real meaning is better conveyed by the AV than by the RV literal reading.
The following fruits or herbs are used with meats as condiments : —
Anise or dill (-Mt 23^), an umbelliferous plant, Ancthum graveolens, whose fruits were used as a carminative. It is a native of Palestine. The allied Pimpinella anisum is the anise of Pliny ; but the dill is called by Hippocrates if-qOoi', and by Dioscorides aylKirrov, the word used in the text. Its properties are much the same as those of the caraway seed. For an account of references in classical literature see Pliny, xx. 17 ; and for a figure see Woodville's Med. Botany. In Maase- roth, iv. § 5, Rabbi Eliezer says the seeds, leaves, and stem of the shabath or anise are liable to tithe. DUl is called in Arabic shibt. At the present day the fruit of Anethmn is called dill, and that of Pimpinella is anise-seed.
Coriander, the small round fruit of Corinndrum satiaum to which the manna was compared, used in the same way as anise, especially in Egypt (Ex 16^', Nu 11'). It is an umbelliferous plant, and grows in Syria and Egypt (see Pliny, xx. 20 ; and for figures of this and tlie following plants see Woodville).
Cummin, also an umbelliferous plant (Cuminum sativum), whose fruit was cultivated as a carmina- tive, and was beaten with a rod oH' the plant wlien it was ripe (Is 28-^, Mt 22'^). In Heb. it is called p2, kammOn, and in Gr. ni/uvoi/. For its use see Pliny, xix. 8. As to the doubt of its being tithed see Dcmai, ii. § 1.
Mint (ribvoaixov, Heb. kji:-:), the well - known aromatic labiate plant Mentha sylcestris, men- tioned with tile last in Mt 23^. For its use among the Jews see Celsius, Hierobot. i. 546, and Pliny, xix. 47. See Ulcetzin, i. § 2 ; also Nudarim, 51i; Shebiith.vn. §§ 1,2.
Mustard {aifinn), the small seed of the common Sinapis nigra, wliich grows to a very large size in Palestine as the 'greatest of herbs' (Mt 13^= 17*, Lk 13'-' n"), and is used as a condiment. See Thomson, Land and Book, i. 453. The pungent seeds of a small tree, Salcadora persica, have been supposed by Dr. Royle to be the mustard of the parable ; but this is rarely, if at all, found in Palestine, and is not an herb, but a tree. The only claim is, that it is called in India kliarjal, while khardal is the Arabic for mustard (see Royle, Journ. Asiatic Soc. 1S44, No. xv., and Lambert, Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii. 449).
To the miraculous food by which the Israelites were fed, the name Manna is given. This has been supposed to be the gumm\- exudation of the Tamarix mannifera, a shrub which grows in the wilderness ; but the whole description indicates that it was a miraculous food.
III. Taboos. — There are certain prohibitions specially mentioned in the Pentateuch. One of these, tlie kid in mother's milk, has been already discussed. Blood is one of the most ancient of these taboos, and in connexion with it all animals whicli died of themselves or were killed other- wise than by being bled, were forbidden. Any such n^;:, nChi'ldh, or carcase, might be given to strangers, or sold to foreigners, but was an abomi- nation to the Jews (Dt 14-'). The eater of it was rendered unclean (Lv 17" 22'). Likewise that which was torn of beasts (Ex 22"), while it might be eaten bj' the stranger, was not allowed to the Israelite (Lv 17"). Hunting by dogs was therefore not practised. The observance of this taboo of ^'33 piqgul, or abominable Uesb is referred to in Ezk 4'* and Ac 10'^ (ttS-v koivov khI cLKidapTOf), and it was one of the four ' necessary things' proliibitcd to the Gentile converts by the .Ieru.salem Council, Ac 15^ ("things strangled'). Tlie eating of blood, which is one of the most ancient
FOOD
FOOD
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prohibitions (Gn 9*) re-enacted in the Mosaic law in which it is frequently repeated, had not only a hygienic basis, but Iiad reference probably to the drink-offerings of blood which were parts of the lieathen rituals (Ps 16''). It was thus a law of demarcation, and in Lv 19-' eating with tlie blood and auguries are bracketed together. The poison- ous effects of bull's blood are referred to by several authors ; Midas (Strabo, I. xi. § 21) and Psam- menitus (Herodotus, iii. 15) are said to have been killed by it.
Tlie Fat of animals was also forbidden (Lv 7**) as food, and in the sacrificed victims this is called ' the food of the burnt-ofl'ering ' Lv 3". ' All the fat is the Lord's ' (v.>«), see 1 S 2'«, 2 Ch 7', Gn i*. What is specially referred to is the thick subcutaneous layer, and that around the kidneys and other viscera, as well as the fatty tails of the sheep. The ' fat things ' of the promised spiritual feast in Is 25^ as well as Ln Neh 8'" are D'jSv'ip mashmannim, delicate things, not a'jn hi'leb, suet.
The Sinew that shrank (Gn 32'^), which it was the custom of the Jews to avoid, was a tribal taboo although not specially interdicted by statute. It is not known what part is particularized by the name tj gid, as the word is a general one, used of the sinews of the whole body in the vision of dry bones, Ezk 37*. Some have supposed it to be the gi'eat sciatic nerve at the back of the hip ( Josephus, Ant. I. XX. 2), but that is not situated in the hollow of the thigh. This region, kaph haijijerck, evidently means the groin, wliich was facing his antagonist when Jacob was wrestling. There are two sinews there which if cramped cause lame- ness— one the tendon of i\\e psoas, which exactly fits the description, but is very seldom cramped ; the other, that of the adductor longtis, is exceedingly liable to cramp when the thijjh is twisted, and this causes agonizin" pain and lameness, and would etlectually disable a wrestler. I have known it to bQ severely strained in athletic exercises, causing lameness for several weeks. Some Jews have re- commended that the hind legs of animals should not be eaten, lest \>y accident this sinew should be partaken of by mistaks. This was not the practice in early times, for Samuel's cook set the thigh of the animal before Saul as the piece of honour (1 S 9^. A V and RVm tr. piEJ here ' shoulder '). See Tract ChiiUin, 7.