Seed

This word is differently used in Scripture - - sometimes in figure, and at others literally. It is used in a way of figure when spoken of the word of God; thus Christ compares his word to seed cast into the ground." (Luke 8. 5.) Peter calls it the "incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Pet. i. 23.) But it is used in a literal sense also when referring to the increase of men or beasts. (Jer. xxxi. 27.) And it is used in a spiritual sense when the faithful in Christ Jesus are called the seed of Abraham, (Gal. 3: 29.) And yet in astill more peculiar, personal, and eminent manner when considered in relation to our union with Christ; "I will pour my Spirit (saith JEHOVAH to Christ) upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." (Isa 4:4: 3. lix. 21.)

Gen 1:11 ; often used figuratively in Scripture, Dan 9:1 1Pe 1:23 1Jn 3:9 . There was an injunction in the Mosaic Law against sowing a field with mingled seed of diverse kinds, Lev 19:19 . The "precious seed" is often committed to the ground with many fears; but the harvest, at least in spiritual things, shall be a season of joy, Psa 126:5,6 .\par

SEED.—Excluding the use of this term as equivalent to progeny, offspring, or race (cf. e.g. Mar 12:19-24, Luk 1:55, Joh 7:42), we find it exclusively employed in the parables of Jesus as an apt symbol for Divine influence, or for the expansion of the moral and religious life in communities or individuals.

1. In Mar 4:26-29, a parable peculiar to Mark, Jesus uses the process of sowing and the subsequent conduct of the farmer to illustrate the certain success of His Kingdom upon earth. What He preached about seemed perhaps to the disciples, as well as to outsiders, as weak as a grain of seed flung upon a field. Yet neither is an isolated or foreign thing in the world. On the side of the gospel were certain mysterious powers which would ensure it success, apart from human aid or interference. All it required was time. The order of things was a ripening order, and at the proper moment these favourable conditions would bring about the fruit and result of what at present seemed a very precarious and unpromising movement among men. Such is the general point of the parable. The seed’s vital energy and its appointed correspondence with the powers of nature symbolize features in the gospel which enable Jesus to await the future with quiet confidence and an easy mind. Neither is just what it seems to the outward eye. Each sets in action a slow but sure process of growth, upon which the sensible person will count. ‘Fruit grows thus,’ said Epictetus; ‘the seed must be buried for some time, hidden, and then grow slowly if it is to reach perfection.’ It is by an extension, or rather a special application, of this usage that the self-sacrifice of man is compared to the burying of the seed in the furrow (Joh 12:23-25), with special reference to the death of Jesus Himself. The ultimate effects of such self-immolation depend on the thoroughness of the process itself.

The Kingdom is also compared to seed in the parable of the Mustard Seed (Mar 4:30-32 = Mat 13:31-32 = Luk 13:18-19). A small thing to begin with, it ultimately surpasses all other movements which make a greater show at first to the untrained eye. Here the Kingdom is conceived of, not eschatologically, but historically. When it is likened to ‘seed,’ the thought is mainly of the immense possibilities of growth in it, as compared with its initial size, the correspondence between it and the soul of man, and the pledge, which it contains, of some final and splendid issue.

2. Seed, on the other hand, depends to a certain extent upon soil. While essentially designed to co-operate with the vital forces of nature, it may be rendered wholly or partially barren. And in this further sense it forms a symbol for Jesus of the Divine word and its fortunes in the world of men. Consequently we find that in two other parables the seed represents not the Kingdom, but the word (cf. Mat 13:19).

The first of these, the parable of the Sower and the Soils (Mar 4:2 f. = Mat 13:3 f. = Luk 8:5 f.), bears on the difficulties and disappointments encountered in the preaching of the word of God. The latter is compared to the vital germ or grain of the plant, which, through no fault of its own or of the sower, may fail to germinate, owing to the unpromising nature of the ground on which it chances to fall. Nevertheless, the work of the sower must proceed. The partial failure of his efforts is not to render his career or calling void. In the parable itself, which is undoubtedly genuine, the original reference is to the experiences of Jesus Himself as a preacher. ‘Jesus has to preach; the rest is God’s concern’ (Wellhausen). But in the subsequent interpretation of the parable, which, like other interpretations, must be held to contain in whole or part reflexions of the Apostolic age and traces of the editor’s hand, the scope widens to include the general preaching of Christian evangelists, who are counselled not to let themselves be daunted by finding the unsympathetic and the preoccupied among their hearers. The seed must be sown. The word must be trusted to do its work in congenial hearts. The teaching must be imparted. Such is the supreme lesson for evangelists drawn here by Jesus from the vegetable world.

The other parable is that of the Tares, or darnel (Mat 13:24 f.), which may be an allegorized variation, and in part an expansion, of the ideas contained in Mar 4:26-29. Certainly, whatever be the original nucleus, the editorial reflexions indicate a rather advanced period in the history of the early Church’s mission and discipline. Growth, here too, is a partial feature of the situation. But the seed or word is further exposed to deliberate and widespread corruption and rivalry. Another power of influence is stealthily at work among men. God’s message finds no virgin soil, for the growth of the seed is thwarted; and specious, vigorous rivals abound.

Both of the latter parables, in so far as they emphasize the nature of God’s word or message as seed, thus touch wisely and earnestly on its mysterious power of growth. The spoken word is essentially fruitful. It is the instrument of the Divine mission. ‘We forget too often that language is both a seed-sowing and a revelation,’ says Amiel. ‘Man is a husbandman; his whole work rightly understood is to develop life, to sow it everywhere.’ And the supreme method is the contact of one personality with another, especially through the medium of that spoken intercourse which conveys the truth of God to the soul of man. This, and no external means, is the chosen way of Jesus.

Literature.—In addition to the critical editors on the passages above cited, and writers on the Parables (especially Trench, Bruce, Jülicher, and Godet), cf. T. G. Selby, Ministry of the Lord Jesus, p. 157 f.; Keim, Jesus of Nazara, iv. p. 138 f.; and J. Rendel Harris, Union with God, p. 171 f.

J. Moffatt.

A word commonly used in Sacred Scripture for family, race, posterity, offspring. A lengthy and interesting example is found in Galatians 3. Our Lord in His parables has immortalized its metaphorical meaning, likening the Word of God to a seed (Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8).

sēd (Old Testament always for זרע, zera‛, Aramaic (Dan 2:43) זרע, z^era‛, except in Joe 1:17 for פּרדות, p^erudhōth (plural, the Revised Version (British and American) “seeds,” the King James Version “seed”), and Lev 19:19 (the King James Version “mingled seed”) and Deu 22:9 (the King James Version “divers seeds”) for כּלאים, kil’ayim, literally, “two kinds,” the Revised Version (British and American) “two kinds of seed.” Invariably in Greek Apocrypha and usually in the New Testament for σπέρμα, spérma, but Mar 4:26, Mar 4:27; Luk 8:5, Luk 8:11; 2Co 9:10 for σπόρος, spóros, and 1Pe 1:23 for σπορά, sporá): (1) For “seed” in its literal sense see AGRICULTURE. Of interest is the method of measuring land by means of the amount of seed that could be sown on it (Lev 27:16). The prohibition against using two kinds of seed in the same field (Lev 19:19; Deu 22:9) undoubtedly rests on the fact that the practice had some connection with Canaanitish worship, making the whole crop “consecrated” (taboo). Jer 31:27 uses “seed of man” and “seed of beast” as a figure for the means by which God will increase the prosperity of Israel (i.e. “seed yielding men”). (2) For the transferred physiological application of the word to human beings (Lev 15:16, etc.) see CLEAN; UNCLEAN. The conception of Christians as “born” or “begotten” of God (see REGENERATION) gave rise to the figure in 1Pe 1:23; 1Jn 3:9. If the imagery is to be stressed, the Holy Spirit is meant. In I Joh 3:9 a doctrine of certain Gnostics is opposed. They taught that by learning certain formulas and by submitting to certain rites, union with God and salvation could be attained without holiness of life. John’s reply is that union with a righteous God is meaningless without righteousness as an ideal, even though shortcomings exist in practice (1Jn 1:8). (3) From the physiological use of “seed” the transition to the sense of “offspring” was easy, and the word may mean “children” (Lev 18:21, etc.) or even a single child (Gen 4:25; 1Sa 1:11 the Revised Version margin). Usually, however, it means the whole posterity (Gen 3:15, etc.); compare “seed royal” (2Ki 11:1, etc.), and “Abraham’s seed” (2Ch 20:7, etc.) or “the holy seed” (Ezr 9:2; Isa 6:13; 1 Esdras 8:70; compare Jer 2:21) as designations of Israel. So “to show one’s seed” (Ezr 2:59;, Neh 7:61) is to display one’s genealogy, and “one’s seed” may be simply one’s nation, conceived of as a single family (Est 10:3). From this general sense there developed a still looser use of “seed” as meaning simply “men” (Mal 2:15; Isa 1:4; Isa 57:4; The Wisdom of Solomon 10:15; 12:11, etc.).

In Gal 3:16 Paul draws a distinction between “seeds” and “seed” that has for its purpose a proof that the promises to Abraham were realized in Christ and not in Israel. The distinction, however, overstresses the language of the Old Testament, which never pluralizes zera‛ when meaning “descendants” (plural only in 1Sa 8:15; compare Rom 4:18; Rom 9:7). But in an argument against rabbinical adversaries Paul was obliged to use rabbinical methods (compare Gal 4:25). For modern purposes it is probably best to treat such an exegetical method as belonging simply to the (now superseded) science of the times.

The early Christians used ‘seed’ in its natural sense, of that which contains the germ-cell (1) of plants (óðÝñìá, Mat_13:24; Mat_13:27; Mat_13:32; Mat_13:37 f., Mar_4:31, 1Co_15:38, 2Co_9:10; óðüñïò, Mar_4:26 f., Luk_8:5; Luk_8:11), and (2) of man (óðÝñìá, Heb_11:11; óðïñÜ, 1Pe_1:23). Metaphorically, ‘seed’ (óðÝñìá) was used (1) of the nucleus of the Jewish race left from the Captivity (Rom_9:29); (2) of offspring in general, either (a) taken literally (Mat_22:24 f., Mar_12:19-22, Luk_1:55; Luk_20:28, Joh_7:42; Joh_8:33; Joh_8:37, Act_3:25; Act_7:5 f., Act_13:23, Rom_1:3; Rom_4:13; Rom_9:7; Rom_11:1, 2Co_11:22, 2Ti_2:8, Heb_2:16; Heb_11:18, Rev_12:17), or (b) figuratively, as when believers were called Abraham’s seed because they emulated his faith (Rom_4:16; Rom_4:18; Rom_9:8, Gal_3:16; Gal_3:19; Gal_3:29); and, finally, (3) of the generating power of God acting through His Word (cf. 1Pe_1:23) and His Spirit (1Jn_3:9). St. Paul argued in Rabbinical fashion from the distinction between ‘seed’ and ‘seeds’ (Gal_3:16 ff.). Since the singular stood in Gen_13:15 f. and Gen_17:7 f., he concluded that the promise made to Abraham pointed to Christ as an individual and not collectively to Jews. For this and similar examples of artificial exegesis in the NT, see Interpretation.

S. J. Case.

Mat 13:24 (a) It is the Word of GOD which, in all of its multitudinous aspects and forms, produces a variety of results. (See Mat 13:19).

Mat 13:38 (a) The people of GOD are the seed in this parable. The Lord takes His children and plants them in soil where they will produce the best results for Him.

2Co 9:10 (b) There are precious portions of the Scripture which can best be used by each individual Christian. The Spirit of GOD reveals to each person the special truths in His Word which seem particularly adapted to his nature and mentality. The Christian then takes this line of truth and ministers or plants it in the hearts of others.