) denotes the weed called “darnel” (Lolium temulentum). The darnel before it comes into ear is very similar in appearance to wheat; hence the command that the zizania should be left to the harvest, lest while men plucked up the tares “they should root up also the wheat with them.” Dr. Stanley, however, speaks of women and children picking up from the wheat in the cornfields of Samaria the tall green stalks, still called by the Arabs zuwan . “These stalks,” he continues, “if sown designedly throughout the fields, would be inseparable from the wheat, from which, even when growing naturally and by chance, they are at first sight hardly distinguishable.” See also Thomson (“The Land and the Book” p. 420): “The grain is in just the proper stage to illustrate the parable. In those parts where the grain has headed out, the tares have done the same, and then a child cannot mistake them for wheat or barley; but where both are less developed, the closest scrutiny will often fail to detect them. Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other.” The grains of the L. temulentum, if eaten, produce convulsions, and even death.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>tarz (zizania (Mt 13:25), margin "darnel"): Zizania is equivalent to Arabic zuwan, the name given to several varieties of darnel of which Lolium temulentum, the "bearded darnel," is the one most resembling wheat, and has been supposed to be degenerated wheat. On the near approach of harvest it is carefully weeded out from among the wheat by the women and children. Zuwan is commonly used as chickens' food; it is not poisonous to human beings unless infected with the mold ergot.</p>