📖 Biblical Definition
Mint is an aromatic garden herb tithed by the Pharisees with painstaking accuracy — counting individual leaves into the tithe basket. Christ’s rebuke is sharp: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone" (Matthew 23:23; cf. Luke 11:42). Mint is therefore the perpetual type of religious precision that majors on the trivial while ignoring justice, mercy, and faith. The mint is not the problem; tithing it is right. The heart that tithes mint and devours widows is. Get both: tithe the mint, weep over the widows.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
MINT, n.
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A plant of the genus Mentha, of several species, as peppermint, spearmint, &c. Mint is much used in cookery and medicine.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 23:23 — "Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith."
Luke 11:42 — "Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God."
Micah 6:8 — "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
1 Samuel 15:22 — "To obey is better than sacrifice."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern religion still tithes mint and devours widows.
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Christ's mint-rebuke (Matt 23:23) is one of His most surgical words to religious people. He does not condemn the tithing — these ought ye to have done. He condemns the substitution: scrupulous mint-counting while justice, mercy, and faith rot in the courtyard. The tell of dead religion is always small precision in the trivial paired with massive negligence in the central.
The same temptation hunts every age. We can be punctilious about Sunday attendance and indifferent to the lonely widow on the next street. We can argue translations and ignore our marriages. We can master apologetics and starve in prayer. Tithe the mint — but do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. Both, not either.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek heduosmon (G2238) — mint.
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G2238 — heduosmon — mint; literally, sweet-smelling
G442 — anethon — dill, anise
G2951 — kuminon — cummin
Usage
"You can tithe the mint and miss the Master."
"Religion that majors on minors is the devil's favorite disguise."
"These ought ye to have done — and not to leave the other undone. Both/and is the Christian way."