Jahn's Biblical Archaeology
Por Johann Jahn
§ 141. on the different kinds of food. 151
§ 141. On The different kinds of Food.
Cooking, oz, was done by the matron of the family, unless when intent on the adorning of her person, she thought proper, to commit it to the maid. Vegetables, lentils especially, which are greatly esteemed even to this day among the Orientals, were the principal food, Gen. 25:30, 34; cakes also mixed with honey, Ezek. 16:13, were frequently used. Flesh was not served up, except when a stranger was present, and on the occasion of a feast, Gen. 18; 7. Deut. 15, 20. Luke 15:23. The orientals at the present day are very sparing in the use of flesh; too long an abstinence from it, however, produces a great appetite for it, and generates a disease also, which is known among the Arabians un
2 < der the word s: 9, Num. 11: 4, 12. As luxury increased, the
flesh of animals began to be more used for food; venison and the meat of the "fatted calf" were peculiarly esteemed, also of fatted oxen, Gen. 18; 7.41: 2. 1 Sam 16: 20. 28:24, 2 Sam. 6: 13. The flesh of the sheep and goat kind, particularly of lambs and kids, was esteemed the choicest dish of any, and it was for the estimation, in which they were held on this account, that they were so much used in sacrifices. In the most ancient ages the animal to be slain was taken by the master of the family himself, although he were a prince, and was slain. The cooking also was done by his wife, though she were a princess, Gen. 18: 2–6. Jud. 6: 19. The process of cooking seems to have been very expeditiously performed, Gen. 27: 3, 4, 9, 10. All the flesh of the slain animal, owing to the difficulty of preserving it in a warm climate uncorrupted, was commonly cooked at once. This is the custom at the present day, although the art of drying and preserving it by the sun is known among the Nomades. The flesh when cooked, was divided into small pieces, and a sauce was prepared for it of broth and vegetables, in Hebrew, Poyo, Jud. 6: 19, 20. Isa. 65: 4.
152 142, OF ROASTING.
§ 142. Or Roasting, no, no.
Roasting was the earliest method of preparing the flesh of animals; it seems to have been discovered at first by chance, as already observed, and became in time a favourite method of cooking. The Nomades of the present day, following a very ancient custom, divide the flesh to be roasted into small pieces, salt it, and fix it upon a wooden spit. They turn one part of it to the fire, and when this is roasted, turn the other. Fowls are roasted whole on a spit, which revolves in two or more crotched sticks, placed in the ground on each side of the fire. When sheep and lambs are to be roasted whole, they thrust a sharp stick through from the tail to the head of the animal, another transversely through the forefeet, and roast it in the oven described in section 140, No.
II; which mode of roasting is expressed in Arabick by the verb, A / /
<\a, meaning to crucify. In the countries of the East, locusts are frequently roasted for the use of the common people. Their wings and feet are taken off and their intestines extracted; they are salted, fixed upon a sharp piece of wood, placed over the fire and at length eaten. They are likewise prepared by boiling them. In summer they are dried and ground, and bread is made of them. Sometimes they are salted and preserved in bottles, and, as occasion requires, are cut in pieces and eaten, Lev. 11; 22. Matt. 3: 4. Some species of locusts are esteemed noxious and are, therefore, reckoned among the unclean animals, Lev. 11:22. The Heb. word, Eoop, [rendered in the English version quails,) is not to be regarded as a name for any species of locusts, for 1:p is to this day in the East the name of a migratory bird of the quail kind. They come over the waters of the ocean, and being weary descend in great numbers on Arabia Petrea, so as to be easily tak- . en by the hands, Diod. Sic. I. 61. Niebuhr's Travels, Part I. p. 176. The flesh of these birds is less esteemed on account of their living in a measure upon grasshoppers, Num. 11: 32.
Note. The use of salt is very ancient, see Num. 18: 19, compared with 2 Chron. 13:5. In Exod. 30: 35, a kind of salt called pure salt is distinguished from common salt. Among the orientals
§ 143. INTERdicted Food. 1 53
salt is the symbol of inviolable friendship; a covenant of salt, accordingly, means an everlasting or perpetual covenant. It is used tropically for wisdom, and for preservation, Mark 9:49, 50. Coloss. 4: 6, and salt, that has lost its savour on the contrary, for folly, Matt. 5: 13.
§ 143. INTERDICTED Food.
Some sorts of food were interdicted to the Hebrews; some animals being unclean according to the Mosaic law, such, for instance as were actually impure and abominable, or were esteemed so ; others being set apart for the altar, certain parts of which it was consequently not lawful to eat. The object of interdicting so many sorts of food was to prevent the Hebrews from eating with the Gentiles, or frequenting their idolatrous feasts, by means of which they might and probably would have been seduced to idolatry. There are reckoned unclean, I. Quadrupeds, which do not ruminate, or have cloven feet. II. Serpents, and creeping insects ; also certain insects which sometimes fly and sometimes advance upon their feet. III. Certain species of birds, many of the names of which are obscure. IV. Fishes without scales; also those without fins. V. All food, all liquids standing in a vessel, and all wet seed, into which the dead body of any unclean insect had fallen. Water in cisterns, wells, and fountains could not be contaminated in this way, Lev. 11:1–38. VI. All food and liquids, which stood in the tent or chamber of a dying or dead man, remaining meanwhile in an uncovered vessel, Num. 19:15. VII. Every thing, which was consecrated by any one to idols or gods, Exod. 34:15. It was this prohibition which in the primitive church occasioned certain dissentions, which Paul frequently remarks upon, especially in 1 Cor. 8: 10. VIII. The kid boiled in the milk of its mother, Exod. 23:19. 34; 26. Deut. 14:21. The reason of this law is somewhat obscure. Whether there was some superstition on the subject, or whether it was meant as a lesson on humanity to animals, or whether it is to be understood as a tacit commendation of oil in preference to
154 § 144. BEven AGE.
butter and milk, is not clear. The consecrated animal substance which it was not lawful to eat, was I. Blood, Lev. 3, 9, 10, 17. 7:26, 27, 17: 10–14. 19:26. Deut. 12: 16, 23, 25. 15:23. II. An animal, which died of itself, or was torn to pieces by wild beasts, in as much as the blood remained in the body, Exod. 92: 31. Deut. 14:21. III. The fat covering the intestines, the large lobe of the liver, the kidneys and the fat upon them, Exod. 29:13, 22. Lev. 3:4. 10. 15. 4:9, 9:10, 19; also the fat tail of a certain class of sheep, in Heb. Hos, Exod. 19:22. Lev. 3:9. 7.3. 8:26.9:19; all of which were devoted and set apart for the altar. The Hebrews abstained also from the haunches of animals; the later Jews extended this abstinence to the whole hind quarter. The custom originated from the account given in Gen. 32:25, 32.
§ 144. BEVERAGE.
The commonalty among the Mohammedans drink water; the rich and noble drink a beverage called Sherbet, which was formerly used only in Egypt, Gen. 40: 11, where ale or beer, Šutog, otvog zotēuvos, was also used, though probably not so far back as the time of Moses. The orientals frequently used wine to such an extent as to occasion ebriety, from which circumstance many tropes are drawn, Isa. 5: 11–22. 28:1–11. 49:26. Jer. 8: 14, 9: 14. 16:48. Deut. 32:42, Ps. 78:65, &c. Wine, although in Eastern climates it is very rich, was at times mixed with spices, especially myrrh, and this mixture was sometimes denominated from a Hebrew word, which signifies mixed. But the word in question, viz. Saro, for the most part, means a wine diluted with water, which was given to the buyer instead of good wine, and was consequently used tropically for any kind of adulteration, Isa. 1:22, 2 Cor. 2: 17. Wine in the East was frequently diluted after it was bought, as we may infer from the fact, that two Arabick words still remain to indicate the beverage, when thus diluted. The
* * * * to ... words are, Pare. and . There is a sort of wine called
onto, sikera, or strong drink. It was made of dates, and of various sorts of seeds and roots, and was sufficiently powerful at any
§ 145. THE TIME or TAKING REFRESHMENT. 155
rate, to occasion intoxication. . It was drunk, mixed with water. From the pure wine and sikera, there was made an artificial drink, yor, which was taken at meals with vegetables and bread, Ruth 2: 14. It was also a common drink, Num. 6: 3, and was used by the Roman soldiers, Matt. 27:48. Further, there is a wine called by the Talmudists vinegar, whence the passage in Matt. 27:34, may be explained. The vessels used for drinking were at first horns; but the Hebrews used horns only for the purpose of performing the ceremony of anointing. The other drinking vessels were, I. A cup of brass covered with tin, in form resembling a lily, though sometimes circular; it is used by travellers to this day, and may be seen in both shapes on the ruins of Persepolis, comp. 1 Kgs. 7:26, II. The bowl, Hebrew so. It resembled a lily, Exod. 25. 33; although it seems to have varied in form, for it had many names, as piz, -ez, rzip. Those called, so, nilpo, nitr. had no cover, and probably were of a circular form, as the names seem to indicate. The bowls of this kind, which belonged to the rich were, in the time of Moses, made of silver and gold, as appears from Num. 7: 12–83. comp. 1 Kgs. 10: 21. The larger vessels, from which wine was poured out into cups, were called urns, ni-p:%; bottles, nnn, ngr., hs:, $32; small bottles, *i; and a bottle of shell, 12, with a small orifice.
§ 145. The TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCEs of taking REFRESHMENT.
Not only the inhabitaats of the East generally, but the Greeks and Romans also, were in the habit of taking a slight dinner about ten or eleven o'clock of our time, which consisted chiefly of fruits, milk, cheese, &c. Their principal meal was about six or seven in the afternoon; their feasts were always appointed at supper-time, for the burning heat of noon in Eastern climates diminishes the appetite for food, and suppresses the disposition to cheerfulness, Eccles. 5: 16. Matt. 3: 26. Mark 6: 21. Luke 14:24. John 12: 2. The hands were washed before meals, as was rendered necessary from the method of eating ; prayers also were offered, 1 Sam. 9:13. The form of the short prayer, which in the time of Christ, was uttered before and after meals, has been preserved by the Talmudists. It is as follows, "Blessed be Thou, O Lord, our