In Nu 6:4 (Heb zag) it means the "skin" of a grape. In 2Ki 4:42 (Heb tsiqlon) it means a "sack" for grain, as rendered in the Revised Version. In Lu 15:16, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, it designates the beans of the carob tree, or Ceratonia siliqua. From the supposition, mistaken, however, that it was on the husks of this tree that John the Baptist fed, it is called "St. John's bread" and "locust tree." This tree is in "February covered with innumerable purple-red pendent blossoms, which ripen in April and May into large crops of pods from 6 to 10 inches long, flat, brown, narrow, and bent like a horn (whence the Greek name keratia, meaning 'little horns'), with a sweetish taste when still unripe. Enormous quantities of these are gathered for sale in various towns and for exportation." "They were eaten as food, though only by the poorest of the poor, in the time of our Lord." The bean is called a "gerah," which is used as the name of the smallest Hebrew weight, twenty of these making a shekel.

Illustration: Carob

In the O.T. it is the skin of grapes. Nu 6:4; see 2Ki 4:42, margin. In the N.T. it is ????????, which is the fruit, not the husk, of the carob tree. It is abundant in Syria, and the pods, containing a sweet pith-like substance, are food for cattle and pigs: it is occasionally eaten by the very poor. It is also termed 'St. John's Bread,' owing to the tradition that John the Baptist used its fruit in the desert. Quantities of the pods have been imported into England under the name of locust beans, and used as food for horses. Lu 15:16.