The spices or condiments known to the Hebrews were numerous ; cummin (Isa. xxviii, 25 ; Matt.xxiii, 2^), dill (Matt, xxiii, 23, "anise," A. V.), coriander (Exod. xvi, 81 ; Num. xi, 7), mint (Matt xxiii, 23), rue (Luke xi, 42), mustard (Matt xiii, 31 ; xvii, 20), and salt (Job vi, 6), which is reckoned among "the princi- pal things for the whole use of man's life" (Ecclus. xxxix, 26). Nuts (pistachios) and ahnonds (Gen. xliii, 11) were also used as whets to the appetite. See Almond; Anise; Coriander; Cummin; Mint; Mustard; Nuts; Spices.
In addition to these classes, we have to notice some other important articles of food : in the first pUce, honey, whether the natural product of the bee (1 Sam. xiv, 25; Matt, iii, 4), which abounds in most parts of Arabia (Burckhardt, Arabia, i. 64), or the other natu- fai and artificial productions included under that head, '^specially the dibs of the Syrians and Arabians, i. e. g^pt^-juice boiled down to the state of the Roman de-
frutum, which is still extensively used in the East (Russell, i, 82) ; the latter is supposed to be referred to in Gen. xliii, 11, and Ezek. xxvii, 17. The importance of honey, as a substitute for sugar, is obvious ; it was both used in certain kinds of cake (though prohibited in the case of meat ofiermgs, Lev. ii, 11), as in the pastry of the Arabs (Burckhardt, Arabia, i, 54), and was also eaten in its natural state either by itself (1 Sam. xiv, 27 ; 2 Sam. xvii, 29 ; 1 Kings xiv, 8), or in coigunction with other things, even with fish (Luke xxiv, 42). "Butter and honey" is an expression for rich diet (Isa. vii, 15, 22) ; such a mixture is popular among the Arabs (Burckhardt, A rahia, i, 54). * * Milk and honey" are similarly coupled together, not only frequently by the sacred writers, as expressive of the richness of the promised land, but also by the Greek poets (comp. Callim. Hymn in Jov. 48 ; Hom. Od. xx, 68). Too much honey was deemed unwholesome (Prov. XXV, 27). With regard to oil, it does not ap- pear to have been used to the extent we might have anticipated ; the modem Arabs only employ it in fry- ing fish (Burckhardt, Arabia, 1, 54), but for all other purposes butter is substituted : among the Hebrews it was deemed an expensive luxury (Prov. xxi, 17), to be reserved for festive occasions (1 Chron. xii, 40) ; it was chiefly used in certain kinds of cake (Lev. ii, 5 sq. ; 1 Kings xvii, 12). "Oil and honey" are men- tioned in conjunction with bread in Ezek. xvi, 18, 19. The Syrians, especially the Jews, eat oil and honey (dibs) mixed together (Russell, i, 80). Eggs are not often noticed, but were evidently known as articles of food (Isa. X, 14 ; lix, 5 ; Luke xi, 12), and are reckon- ed by Jerome {In Epitaph. Paul, i, 176) among the del- icacies of the table. See Honey ; Oil.
The Orientals have been at all times sparing in the use of animal food ; not only does the excessive heat of the climate render it both unwholesome to eat much meat (Niebuhr, Descript. p. 46), and expensive firom the necessity of immediately consuming a whole ani- mal, but beyond this the ritual regulations of the Mo- saic law in ancient, as of the Koran in modem times, have tended to the same result. It has been inferred from Gen. ix, 3, 4, that animal food was not permitted before the Flood ; but the notices of the flock of Abel (Gen. iv, 2), and of the herds of Jabal (Gen. iv, 20), as well as the distinction between clean and unclean ani- mals (Gen. vii, 2), favor the opposite opinion ; and the permission in Gen. ix, 3 may be held to be only a more explicit declaration of a condition impUed in the grant of universal dominion previously given (Gen. i, 28). The prohibition then expressed against consuming the blood of any animal (Gen. ix, 4) was more fully de- veloped in the Levitical law, and enforced by the pen- alty of death (Lev. iii, 17 ; vii, 26 ; xix, 26 ; Deut. xii, 16; 1 Sam. xiv, 82 sq.; Ezek. xliv, 7, 15), on the ground, as stated in Lev. xvii, 11, and Deut. xii, 28, that the blood contained the principle of life, and, as such, was to be ofifered on the altar; probably there was an additional reason in the heathen practice of consuming blood in their sacrifices (Psa. xvi, 4 ; Ezek. xxxiii, 25). The prohibition applied to strangers as well as Israelites, and to every kind of beast or fowl (Lev. vii, 26 ; xvii, 12, 18). So strong was the feel- ing of the Jews on this pohit, that the Gentile converts to Christianity were laid under similar restrictions (Acts XT, 20, 29 ; xxi, 25). As a necessary deduction from the above principle, all animals which had died a natural death (n^23, Deut. xiv, 21), or had been tom by beasts (nC'^^, Exod. xxii,81), were also prohibited (Lev. xvii, 15; comp. Ezek. iv, 14), and to be thrown to the dogs (Exod. xxii, 81) : this prohibition did not extend to stntagcrs (Deut. xiv, 21). Any person in- fringing this role was held unclean until the evening, and was obliged to wash his clothes (Lev. xvii, 15). In the N. T. tiiese cases are described under the term irviKTv.v (Acts XV, 20), applying not only to what was