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Drug Abuse in Scripture and Other extra-Biblical Writings

Ergot (Claviceps Tulasne) in the Ear of Rye

The Biblical Tare of Saint Matthew's Gospel Chapter 13: 24-40.

‘So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, “Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence hath it tares?” ’ Mt. 13:27. KJV

In the Greek New Testament the Gospel tare is cited as Ζιζάνια Zizánia, a lolium rye which grows as darnel among good wheat and is host to the parasitic fungal infection Claviceps tulasne in which ergoline alkaloids, mainly derivatives of lysergic acid, can be found.

    Latin Lolium temulentum (‘Drunkenness’)

 Zizánia, of itself, is a harmless rye grass. The lolium rye is however host to the poisonous Ergot Spur, the parasitic fungal infection Claviceps. In the Jewish Talmud also called זזנין Zizanion, indistinguishable from wheat until it heads at harvest.

The Latin name for this darnel is Lolium temulentum literally 'drunkenness'. In the cognate Arabic apparently Zuwân or Zû'ân, meaning 'nausea' or 'sickness' caused when the fungus infected rye kernels, containing ergoline alkaloids, mainly derivatives of lysergic acid, were inadvertently ingested.

The term temulentum or ‘drunkenness’ was used by early Latin writers much influenced by the New Testament, an indication that Christ's reference to the Biblical Tare or Zizánia was understood as indicating an ergot infected grain.

           The Ergot Spur (the parasitic Claviceps) was recognized by the Assyrians as long ago as 600 BCE as a poisonous pustule. The lolium host Zizánia was condemned by the Parsees in about 350 BCE as a noxious grass causing death and abortion.

The Gospel Tangental

In view of the above, as a point of some importance it must be recognized that Christ’s reference to the tare in the Gospel Parable is not a reference to the hallucinogenic drug LSD-25 (Lysergic acid diethylamide) which, as an ingestible ergot derivative was not synthesized in the laboratory until 1938*. The reference is tangental. The direct effects of the ergot poison - if ingested directly from the spur itself - are both horrendous and most often fatal. Also some amides of lysergic acid, again closely related to the powerful hallucinogenic LSD-25 can be found in the seeds of several species of Morning Glory, mainly Ololiuqui Badoh.

In the Gospel the fungus infected rye was separated from the wheat at harvest and burned as an offensive crop adulteration, and it is in this sense only that Christ spoke of the Biblical tare - as that which resembles wheat yet bears poison in the field of the world. (Cf. Saint Matthew Chapter 13:24-40). For further info. on crop adulteration in Bible times and the Gospel allegory see eBook chapter From Whence Hath it Tares?

For other drugs and poisons in Scripture and the Early and Mediaeval periods including Mandragora (the Biblical ‘love apples’), the atropines, the ‘spiced wines’ of Old Testament times and a possible cannabis see eBook

Contents or Download

FREE eBOOK Drug Abuse in Scripture.

Photo: Ergot in the Ear of Rye

Reproduced under license EMB-Service, Lucerne, Switzerland, from R. E. Schults and Albert Hofmann’s Botanic Drug Lexicon Plants of the Gods, Healing Arts Press 1992. All Rights Reserved.

* The late Professor Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 whilst researching the medicinal uses of the ergot fungus. The psychoactive properties of the derived LSD-25 were not however fully realized until 1943 when Dr. Hofmann himself inadvertently absorbed a small amount through the skin.

See also Concordance

Biblical Source Index

(i) International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia,1960, vol v, p.2910.(EErdmans) (ii) New Bible Dictionary,1962, p.1238. (IVF) (iii) Hastings’ Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels,1908, vol ii p.697. (iv) Hastings’ Bible Dictionary, 1902, vol iv, p.678 (v). A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1977, p.196. G. Abbott-Smith. (T&T Clark)

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NOTE

Ug99

Stem Rust Fungus

Puccinia graminis

(Update 14 March 2008)

The ergot fungal infection Claviceps tulasne as delineate in Scripture (the Biblical Tare) must not be confused with the emergent wheat disease Ug99, a virulent strain of black stem rust fungus (Puccinia graminis) (also once known to the Romans) and which re-emerged in Uganda in 1999.

Although harmless to humans (New Scientist 03 April 2007). Ug99 can devastate an entire crop and now represents a serious threat to world food supplies. Although Ug99 is easily removed with modern fungicides scientists are now working at full speed to develop a resistant strain to avert the threat.

For further info. on Ug99 please visit

New Scientist 03 April 2007

Stem Rust Puccinia graminis

Wikipedia

Photo: Ug99

Public domain

***

Photo: (ii)

Gathering Tares from Wheat

This unique photo was taken by the photographers of the American Colony,  Jerusalem, about 1900-1920 and originally bore the caption

 Gathering Tares from Wheat at Bethel.

Taken before the introduction of the crop spray and modern fungicides it must represent one of the last times that tares were ever separated by hand from wheat in Palestine.

Public domain

Library of Congress Catalogue: (PPOC)

No known restrictions on publication

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