Bread in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

bred (lechem; artos): I. DIETARY PREEMINENCE II. MATERIALS 1. Barley 2. Wheat 3. Three Kinds of Flour III. BREAD-MAKING 1. Grinding 2. Kneading 3. Baking (1) Hot Stones (2) Baking Pans 4. Ovens (1) The Bowl-Oven (2) The Jar-Oven (3) The Pit-Oven 5. Forms of Baked Bread 6. Work for Women IV. SANCTITY AND SYMBOLISM OF BREAD 1. Sanctity 2. Symbolism LITERATURE The art of bread-making is very ancient. It was even known to the Egyptians at a very early day (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians), to the Hebrews of the Exodus (Nowack, Lehrbuch der hebr. Archaologie) and, of course, to the Greeks and Romans of a later day. Bread played a large part in the vocabulary and in the life of the ancient Hebrews. I. Dietary Preeminence. (1) In the East bread is primary, other articles of food merely accessory; while in the West meat and other things chiefly constitute the meal, and bread is merely secondary. Accordingly "bread" in the Old Testament, from Gen 3:19 onward, stands for food in general. (2) Moreover in ancient times, as now, most probably, when the peasant, carpenter, blacksmith or mason left home for the day's work, or when the muleteer or messenger set out on a journey, he wrapped other articles of food, if there were any, in the thin loaves of bread, and thus kept them ready for his use as needed. (3) Often the thin, glutinous loaf, puffed out with air, is seen today, opened on one side and used so as to form a natural pouch, in which meat, cheese, raisins and olives are enclosed to be eaten with the bread (see Mackie in DCG, article "Bread"). The loaf of bread is thus made to include everything and, for this reason also, it may fitly be spoken of as synonymous with food in general. To the disciples of Jesus, no doubt, "Give us this day our daily bread" would naturally be a petition for all needed food, and in the case of the miraculous feeding of the multitude it was enough to provide them with "bread" (Mt 14:15 ff). II. Materials. 1. Barley: Barley was in early times, as it is today, the main bread- stuff of the Israel peasantry (see Jdg 7:13; where "the cake of barley bread" is said to be "the sword of Gideon"), and of the poorer classes of the East in general (see Jn 6:13, where the multitude were fed on the miraculous increase...