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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Flour
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stands in the Auth. Vers. as the representative of the following Heb. words: ÷ֶîִç (ke'mach, literally marrow, SEE FAT, Jdg_6:19; 1Sa_1:24; 1Sa_28:24; 2Sa_17:28, meal, as it is elsewhere rendered), ñֹìֶú (so'leth, from stripping off the hull, the finest and purest part of the meal, usually rendered “fine flour,” Sept. and N. Test. óåìßäáëéò , Rev_18:13), and áָּöֵ÷ (batsek', from its swelling in rising, 2Sa_13:18, dough as it is elsewhere rendered). SEE MEAL.
In early times corn was often eaten whole without any preparation at all (Deu_23:25), and the custom was not entirely disused in the time of our Savior (Mat_12:1). Parching it afterwards became so general that the words which properly mean parched were also used for corn or meal (Rth_2:14; 2Sa_17:28). SEE PARCHED CORN. Mortars were used in the time of Moses for bruising corn, as was also the mill (Num_11:8). SEE MORTAR. Fine meal, that is, corn or grain ground or beaten fine, is spoken of as far back as the time of Abraham (Gen_18:6). At first, barley alone was ground. but afterwards wheat, as only the poor used barley. Barley-bread appears to have been more suitable in the warm climate of the East than in a colder climate. SEE BREAD.
On the second day, however, it becomes insipid and rough to the palate, as is likewise the case with wheaten bread; hence the necessity of baking every day, and hence also the daily grinding at the mills about evening—alluded to by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer_25:10). SEE MILL. The flour, being mingled with water, was reduced to a solid mass in a sort of wooden tray or kneading-trough (q.v.); this, after remaining a little time, was kneaded, some leaven being also added to it (Exo_12:34). SEE LEAVEN. In case it was necessary to prepare the bread very hastily, the leaven was left out (Gen_18:6; Gen_19:3). The cakes, when made, were round, and nine or ten inches in diameter, and often not thicker than a knife.—Jahn, Aschaeol. § 137-140. SEE CAKE. Fine flour was especially offered by the poor as a sin-offering (Lev_5:11-13), end in connection with other sacrifices in general (Num_15:3-12; Num_28:7-29). SEE OFFERING.