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is the rendering of several words, more or less accurately, in certain passages in the English Bible: èַéè , tit, prop. mud (Psa_40:2), i.e. mire (as often rendered), hence potter's clay, as being trodden fine (Isa_41:25; Nah_3:14); corresponding to the Gr. ðçëüò (Joh_9:6; Joh_9:11; Joh_9:14-15; Rom_9:21; Wis_7:9; Wis_15:7-8; Sir_33:13; Sir_38:30; Bel 7), as soiling or plastic; and çֹîֶø , cho'mer, reddish loam (Job_4:19; (Job_13:12; (Job_27:16; (Job 33:67), e.g. potter's clay (Isa_29:16; Isa_45:9; Jer_18:4; Jer_18:6), as used for sealing (Job_38:14), or for cement of building (“mortar,” Gen_11:3), so for making brick (Exo_1:14; “mortar,” Isa_41:25; Nah_3:14); also common street “mire” (Isa_10:6; Job_30:19; “clay,” Job_10:9). Other terms so rendered less correctly are: îֶìֶè , me'let, mortar for plastering (Jer_43:9); and the Chald. çֲñִ , chasaph', sherd, of burnt clay-ware (Dan_2:23). The word òָá , ab (“clay,” 2Ch_4:17), or îִòֲáֶä , madbeh' (“ clay,” 1Ki_7:47), denotes darkness or density of soil, i.e. perh. depth of earth; and the merely apparent compound òִáְèַéè , abtit' (“thick clay”), in Hab_2:6, signifies rather a pledging of goods to an extortioner. SEE MINERALOGY.
“Clay is a sedimentary earth, tough and plastic, arising from the disintegration of felspar and similar minerals, and always containing silica and alumina combined in variable proportions. As the sediment of water remaining in pits or in streets, the word is used frequently in the O.T. (e.g. Isa_57:20; Jer_38:6; Psa_18:42), and in the N.T. (Joh_9:6), a mixture of sand or dust with spittle. It is also found in the sense of potter's clay (Isa_41:25), the elegant and useful forms assumed by the rude material under his hands supplying a significant emblem of the Divine power over the destinies of man (Isa_64:8; Jer_18:1-6; Rom_9:21). The alluvial soils of Palestine would no doubt supply material for pottery, a manufacture which we know was, as it still is, carried on in the country (Jer_18:2; Jer_18:6); but our knowledge on the subject is so small as to afford little or no means of determining, and the clay of Palestine, like that of Egypt, is probably more loam than clay (Birch, Hist. of Pottery, 1, 55, 152). SEE POTTERY.
Bituminous shale, convertible into clay, is said to exist largely at the source of the Jordan, and near the Dead Sea, also near Bethshan (Burckhardt, 2:593; Russegger, 3:278, 253, 254). The great seat of the pottery of the present day in Palestine is Gaza, where are made the vessels in dark blue clay so frequently met with. The Talmud (Aboda Sara, 2, 3) mentions a peculiar kind of luteous material called ‘Hadrian's clay' ( çøñ äøøééðé ). The use of clay in brickmaking was also common. See BRICK. Another use of clay was in sealing (Job_38:14). The bricks of Assyria and Egypt are most commonly found stamped either with a die or with marks made by the fingers of the maker. Wine-jars in Egypt were sometimes sealed with clay; mummy-pits were sealed with the same substance, and remains of clay are still found adhering to the stone door-jambs. Our Lord's tomb may have been thus sealed (Mat_27:66), as also the earthen vessel containing the evidences of Jeremiah's purchase (Jer_32:14). So also in Assyria, at Kouyunjik, pieces of fine clay have been found bearing impressions of seals with Assyrian, Egyptian, and Phoenician devices. The seal used for public documents was rolled on the moist clay, and the tablet was then placed in the fire and baked. The practice of sealing doors with clay to facilitate detection in case of malpractice is still common in the East (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 1, 15, 48; 2, 364; Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 153, 158, 608; Herod. 2, 38; Harmer, Obs. 4, 376)” (Smith, s.v.). Norden and Pococke observe that the inspectors of the granaries in Egypt, after closing the door, put their seal upon a handful of clay, with which they cover the lock. SEE SEAL.
Clay was also used, no doubt, in primitive times for mortar, for the same term is employed for both (Gen_11:3). Houses are built of clay mixed with sand in countries where stones are not to be found. SEE MORTAR. In Job_4:19, it is said of mankind that they dwell in huts of clay, either alluding to such dwellings, or to the “clay tenements” of the body (compare 2Co_5:1). Our Savior anointed the eyes of the blind man with a salve made of clay and spittle (Joh_9:6), a simple preparation, which, it would be manifest to all, — could have in itself no curative virtue. The “clay ground” (literally thickness of soil) in which Solomon caused the large vessels of the Temple to be cast (1Ki_7:46; 2Ch_4:17) was a compact loam, of a quality or rather extent, depth some 28 feet; SEE JACHIN not to be found elsewhere in Palestine, which is generally rocky or sandy. SEE METALLURGY.