Bryant G. Wood
*Bryant G. Wood, Ph.D. is an ABR staff member, researcher and writer.
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Introduction
The finds from an archaeological excavation, apart from architectural remains, are almost exclusively pottery. Except in rare instances, this pottery is in the form of broken fragments, or sherds.
By themselves, sherds say very little about their former lives. Nevertheless, these sherds are valuable. Their shape, decoration and method of manufacture allow the archaeologist to date the pieces, and identify the historical context from which they came; sometimes even determining who made the pottery and where. In fact, the primary, means of dating in Palestine is through pottery. Thus, archaeologists spend a great deal of time and money excavating, processing, evaluating and publishing lowly potsherds.
Since we have many examples of whole pots, if the sherd happens to be part of a rim, or a substantial part of the body, the type of vessel cart usually be determined. Although tombs are the primary source of unbroken pots, some pots are reconstructed from broken pieces much like a puzzle.
Even though the type of vessel is known, the archaeologist may still be hard pressed to explain exactly how a particular vessel was used in antiquity. We can gain an insight into the use of some vessels, however~ by studying tomb paintings from ancient Egypt. Like a photograph from the past, many paintings portray scenes from everyday life, and pottery is often depicted in these scenes. In addition to tomb pictures from Egypt, we also have word pictures from the Bible. Pottery figures prominently in many of the incidents and illustrations of the Bible.
Sherds in the Bible
Since pottery was an intricate part of everyday life in Bible times, it is only natural that the Bible should have much to say about it. Even the humble sherd is mentioned a number of times in the Bible, generally as an illustration of a spiritual truth. Take Isaiah 30:12–14 for example:
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them; therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose crash comes suddenly, In an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel which is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a sherd is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern” (RSV).
Here the prophet is warning the people of Israel that the consequences of their sin will come upon them unexpectedly and be disastrous, like a cracked wall that suddenly collapses or a pottery jar that is abruptly smashed into many fragments. In fact, the jar Is so thoroughly broken that a sherd cannot be found which is large enough to carry coals on or to dip water. We learn from this verse that the people of antiquity found a use for pottery even after it was broken.
Another use for sherds is described in the book of Job:
So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his feet unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes (Job 2:7–8).
Job used a sherd as a scraper, in the same way that the Greeks and Romans used an instrument called a “strigil” to scrape moisture off their skin following a bath or physical exercise.
In an illustration of God’s judgment, Psalm 2:7 states that God’s son will break the heathen
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with a rod of iron and “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
The Son of God said to the church at Thyatira,
He who conquers and who keeps My works until the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I Myself have received power from My Father (Revelation 2:26–27).
Let us now turn from sherds to whole pots and see what the Bible has to say about clay vessels before they were sherds. We shall consider here only the more significant references, starting with the larger vessels and working our way down to the smaller vessels.
The nevel or Store Jar (Figure 1)
The nevel was a large jar (approximately 2’ tall) for transporting or storing wine and other liquids. Nevel is also the Hebrew word for wine skin. Apparently the name was given to the large jar since it was used primarily as a container for wine. Jeremiah compares Moab to wine in a nevel or store jar:
All his life long, Moab has lain undisturbed like wine settled on its lees (settling from fermentation), not emptied from vessel to vessel; he has not gone into exile. Therefore the taste of him is unaltered, and the flavor stays unchanged. Therefore the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send men to tilt the jars; they shall tilt them and empty his vessels and smash his nevels (48:11–12, NEB).
The vessel from which Jesus was given vinegar just before He died on the cross was a large jar of this type.
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put It to His mouth (John 19:29).
The kad or Water Jar (Figure 2)
The kad was smaller than a nevel so that it could easily be carried by one person when full. It was this type of jar that Rebekah was carrying when she met Abraham’s servant at the well.
And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out… with her karl upon her shoulder (Genesis 24:15).
It was the karl that Gideon’s soldiers used to defeat the Midianites.
And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty kads, with torches inside the kads And the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the kads, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon” (Judges 7:16, 20).
The widow of Zarephath, whose flour and off Elijah multiplied, kept her flour in a karl (1 Kings 17:12). When designed for liquids the kad had a narrow neck. In this case, however, the karl was of a type with a wide mouth called a “hole-mouth” jar. (Figure 3)
The kad played an important role when Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel:
And he (Elijah) put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, “Fill four kads with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it the second time.” And they did it the second time. And he said, “Do it the third time.” And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water … Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench (1 Kings 18:33–35, 38).
The ‘asuk or Jar (Figure 4)
The ‘asuk was a narrow-necked jar used to hold oil. Elisha multi-
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plied the oil in a widow’s ‘asuk so that she was able to pay her debts and support herself and her two sons on what was left over (2 Kings 4:1–7).
The sefel or Krater (Figure 5)
The sefel was a large bowl with handles, termed a “krater” in archaeological parlance. This type of vessel was used by the Greeks for mixing wine and water and may have been used in the same way in Palestine. When Jael took in Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, she served his curds in a sefel before driving a spike through his temple (Judges 5:25). It was a sefel that Gideon wrung the fleece into when he received the sign from God (Judges 6:38).
The baqbuq : Decanter (Figure 6)
When Jeroboam’s wife took gifts to the prophet Ahijah, one of them was a baqbuq of honey (1 Kings 14:3). It was the baqbuq that God commanded Jeremiah to use when he delivered his stinging rebuke against the leaders of Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom, the place where the potters had their workshops and also where child sacrifice was being practiced:
Thus said the Lord, “Go buy a potter’s earthen baqbuq, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you… Then you shall break the baqbuq in the sight of the men who go with you, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never he mended’” (Jeremiah 19:1–2, 10–11, RSV)
Jeremiah’s words were tragically fulfilled when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 597 BC.
The Cooking Pot
There are several types of cooking pots mentioned in the Bible. The two most often mentioned are a wide-mouth variety called a marheseth or s/r (Figure 7), and a one-handled narrow-mouth type called a parur (Figure 8). In Leviticus, the various ways a grain offering could be prepared are described: baked in an oven (2:4), cooked on a griddle (2:5) or cooked in a marheseth (2:7; cf. 7:9). When they were in the wilderness, the Israelites complained that it would have been better to have died in Egypt where they sat around flesh sirs and had plenty of bread to eat (Exodus 16:3). The deadly brew which Elisha’s prophets cooked was prepared in a large sir (2 Kings 4:38). A parur was used by the Israelites to cook their manna (Numbers 11:8) and Gideon carried the broth to the angel in a parur (Judges 6:19).
The Bowl
Three types of bowls were used in Bible times: the kiyyor, a shallow bowl (Figure 9); the tselohith or tsallahath, a medium bowl (Figure I0); and the saf, a small bowl (Figure 1 I). Zechariah said that the clans of Judah would be like a kiyyor full of burning charcoal (12:6). Elisha used a tselohith full of salt to purify the spring at Jericho (2 Kings 2:19–22). In pronouncing judgement against Jerusalem, God said that He would wipe away Jerusalem as one wipes out a tsallahat and turns it upside down (to store?). The saf was the bowl which held the passover blood (Exodus 12:22) and God promised to make Jerusalem a saf of reeling to her enemies, possibly referring to the fact that small bowls were used as cups and if a saf was used for drinking an
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saf was used for drinking an intoxicating beverage, drunkenness would soon follow.
The tsappahath or Pilgrim Flask (Figure 12)
The tsappahathwas a lentold (or lens)-shaped flask with a narrow neck similar to a modem-day canteen. It was Saul’s tsappahath David took, along with his spear, when he slipped into Saul’s camp at night (1 Samuel 26:12). The widow with whom Elijah stayed at Zarephath had only a little off in her tsappahath and yet it lasted for the period of the drought (1 Kings 17:8–16). When Elijah fled into the wilderness to escape the wrath of Jezebel, God provided a cake and a tsappahath of water for his sustenance (1 Kings 19:6).
The pak or Juglet (Figures 13, 14)
The pak was a small juglet which was used for precious liquids such as perfume or fine oil. Samuel annointed Saul with a pak of oil (1 Samuel 10:1), as one of Elisha’s junior prophets annointed Jehu with a pak of oil (2 Kings 9:1).
The ner or Lamp
The lamp of Old Testament times was simply a small bowl with a pinch in one side to hold a wick (Figure 15). This pinch became more pronounced with time, until, in the New Testament period, the lamp was completely covered over with only two holes in the top, one for the wick and another for filling with oil (Figure 16). The purpose of the lamp, of course, was to provide light in time of darkness and the Bible alludes to it in this manner. In order to carry on her work, the virtuous woman had her ner lit at night (Proverbs 31:18). God will search Jerusalem with the light of nets to find those who have turned away from Him (Zephaniah 1:12). In the New Testament it was the wise virgins who had their lamps full of oil in anticipation of the bridegroom’s momentary arrival (Matthew 25:1–13). If a piece of silver is lost in the house, it is necessary to light a lamp to find it (Luke 15:8). When evil Babylon is judged by God, she will lie in darkness, for the light from her lamps will no longer shine (Revelation 18:23). In New Jerusalem. on the other hand, lamps will not be needed, for the Lord God Himself will be the light (Revelation 22:5).
In addition to these references to the practical use of the lamp, the lamp is used in a figurative sense to illustrate spiritual truths. The lamp is sometimes depicted as the source of life or good deeds within each of us, as in Job 18:6, Matthew 5:15–16, Mark 4:21–22, Luke 8:16–17 and 11:33. But the way we most vividly remember the lamp in the Bible, even from our childhood, is as a source of spiritual light. In the hymn that David composed following his deliverance from Saul, for example, are these words:
For Thou art my ner, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness (2 Samuel 22:29).
These are as comforting words for us today as they were when David composed them 3000 years ago. And who could forget Psalm 119:105?
Thy word is a ner unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Just as God’s commandments can light our path, so can the admonitions of godly parents.
My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life (Proverbs 6:20–23).
We close this brief study on the use of pottery in the Bible with the thought that the Christian himself is depicted as a clay vessel. Just as the potter fashions his vessels to serve a specific function, so has the Master Potter created each of us for a particular purpose. Although we feel unworthy and unqualified, our primary task is to be a vessel containing the Good News of the Gospel and to share this message with those around us.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:5–7).
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