What fruit may have been St. John's locusts?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

August 16, 2002

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The carob (Ceratonia siliqua Linnaeus) is also known as St. John's bread for John the Baptist. Biblical texts state John fed on locusts and wild honey in the wilderness. The pods when first gathered are ripe, but still green and ill-flavored. When allowed to dry, the pods take on a sweet, chocolaty taste. The seeds are usually not eaten. (See What's in a Name? July 28, 2006)

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Worshippers Inside Umayyad Mosque and Legendary Tomb of St. John the Baptist, Damascus, Syria Wayne Walton Buy Framed Photographic Print at AllPosters.com

The name St. John's bread was a source of scholarly contention in John Gerard's day (1597), "It groweth in sundry places of Palestine, where there is such plenty of it that it is left unto swine and other wilde beasts to feed upon....This of some is called Saint Johns bread...where S. John did feed when he was in the wilderness...but there is small certainty of this...." (The Herbal, 1633 ed.).

Gerard believed the confusion came from translations of words like food and bread in the Greek texts, "...this Greeke word hath severall interpretations...it signifieth a kinde of creeping creature... of which...it is lawfull to eat...also those Locusts which came out of the smoke of the bottomless pit...." Gerard felt content to leave Biblical mysteries alone, "...calleth it by the Hebrew name Arbis...neither the Hebrews nor the Historiographers, nor our selves do know what [plant] they

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The Herbal in 1633, "...There is no doubt but the...Siliquae mentioned in Saint Lukes Gospel...were the pods or fruit of this tree.... I am of the opinion of the Greek Father Isodore Pelusiota...The Acrides which John fed upon are not living creatures like unto Beetles... but they are the...buds of herbes and plants and trees...." Saint John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness Giclee Print Pieter Bruegel the Younger Buy Giclee Print at AllPosters.com

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It was suggested that John gave up meat when he went into the wilderness. Thomas Johnson added this when he expanded The Herbal in 1633, "...There is no doubt but the...Siliquae mentioned in Saint Lukes Gospel...were the pods or fruit of this tree....I am of the opinion of the Greek Father Isodore Pelusiota...The Acrides (still another translation) which John fed upon are not living creatures like unto Beetles...but they are the...buds of herbes and plants and trees...."

The Nature Conservancy in conjunction with the University of California-Davis has information on St. John's bread. To view photographs and learn more about this tree, click on the link:

http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/alert/alrtcera.html

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Suggested Reading:

What is the seed of a modern standard? What's in a Name? - July 28, 2006
How was this Biblical plant used? Herbal Folklore - May 13, 2002
Why have a mandrake on the mantle? Herbal Folklore - December 15, 2003
What are Job's Tears? Herbal Folklore - December 3, 2001
What is myrrh? Herbal Folklore - July 23, 2001
Frankincense and the Lost City of Ubar Herbal Folklore - December 24, 2001

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