The very small!
By Elizabeth Prata
Yesterday I wrote about very large things in the Bible. The Anakim, large giants of the antediluvian Flood, (and afterwards too), The Ark, large armies killed in a single night. The observable universe is said to be 95 billion light years across. So just imagine how big God is to be transcendent from that.
And in typical squirrel fashion, I then thought about the opposite of Very Large Things, what’s in the Bible that is very small? Of course, the mustard seed was the first small thing I thought of. Let’s take a look at the verses and the facts about this very small seed.
He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32).
[Mt 13:31; Mk 4:31; Lk 13:19; Mt 17:20; Lk 17:6]): The minuteness of the seed is referred to in all these passages, while in the first three the large size of the herb growing from it is mentioned. In Mt 13:32 it is described as “greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree” (cf Lk 13:19); in Mk 4:32 it “becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches.” Several varieties of mustard (Arab. khardal) have notably small seed, and under favorable conditions grow in a few months into very tall herbs—10 to 12 ft.
From The Plants of the Bible by JH Balfour:
Professor Hackett tells us that when crossing the plain of Akka, in Palestine, he saw before him a little grove of trees. On coming nearer they proved to be a grove of mustard-plants. Some of the trees were full nine feet high, with a trunk two or three inches in circumference, throwing out branches on every side. He wondered whether they were strong enough for the birds to “lodge in the branches thereof.” Just then a bird stopped in its flight through the air, alighted on one of the limbs, which hardly moved beneath the weight, and began to warble forth a strain of sweetest music. The professor was delighted with the incident. His “doubts were charmed away;” the “least of all seeds” had actually grown into a substantial tree.
Balfour, J. H. (1885). The Plants of the Bible (p. 61). T. Nelson and Sons.
Four things are small on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: 25The ants are not a strong people, But they prepare their food in the summer; The shephanim [shy, furry mammals, field mice, some think] are not a mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the cliff; The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in rank; The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.
Who would admire an ant? it’s an insect, of no account, small but as Matthew Henry says, “yet they are very industrious in gathering proper food, and have a strange sagacity to do it in the summer, the proper time. This is so great a piece of wisdom that we may learn of them to be wise for futurity, ch. 6:6. When the ravening lions lack, and suffer hunger, the laborious ants have plenty, and know no want. [Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1024). Hendrickson.]
The same admiration in different ways for the field mice, locusts, and lizards. Thus, these small things are not of no account, but the writer was inspired by the Holy Spirit to include these for meditation on their admirable aspects.
A small boy. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this miracle but only John mentioned its catalyst was a small boy. (a lad, a young child; Greek paidarion)
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” (John 6:9).
The loaves were barley loaves, a lesser grain than the fine wheat grown in Palestine. He had only 2 loaves, and likely they were the usual ‘cakes’ and likely they were small enough for the lad to be able to carry them. Same with the fishes- small so he could carry them. But from the small boy carrying small loaves and smaller fish, Jesus multiplied it to a largesse unknown before that moment- feeding 5000 men, who were probably married, so that’s 10000, who probably had kids, so maybe as many as 15,000 people there received the blessing from the ‘small’ boy and his ‘small’ meal.
Conclusion
For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel—these are the eyes of Yahweh which roam to and fro throughout the earth. (Zechariah 4:10).
God sees the heart, not the externals. Saul was seen to be head and shoulders above the rest, but God knew Saul’s heart. It didn’t matter that Saul was impressively large. It didn’t matter that David was small and young. David was to be king, not Saul.
It didn’t matter that the widow was an at-risk person in that culture, often overlooked and/or poor. The Persistent widow was lauded, so was Anna. Dorcas’ sewing needle mattered to God as much as Paul’s pronouncements in amphitheaters to Kings and leaders. In fact, God allowed Dorcas to be raised from the dead.
Hagar was a cast-off slave girl, but God saw her pain in the wilderness and personally ministered to her.
The walls of Jericho were large and impressive, but they fell flat when God moved His hand. Nothing is hidden from Him.
Large or small, impressive or seemingly overlooked, God sees all. It’s the heart that matters. He counts every hair on our heads, He knows every dust mote that wafts in the wind, he is intimately involved with every soul whether they are reserved for wrath or for blessing.
God is amazing!
Further resources
No wonder they were grasshoppers in their sight: The Very Large
