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Bible Dictionaries
Husks
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or HUSKS.—The only mention of husks (κεράτια, so called from their shape, which resembles ‘horns’) occurs in Luke 15:16. Husks were the pods of the carob-tree, which is also known as the locust-tree (Ceratonia siliqua). This tree, which is common in Palestine, belongs to the order Leguminosae, and is an evergreen. It attains to a height of about 30 feet, and has a dense foliage. Its leaves are of a dark, glossy green. The pods are from 6 to 10 inches in length and 1 in breadth. They contain a thick, sweet pulp, not unpleasant to the palate, and are used as food for pigs, cattle, and horses. They are also, because of their cheapness, eaten by the very poor.
Some have identified the pods of the carob with the ‘locusts’ (ἀκρίδες) which John the Baptist ate (Matthew 3:4). It is true they are sometimes called ‘St. John’s bread,’ this name having been given to them by the monks of Palestine or by ‘pious pilgrims’ (Thomson, LB [Note: The Land and the Book.] p. 655), but there can be little doubt that the Baptist’s food was not carob-pods, but the insect, which is still eaten by the wandering Arabs. See Locust.
Hugh Duncan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Husks'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/h/husks.html. 1906-1918.
