iii. Bread-corn of any sort is called Jj^, and this word is often associated with wine as descriptive of fertility (Gn 27»«- ", Dt 7" 11" 12" 18« 28" 33-"*, 2 K 18", 2 Ch 31» 32^, Ps 4', Is 36", La 2>», Hos 2»-» 7", Hag 1", Zee 9", Jl l'«- ", Neh 5» 10»»). Grain when winnowed and stored is called n;, as Gn 41» 42», Pr 11", Am 8". This word is rarely nsed of grain on the stalk (as Ps 65' 72'*), and in Jer 23* is used of grain as contrasted with the husk or straw. .iNi:n is also used in tlie Talmud to indicate the grain as distin^ished from the straw (Sabb. 18', Bm 6' 9'). Standing com waa commonly distinguished as nc;}.
Com was prepared by bruising in a mortar or grinding in a mill ; in the former case it is called n'lB-!, as in 2 S 17'", Pr 27*", where the point of the figure seems to be, that though the fool be associated with wise men he does not lose his characteristic folly. The mortar or maktesh and the pestle or 'Hi were usually of stone.
The mills in common use were called D:n-i, the dual form referring to the two stones. They were in shape like the bradh or quern in use until com- paratively recent times in the Hebrides and West of Ireland, and consisted of a nether millstone or tekeb, which was fixed, and convex on its upper surface, upon which the upper millstone or rekeb ('the chari '(,' in Arabic the rakib, 'rider') rotated. In this was a central hole through which the grain was poured, while the stone was being rotated by means of a handle fixed in its upper surface, near its edge. The upper millstone is made of a porous unpolishing lava from the Hauran, while the nether (proverbially hard) is either of the same material, or else of compact sandstone, limestone, or basalt. The history and references to such mills are given at length in Goetz, de molis et pistrinis vetentm ; Hoheisel in Ugolini's Thesaurus, xxix. ; and Heringius, de molis veterum. The com was daily ground by women (Mt 24*'), usually by a pair of slaves (Ex 11», Is 47'. Cf. Plautus, Mercat. ii. 3. 62; Odyss. XX. 105), who sat on the ground, facing each other, and worked together. Among the poor it was done b^ the wife [Shnhbath vii. 2) ; hence the expres- sion in Job 31'° means to become another's concu- bine (cf. Ausonius, Enig. Ixxi. 7, and the Horatian 'non alienas permoiere uxores,' Sat. i. 2. 34). Captives were thus employed in grinding (Jg 16^').
Cessation of the noise of the mills was a sign of desolation (Jer 25'", Rev IS-"''). The sound of the grinding in Ec 12* may be the chant of the women (Odyss. XX. 105. 119; see also Aristoph. Tttes- mophor. 480). In later days mills became larger, and were moved by animal power, or wind or water, and grinding became a traile (Dcmni iii. 4). Asses are mentioned in rabbinical writings as used for this purpose, and an as.s in a mill was a pro- verbial phrase (in Misrhnr hnpenninim, quoteif by Buxtorf, Florilcg. Hchr. 309). The great millstone in Mt 18' is /xiiXos (Snitdj, either a millstone turned by an ass (KVm), or else a nether millstone (Ludolf, in loco ; see Hoheisel, p. 57 ; Lightfoot, Ilur. Ilebr. In Luc. xvii.) called ' the ass,' because it bore the burden of the top stone.
The meal or flour, when grotind, waa next mixed with water, and kneaded into dough. In Egj'jit this was done by the foot (Herod, ii. 36) as repre- sented on the tomb of liamses III., but among the Jews nsually in kneading-tronghs (mishereth).
These were shallow wooden bowls (Ex 8'), which could ea.sily be bound up in their clothes (Ex 12"). Harmer has conjectured that the word refers to a leathern bag or bread-wallet, often carried by the Arabs (iv. 366) ; but this is improbable. Bread - making was at first a family occupation, done by the wife (Gn 18«), the sister (2 S 13«), the female servants (1 S 8") or other female member of the household (1 S 28", Jer 7" 44'", Mt 13^). In later days baking became a trade (Hos 7*- ') ; and in towns the breadsellers occupied a definite place in the bazaar, 'the bakers' street' (Jer 37-'). This place may be referred to Neh 3" 12^*, where the ' tower of the ovens ' is mentioned, as tanntir is used for a baker's oven in Lv 2* ll'°2G-*, Hos 7*. Josephus speaksof the bakers in Jewish towns (.^n^.xv.ix. 2).
In the family, bread was baked daily as wanted, as it became tough and unpalatable when stale (Gn 18'). It has been conjectured that this daily preparation is referred to in the Lord's Prayer ; but the petition rather refers to quantity than quality (for signification of ^lowtoi/ see Lightfoot, kevUion, 195 ; and art. LORD'S Prayer). The amount of a daily baking was an ephah( = 3seah3 or measures of meal = 4J pecks), as in Gn 18', Mt 13^, Jg 6'», 1 S 1". Probably this was pro- portional to the size of the oven, and the amount was smaller in time of famine (Lv 26^). Salt was mixed with the dough (Ezr 6" 7^'), which was then ready for the rapid preparation of unleavened bread or for leavening. In the latter case a small portion of old fermented dough, in?', was mixed with the kneaded dough or psj (as in Ex joM. 89) -pjjjg rapidly induced panary fermenta- tion in the whole mass, and ' raised the bread, then called C?i7 hamez or soured bread (Ex 12''', Hos 7'), as opposed to nii-n mazzoth or unleavened bread, so called because in Hat cakes. The dough was usually left in the kneading-trough to ferment ; and this took some time, during which the baker could sleep (Hos 7'), when he had left a low unstirred fire to keep it warm to encourage the process. Leaven was used as a symbol of that which is old (Schneider, Zeitsch. f. Theol. 1883, 333) ; and sometimes for that which is corrupt, the leaven of the Pharisees or of Herod (Mt 16', Mk 8", Lk 12', 1 Co 5') ; or that which exercises a secretly dominating influence (Mt l.'i^, 1 Co 5', Gal 5°; see Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo xciv.). Leaven was prohibited in those oli'erings made by fire to the Lord (Lv 2" 7" 8», Ex 29^ Nu 6"), aa the sacrifice sliould consist of what is fresh and pure ; but in such ofl'crings as the peace-ollerin" (Lv 7") and the pentecostal loaves (Lv 23'') leavened bread might be used, for these were to be eaten by the priests. The use of leavened bread was proliibited during the Pas.sover week : and all leaven was to be burnt before the 14th Nisan, as during the Theocracy the eating of leavened b. at this time was a capital oflence, as was the burn- ing of leavened b. in the daily sacrifice. Hence Amos sarcastically bids tlie Isr. increase their sin by ofTering leaven in the thanksgiving (4'). This idea of leaven being an emblem of corruption was known to the classics. Persius usea/ermcjitum in this sense (1°*); and A. Gellius (Ai"<. Altic. x. 15. 19) tells us that the flamen dialis was not allowed to touch flour mixed with leaven. Bread was sometimes fermented with wine-lees in place of leaven ; see Pesac/iim iii. 1.