[YP0534]

Example 3: The Prodigal Son ate “carob pods,” Luke 15:161[/b]
The third example is the “carob pods” the Prodigal ate in the parable. The Recovery Version says,
The carob is an evergreen tree. Its pod…was used…to feed animals and destitute persons. An interesting rabbinical saying is that “when the Israelites are reduced to carob pods, then they repent.” A tradition says that John the Baptist fed on carob pods in the wilderness; hence they are called “St. John’s bread.” [RcV., Luke 15:16,1 emphasis added. Also in Life-study of Luke, Message #34, p. 293]
The corresponding section of Vincent’s Word Studies says,
Carob pods…It is also called Saint John’s bread, from a tradition that the Baptist fed upon its fruit in the wilderness. Edersheim quotes a Jewish saying, “When Israel is reduced to the carob-tree, they become repentant.” [Vincent, Word Studies in the N.T., vol. 1, pp. 386-7, emphasis added]
The two sources present the same three pieces of information about carob pods. [1] Tradition says John the Baptist ate carob pods in the wilderness, [2] hence it’s called Saint John’s bread, and [3] a Jewish rabbinical says, “when the Israelites are reduced to carob pods, then they repent.”30 The sequence of the three points differs, yet their content is essentially the same. If LSM’s note was the product of primary research, independent of Vincent, the vocabulary and syntax would be significantly different. It is not. This suggests LSM has paraphrased Vincent’s Word Studies; yet they don’t cite him. They could have quoted Vincent verbatim, referencing him as the author, or indicated they had paraphrased his work.

I think perhaps Mr. Tomes missed Mr. Lee's actual source.

Compare:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mtx...A145&lpg=PA145

16. He would fain. He ardently desired, so hungry was he. The husks that the swine did eat. "These husks are the pods and seeds of the locust or carob tree (Ceraionia siliqua), a common evergreen tree bearing an abundant crop of fruit, sometimes eight hundred or nine hundred pounds, — long, curved pods, six to eight inches, which are used for feeding cattle, and are largely exported to England for feeding horses, under the name of locust beans. They are capable of sustaining human life, like the acorns of the oak, eaten by our Saxon ancestors in times of scarcity; and as in Germany and England the swine are driven into the woods to feed on the fallen acorns, so in Syria they feed under the locust trees."— Tristram. Professor Vincent says that during the Peninsular War the horses of the British cavalry were often fed upon these pods. Edersheim quotes a Jewish saying, " When Israel is reduced to the carob tree they become repentant." No man gave unto him better food, or any at all. He had to pick up what he could.

Note the reference to "evergreen tree" which does not appear in the Vincent note.

I obviously haven't compared all these references and it doesn't alter the fact that there is an unattributed source or sources involved but this is, to my mind, even more eye-opening.

It looks to me like, at least for this example, the process began with review of Peloubet's Select Notes On The International Sunday School Lessons, a comparison with the Vincent material was done for thoroughness and clarity (that's where the word "destitute" came from, in addition to the St. John's bread point), and then a summarized and enhanced form of Peloubet's note became Lee's footnote on this topic...