“You tithe mint and dill and cumin”
Matthew 23:23
Legal referenceSettledJesus
You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (Matthew 23:23 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A complaint about fussy bookkeeping.
The cultural key
Torah required tithes of grain, wine, and oil: field crops. Counting out a tenth of the kitchen-garden herbs goes beyond the written requirement into supererogatory scrupulosity: tithing the garnish. 'Weightier matters' invokes the rabbis' own category of heavy versus light commandments, and the triad of justice, mercy, and faithfulness echoes Micah 6:8. Note the ending: Jesus doesn't cancel the herb-tithe.
Recovered meaning
Precision about the microscopic has crowded out the massive. It isn't scruple versus freedom; it's proportion: a religious life exact to the leaf while justice goes unweighed.
Parallels: Luke 11:42; Micah 6:8