WFT- tare

27 March 2010
The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for February 17th was tare.
Here is the definition they provided:
1 : a deduction from the gross weight of a substance and its container made in allowance for the weight of the container; also : the weight of the container 2 : counterweight
 
M-W provided the following example sentence:
Before charging us for the blueberries we'd picked, the attendant at Annie's Fields deducted the tare from the weight of the filled buckets.
You may already be familiar with the parable of the wheat and tares from Matthew 13:
Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.  The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'  But he said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"  (Matthew 13:24-30) [emphasis mine]
 
Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English defines tare as "a weed that grows among corn."
 
 
 
Consider these words from the Master:
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.  (Matthew 28:37-39)
 
Notice the parallel of what is being described.  Just like in the days of Noah the coming of the Son of Man will have the following:
Believers Unbelievers
understood did not understand
obedient disobedient
saved unsaved
left taken away
 
 
It seems that, contrary to popular opinion, it is the unbelievers who will be taken away when Messiah returns... just like in the days of Noah.
 
This leads us back to the tares.  Here is the information M-W provided regarding the origin of the word:
"Tare" came to English by way of Middle French from the Old Italian term "tara," which is itself from the Arabic word "tarha," meaning "that which is removed." [emphasis mine] The first known written record of the word "tare" in English is found in the 1489 naval inventories of Britain's King Henry VII. The records show two barrels of gunpowder weighing, "besides the tare," 500 pounds. When used of vehicles, "tare weight" refers to a vehicle's weight exclusive of any load. The term "tare" is closely tied to "net weight," which is defined as "weight excluding all tare."
 
Just as in the Matthew 13 passage... the tare is that which is removed.  May G-d have mercy upon us and see fit not to remove us.
 
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Tim 1:17)
 
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