What is a chaff? When pronouncing this word, as a rule, one recalls an expression from the Bible. It indicates the need for separation of grains from the chaff. What does it mean and what is its origin? About this, as well as in detail about what the chaff is, will be described in this article.
What is said in the dictionary?
There, the meaning of the word "chaff" is considered in the literal and figurative sense.
In botany, it is a herbaceous plant belonging to the cereal family. It clogs crops of bread and flax. Example: “Tares belong to flowering plants of the monocotyledonous class; their order is grassy.”
In a figurative sense, as a rule, in the plural, this word is used in literature and means something unnecessary, harmful and destructive. Example: "You must not allow bad seeds to take root in your souls, otherwise the tares will grow. They will drown out the precious sprouts of truth inside you."
It will be further examined in more detail what the chaff means in each of the indicated values.
Field weed
Such, in fact, is this Eurasian flowering plant - the chaff, of the Cereal family. It mainly grows in meadows and fields, sometimes it can be seen located along the roads, sometimes on railway embankments. Some of its species are used as pet food and as lawn grass.
The scientific Latin name for the chaff is lolium, it came to us from Ancient Rome. Virgil called this malicious weed. In Russian, the term "chaff" came from Church Slavonic, where it denoted a weed. At the same time, in the Old Russian language there was a noun "underweight", which had the same meaning.
In many languages, this plant is called rye grass. In English it sounds like Ryegrass, in Finnish like Raiheinä. A similar name is also found in Icelandic and Dutch. In Russian-language literature, you can find a similar name of the described genus - "ryegrass" or "ryegrass".
To better understand what chaff means, you should go to a direct description of the plant.
Biological characteristics
Representatives of the chaff genus are both annual and perennial herbs. Their root system is defined as fibrous, they have elastic shoots. Leaves are flat, linear, dark green. Their spike inflorescences are up to 15 cm long. Spikelets are loose, sessile, arranged in longitudinal rows one at a time. In length, they grow up to 8-16 mm, in each there are from three to twenty flowers and two stigmas.
During flowering, inflorescences are densely covered with pollen. They are pollinated by the wind. Pollen from this plant can cause hay fever. Its fruit is a caryopsis, a common single-seeded dry fruit common for cereals. Seeds are carried by water or wind.
There are two species - multiflorous and perennial chaff. Both of them are valuable fodder cereals. The decorative value of the plant is small, but some species are planted like lawn grass.
In continuation of the study of what the chaff is, the use of the token in scripture will be examined.
Bible parable
The allegory of Jesus Christ about the good sower and the tares is set forth in the New Testament, namely, in the Gospel of Matthew. It speaks of a man who sowed good wheat seeds in his field. At night, his enemy scattered weed seeds among them.
When the seedlings turned green, the slaves noticed that not only wheat, but also weeds had sprouted. They invited the owner to pull the last. But he did not agree, saying that by choosing tares, wheat could also be pulled out. Therefore, it is necessary to leave both that and the other before the harvest. And during the harvest period, the reapers will first collect the tares, putting them in bundles, they will betray them to burning. And the wheat will be piled in the breadbasket.
At the end of the consideration of the question of what the chaff is, an interpretation of the parable will be given. Jesus himself interpreted it as follows:
- the one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man, by which is meant Jesus Christ;
- the field is the world around;
- the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom of God;
- tares symbolize the sons of the evil one;
- the enemy that sowed them is the devil;
- harvest - the end of centuries;
- the reapers are angels.
As weeds are harvested by burning them, so at the end of the age the Savior will send his angels. They will collect from the earthly kingdom all the temptations and the one who commits lawlessness by plunging them into the fiery furnace. The righteous will shine like the sun.
Thus, the parable suggests that:
- evil is not planted by God;
- in addition to pious people there are apostates who do not care about the good fruits of life and, as it were, become "sons of the evil one";
- the reason for the germination of weed seeds in the soul is the machinations of the devil, who seeks to destroy her and thereby gain power over her when a person is careless;
- you need to be careful and not chop off the shoulder, so that when you destroy the chaff (vices), not to destroy the good seed.