McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Pot

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McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Pot


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a term applicable to so many sorts of vessels that it can scarcely be restricted to any one in particular. SEE BASIN; SEE CUP, etc. But from the places where the word is used we may collect the uses, and also in part the materials of the utensils implied. This vessel, so necessary in cooking and serving up food (Num_11:8; Jdg_6:19; 1Sa_2:14; 2Ki_4:38 sq.; 2Ch_35:13; Isa_65:4; Mic_3:3; Eze_11:3; Eze_24:3 sq.), derives its ordinary names from its use in boiling. It was commonly, among the Israelites, made of clay (Heb. çֹîֶø , Gr. ðήëïò ; comp. Isa_29:16; Isa_45:9; Jer_18:4). But there were also brazen pots (Lev_8:28), especially in the sanctuary (1Ki_7:45; 2Ki_25:14). The trade of the potters, called éֹöְøַéí (comp. Gesenius, Monumenta Phoen. p. 161) or éֹöְãֵé çֶøֶùׁ (Jer_19:1), in Greek êåñáìåῖò , was a separate pursuit, to whose mysteries allusions are often made (Jer_18:2 sq.; Sir_38:30; Sirach cf., 33 sq.). It was necessary first to work the clay with the feet, to make it plastic (Isa_41:25), and then to shape it with the hand (Jer_18:4; Jer_18:6; Sir_33:13; Sir_38:30) and the Oriental potter's wheel ( àָáְðִéַí Jer_18:3; see Gesenius, Thesaur. 1, 16). The vessels were glazed (Sir_38:31; Pro_26:23), and then burned in the oven ( êÜìéíïò , Sirach , 1. c.). BAhr (Symbolik, 2, 293) and Sommer (Bibl. Abhandl. 1, 213) assume, indeed, that the Hebrews were ignorant of glazing, and explain the passages (Lev_6:21; Lev_11:33; Lev_15:12) which command the breaking of earthen vessels made unclean by this want of glazing. There are, indeed, no pots extant from Egyptian antiquity, but earthen figures show a glazing upon them; and it would be unreasonable to suppose that the Egyptians had failed to apply the art to their vessels. There is nothing inexplicable in the command to break the defiled vessels, inasmuch as they were of little value; and any of them might easily have lost part of its glazing, and so taken in some of the unclean substance; so that breaking was the safest method of disposing of them. Such a command would also produce more care in housekeeping to avoid uncleanness (comp. Descript. de l'Egypte, vol. 2, pl. 87 sq.; 5, pl. 75; Wilkinson , 1, 164). SEE POTTERY.

The following are the words so rendered in the English Bible:

1. àָñåּêְ , asuk (Sept. ἀããåῖïí ), applied to holding oil (2Ki_4:2), probably was an earthen jar, deep and narrow, without handles, apparently like the Roman and Egyptian amphora, inserted in a stand of wood or stone (see Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 1, 47; Sandys, Trav, p. 150). SEE PITCHER.

2. âָּáַéòִ , gabia (Sept. êåñÜìéïí , Vulg. scyphaus, Jer_35:5; elsewhere “bowl” or “cup”), probably a bulging jar or bowl for liquids. SEE BOWL.

3. ãּåּã , dud (Sept. êüöéíïò , Job_41:20; Psa_81:6; elsewhere “basket,” “caldron,” “kettle”), a vessel for culinary purposes, mentioned (1Sa_2:14) in conjunction with “caldron” and “kettle,” and so perhaps of smaller size. SEE KETTLE.

4. çֶøֶùׂ , cheres (“potsherd,” Job_2:8; Psa_22:15; Pro_26:23; Isa_45:9; elsewhere “earthen,” etc.), an earthen vessel for stewing or seething. Such a vessel was used for baking (Eze_4:9). It is contrasted in the same passage (Lev_6:28) with a metal vessel for the same purpose. SEE POTSHERD.

5. ëְּìַé , keli (Sept. óêåῦïò , Lev_6:28), a vessel of any kind (as usually elsewhere rendered). SEE VESSEL.

6. ëַּéø , kir (only once and in the dual, Lev_11:35, “ranges for pots”). SEE RANGE.

7. ñַéø , sir (Sept. ëÝâçò , Vulg. olla, the most usual and appropriate word, Exo_38:3; 2Ki_4:38-41; 2Ki_25:14; 2Ch_4:11; 2Ch_4:16; 2Ch_35:13; Job_41:31; Psa_58:9; Ecc_7:6; Jer_1:13; Eze_24:3; Eze_24:6; Mic_3:3; Zec_14:10; Zec_14:21). It is also used, combined with other words. to denote special uses, as with ðָôåּçִ (Jer_1:13), “a seething-pot;” with áָּùָׂø . “flesh” (Exo_16:3);

øָçִåֹ , “washing” (Psa_60:8) îִöְøֵ , “fining-pot” (Pro_27:21). The blackness which such vessels would contract is alluded to in Joe_2:6. SEE CALDRON.

8. ôָּøåּø , parir (Sept. ÷áëêåῖïí , Vulg. cacabus, Jdg_6:19; 1Sa_2:14; “pan,” Num_11:8), apparently an open flat vessel. SEE PAN.

9. öַðְöֶðֶú , tsintse'neth (Sept. óôáìíüò , Vulg. vas, Exo_16:33), a covered vessel for preserving things (comp. Heb_9:4). SEE MANNA.

10. ùְׁôִúִּéַí , shephatta'yim (Sept. êëῆñïò , Psa_68:13; “hooks,” Eze_40:43), opposite rows, as of sheepfolds.

11. îÝóôçò (Mar_7:4; Mar_7:8), properly a sextarius or sixteenth part of the uiedius or “bushel,” =nearly one pint English; hence a cup generally. SEE MEASURE.

12. óôÜìíïò (Heb_9:4), an earthen jug or jar, = No. 9 above.

13. ὑäñßá (Joh_2:6-7; Joh_4:28), a “water-pot” for any liquid. The water- pots of Cana appear to have been large amphorae, such as are in use at the present day in Syria (Fisher, Views, p. 56; Jolliffe, 1, 33). These were of stone or hard earthenware; but gold, silver, brass, or copper was also used for vessels both for domestic and also, with marked preference, for ritual use (1Ki_7:45; 1Ki_10:21; 2Ch_4:16; 2Ch_9:20; Mar_7:4; Michaelis, Laws of Moses, § 217, 3, 335, ed. Smith). The water-pot of the Samaritan woman may have been a leathern bucket, such as Bedawin women use (Burckhardt, Notes, 1, 45). SEE WATER-POT.

POT, “HOLY-WATER POT” or “HOLY-WATER VASE,” and Sprinkle (=sprinkling brush), are implements used in Roman Catholic churches for sprinkling the altar and priest and people with the holy water on Sunday. Holy-water pots, such as is represented in the cut; are from five and a quarter to seven and a half inches in diameter.