A fragrant culinary herb, mint was cultivated in Palestinian gardens and, like dill and cumin, subject to the tithe according to Pharisaic interpretation of the law. Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42 for meticulously tithing 'mint and rue and every herb' while neglecting justice, mercy, and the love of God. He doesn't condemn their mint-tithing per se—'these you ought to have done'—but exposes the distortion of priorities, majoring on minors while ignoring weighty matters. Mint becomes an emblem of misplaced religious scrupulosity.