pitch Summary and Overview

(Gen. 6:14), asphalt or bitumen in its soft state, called "slime" (Gen. 11:3; 14:10; Ex. 2:3), found in pits near the Dead Sea (q.v.). It was used for various purposes, as the coating of the outside of vessels and in building. Allusion is made in Isa. 34:9 to its inflammable character. (See SLIME T0003459.)

The three Hebrew words so translated all represent the same object, viz., mineral pitch or asphalt in its different aspects. Asphalt is an opaque, inflammable substance which bubbles up from subterranean fountains in a liquid state, and hardens by exposure to the air, but readily melts under the influence of heat. In the latter state it is very tenacious, and was used as a cement in lieu of mortar in Babylonia ( #Ge 11:3| as well as for coating the outside of vessels, #Ge 6:14| and particularly for making the papyrus boats of the Egyptians water-tight. #Ex 2:3| The jews and Arabians got their supply in large quantities from the Dead Sea, which hence received its classical name of Lacus Asphaltites.

PITCH . This word is used in the Bible for asphalt or bitumen, a light, inflammable, and nearly black mineral which in its soft form is called slime. Gen 14:10. In this latter state it was formerly obtained in pits near the Dead Sea (hence called the "Lake of Asphaltites"). On exposure this pitch becomes dry and hard like mortar, for which it was often used, especially in stone-work. It was also employed for coating the outside of vessels and for making watertight the papyrus boats of Egypt. Gen 11:3; Zech 6:14; Ex 2:3. There is reference to its inflammable nature in Isa 34:9. The ancients obtained pitch in various localities of the Old World. At the present time fragments of asphalt occasionally rise from the bottom of the Dead Sea, having been dislodged by earthquakes and other causes, and are washed ashore.

zepheth (from a root "to flow" ) in its liquid state; chemar (from a root "to bubble up") solid; kopher, as used in covering (from a root "to cover") woodwork, to make it watertight (Genesis 6:14); asphalt, bitumen. The town Is (Hit), eight days' journey from Babylon, supplied from springs the bitumen which was used as mortar in building that city (Genesis 11:3; Herodotus i. 179). Athenaeus (2:5) mentions a lake near Babylon abounding in bitumen which floated on the water. Bitumen pits are still found at Hit on the western bank of Euphrates; so tenacious is it "that it is almost impossible to detach one brick from another" (Layard, Nin. and Bab.). Asphalt is opaque, and inflammable, bubbling up liquid from subterranean fountains and hardening by exposure. Pitch or bitumen made the papyrus ark of Moses watertight (Exodus 2:3). The Dead Sea was called Lacus Asphaltites from the asphalt springs at its southern end, the vale of Siddim (Genesis 14:3; Genesis 14:10). The Salt Sea after Sodom's destruction spread over this vale. At the shallow southern end of the sea are the chief deposits of salt and bitumen. The asphalt crust on the bed of the lake is cast out by earthquakes and other causes (Josephus B. J. 4:8, section 4; Tac. Hist. 5:6). The inflammable pitch (Isaiah 34:9) on all the plain, ignited by the lightning, caused "the smoke of the country to go up as the smoke of a furnace" (Genesis 19:28). Kopher means also a "ransom" or "atonement" (Job 33:21 margin). As the pitch covered the ark from the overwhelming waters, so the atonement covers the believer in Jesus from the blood of God's wrath. Kippurim, "atonement" (Exodus 29:36; Leviticus 23:27), and kapporeth, "mercy-seat," the covering of the ark and the law inside it (Romans 3:25; Romans 10:4), are related.