Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GRASS

Several hundred species of plants which grow wild in Israel were represented in the Bible by Heb. dešeʾ, ʿēśeḇ, ḥāṣîr, and yereq, either alone or in combination. Grass is a good approximation for what these words mean, but they also refer to green vegetation in general, both grassy and herbaceous. Gk. chórtos also means grass or any green plant.

Grass appears in many contexts in the Bible. Ahab sends Obadiah in search of grass for his animals to eat (1 Kgs. 18:5). The Psalmist praises God for providing grass for the cattle (Ps. 104:14).

Many mentions of grass are found in similes. Eliphaz promises Job that his descendants would be as numerous as the grass of the earth (Job 5:25). “May people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field,” sang the Psalmist (Ps. 72:16), who also found that the wicked “sprout like grass” (92:7[MT 8]).

Water on grass, especially dew in the morning, causes it to glisten and appear more vital. Moses sang “May . . . my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth” (Deut. 32:2). Micah’s vision of a renewed Israel sees the remnant of Jacob as dew from the Lord, “like showers on the grass” (Mic. 5:7[6]). Proverbs compares the favor of a king to dew on the grass (Prov. 19:12).

In contrast, grass easily fades in the heat of the day, and is thus a symbol of fragility. Isaiah prophesies that the Assyrians would be “like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown” (Isa. 37:27). Likewise, Jesus speaks of the grass of the field, which one day produces beautiful flowers and the next is used as fodder (Matt. 6:30 = Luke 12:28).

Megan Bishop Moore

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GRASS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)