1 Im"1, made possible by more civilized conditions
oi liif. o/) Large smooth pebbles were laid over till! lioiiow in the ground, and when the Ure had been kept up for a sufficient time, the ashes were removed and the loaves were laid upon the liot stones.— (6) Thinner cakes of both leavened and un- leavened bread were made upon a flat pan or convex griddle. These are now made especially at times of religious festival, and are coated on the upper surface with olive oil and sprinkled with aromatic .seeds. They recall tlif ■ oil,..l l.ivad " of Lv 8^, and the • wafers anointf'd wiih ..il ..t Ex 29- and Lv 2*. — (c) The cavity for iho lin- i- ■lecpened, and a cylindrical hole about tlic size of lialf a flour barrel is made of stone and lime with a facing of plaster.
BREAD
BREATHING
The pebbles are still left at the bottom for the better preservation of the heat, and the same fuel is applied till the oven has been sufficientlj^ heated. Tlie dough is then rolled out into broad tliin cakes, and each disc, after being still further distended by being passed with a quick rotatory motion between the hands of the female baker, is laid on a convex cushion or pad, and is tlms transferred evenly to the hot wall of the cavity. In a moment it is lired, and as it begins to peel otF it is lifted and laid above the others at her side.— (rf) The most developed form is that of the public oven in the village or town. Here features of the more primi- tive types still survive, but the cavity now becomes a low vaulted recess about twelve feet in length, and the pebbles are changed into a pavement of smoothed and squared stones. On it wood and lighter fuel of thorns are burnt, and the glowing ashes are finally brushed to each side of the vault. When the oven has been tlius prepared the discs of dough are laid in rows upon long thin boards like canoe paddles, and are inserted by these into the oven, and by a quick jerk of the arm slipped otr and placed upon the hot imvement to be tired. These loaves, when fired, are about an inch in thickness and about eight inches in diameter, and when newly baked are soft and flexible.
3. Use and importance of bread. — In the West bread is eaten more or less along with the other articles of food that chiefly constitute the meal ; but in the East those other articles are rather eaten along with bread, and are regarded as merely accessory to it. "When the farmer, carpenter, blacksmith or mason leaves the house for the day's labour, or the messenger or muleteer sets out on his journey, he wraps his other articles of food in the thin loaves of home-made bread. In the case of loaves fired in the public oven, these, owing to the glutinous adhesiveness and elasticity of the dough, and the sudden formation within them of vapour on the hot pavement, puit" out into air-tight balls. They can then be opened a little at one side, and the loaf thus forms a natural pouch enclosing the meat, cheese, raisins or olives to be eaten with it by the labourer. As the loaf thus literally includes everything, so bread repre- sents gem-rally the food of num. A great exclu- sion was expressed in ' Man shall not live by bread alone ' (Lk 4^). In the miraculous feeding of the nuiUitudc (iMt H's""- II) it was enough to provide them with bread. It was three loaves of bread that the man asked from his neighbour to put before his guest (Lk IP). Two would have been sufficient for liis actual needs ; but even in such an emergency a third loaf was required to represent that superabundant something which as a touch of grace, often passing into tyrannical imposition, so deeply ati'ects Oriental social life.
In the act of eating. Oriental bread is broken or torn apart by the hand. This is easily done w ith the bread of the public oven, as it can be separated into two thin layers. The thin home-made bread is named both in Hebrew and Arabic from its thin- ness, and is translated ' wafer ' in Ex 29'-', Lv 8-", Nu 6'», 1 Ch 23=''' (RV). Such bread is called p'Pl [rakik; Arab, inarkuk, from warak, 'foliage,' 'paper'). At a meal a small piece of such bread is torn oft', and with the ease and skill of long habit is folded over at the end held in the hand. It thus makes a spoon, which is eaten along with whatever is lifted by it out of the common dish. This is the dipping in the dish (Mt 26="), and is accomplished without allowing the contents of the dish to Ije touched by the fingers or by anything that has previously been in contact with the lips of those who sit at meat.
i. SijinboHum and sanrUty vf bn-ad.^ln a land where communication with other sources of supply
w-as difficult, everything depended upon the local wheat and barley harvest. As this in turn '
beyond the control of the sower, a special sanctity
undeserved care (Mt 5^^). To the disciples of Jesus, 'Give us this day our daily bread' would seem a very natural petition. An Oriental seeing a scrap of bread on the road will usually lift it up and throw it to a street dog, or place it in a crevice of the wall or on a tree branch where the birds may find it. It should not be trodden under foot in the common dust. Thus the most familiar article of food, so constantly in the hands of all, both rich and poor, and used alike by the evil and the good, had in it an element of mystery and nobility as having been touched by the unseen Giver of all good. How deeply this feeling of reverence possessed the mind of the Lord Jesus is evidenced by the fact that He was recognized in the breaking of bread (Lk 24^=).