Husks (Carob Pods)

Biblical Text

The husks appear in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. The younger son, having spent all the property he received from his father in a far country, is overtaken by famine and goes to tend swine in the fields of a man of that country. The text records, "And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him" (Luke 15:16). This is the only verse in the Bible where the word occurs.

Background and Terminology

The original word is the Greek keration, meaning "little horn," a name derived from the curved, horn-like shape of the pod. The fruit is understood to be the pod of the carob tree, which grows widely along the Mediterranean coast. Because the pods are sweet, they were used as livestock feed and are also known to have been eaten by the poor. It is also widely held that the word "carat," the unit of weight for gemstones, derives from this term.

The Korean word jwieom-namu originally refers to other leguminous trees native to Korea, such as the Korean honey locust (juyeop-namu). Korean Bible translators appear to have borrowed the name of this tree because its pods resemble those of the carob.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

Under the Law, the pig is an unclean animal (Leviticus 11:7). To a Jewish audience, tending pigs in the land of the Gentiles would have sounded like an utterly wretched condition. Yet the younger son craved even the pigs' food. The husks may thus be seen as a device that shows the depths to which he had fallen. In the very next verse he "came to himself" (Luke 15:17) and remembered his father's house. For this reason, the scene with the husks is read as the moment immediately preceding the turning point of the parable. A saying to the effect that "when Israel is reduced to eating carob pods, they repent" is reportedly found in rabbinic literature, and some commentaries connect it with this scene.

Interpretations and Points of Discussion

• The meaning of "no man gave unto him": Some read this to mean that no one gave him anything to eat. Others read it to mean that he could not obtain even the husks.
• The kind of fruit: Some regard the pods as a cultivated variety that people also ate; others regard them as a wild variety hardly fit for human consumption. Both views are presented.
• Symbolic interpretation: In allegorical interpretation from the early church onward (a reading that assigns spiritual meanings to the words of the text), the husks were sometimes explained as worldly pleasures or empty teachings that cannot truly satisfy a person. This is an application made by interpreters, not something the text states directly.
• Turning and grace: Traditions differ in emphasis regarding how to understand the younger son's "coming to himself." The Reformed tradition often explains human repentance as itself the fruit of grace given beforehand. The Wesleyan tradition emphasizes as well the human decision made in response to prevenient grace.
• Confusion with John the Baptist: In the West, carob pods are also called "St. John's bread." The name comes from the story that the locusts eaten by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:4) were actually these pods. This, however, is a later tradition and not what the biblical text says.

In the Korean Church

In Korean church preaching, the husks are commonly used as a figure for the destitution of a life apart from God and the emptiness of the satisfaction the world offers.