(5) Baking Pans. There is a baking utensil called in Arabic tajen, which is the came word (lay-gan'on) frying-pan by which the Septuagint renders the I lebrew machabath, in Lee. This leaves little doubt that the ancient Hebrews had this Wen. It is a sort of pan of earthenware or iron (usually the latter), flat or slightly con vex, which is put over a slow fire, and on which the thin flaps of dough are laid and baked with considerable expedition, although only one cake can be baked in this way at a time. This is not a household mode of preparing bread, hut is one of the simple and primitive proccccec employed by the wandering and semi-wandering tribes, shepherds, husbandmen and other:, who have oc casion to prepare a small quantity of daily bread in an easy, off-hand manner. Bread is also baked in a manner which, although apparently very dif ferent, is hut a modification of the principle of the tajen, and is used chiefly in the houses of the peasantry. There is a cavity in the lire-hearth, which, when required for baking, a fire is kindled and burnt down to hot embers. A plate of iron, or sometimes copper, is placed over the hole, and on this the bread is baked.
(6) Baking in Ashes. Another mode of bak ing is in use chiefly among the pastoral tribes, and by travelers in the open country, but is not unknown in the villages. A smooth, clear spot is chosen in the loose ground, a sandy soil—so common in the Eastern deserts and harder lands —being preferred. On this a fire is kindled, and, when the ground is sufficiently heated, the embers and ashes are raked aside, and the dough is laid on the heated spot, and then covered over with the glowing embers and ashes which had just been removed. The bread is several times turned, and in less than half an hour is sufficiently baked. Bread thus baked is called in Scripture 'nggaii (Gen. xviii:6; i Kings xvii :13 ; Ezek. iv:12), and the indication (i Kings xix :6) is very clear, 'ug gath rctsafini (coal-cakes), i. c., cakes baked un der the coals. According to Busbequius (Jim. p. 36), the name of Hugath, which lie interprets ash-cakes, or ash-bread. was in his time still ap plied in Bulgaria to cakes prepared in this fashion, and as soon as a stranger arrived in the villages the women baked such bread in all haste in order to sell it to him. This is the kind of bread Sarah, on the arrival of three strangers, was required to bake 'quickly,' such ash-bread—though not for sale, but for the hospitable entertainment of the unknown travelers. The bread thus prepared is good and palatable, although the outer rind, or crust, is apt to smell and taste of the smoke and ashes. The necessity of turning these cakes gives a satisfactory explanation of Hos. vii :8, where Ephraim is compared to a cake not turned, i. e., only baked on one side, while the other is raw and adhesive.
(7) Different Kinds of Bread. The second chapter of Leviticus gives a sort of list of the different kind: of bread and cakes in use among the ancient Israelites. This is done incidentally for the purpose of distinguishing the kinds which were and which were not suitable for offerings. Of such as were fit for offering: we find: 1. Bread baked in ovens (l_ev. ii:4), but this is limited to two sorts, which appear to be (i) the bread baked inside the vessels of stone, metal or earthenware, as already mentioned; (s) the bread prepared by dropping with the of the hand a thin layer of the almost liquid dough upon the outside of the same oven, and which. being baked dry the moment it touches the heated surface. forms a thin, wafer-like Head or bis cuit. A cake of the former was offered as the first of the dough (1.ev. vni•261. and is men
tioned in 2 Sam. vi ao, with the addition of (s) 'bread'—perforaied bread.
2. Bread baked in a pan (i) that which, as before described, is linked in, or r idler on. the totem. This also as an offering cc a' to be unleav ened inked with nil (z) Thi• , according to Lev. ii :6, could be broken piece: and oil puffed over it, forming a distinct kind of bread and offering.
•. [tread baked upon the hearth—that is to sa)', baked upon the hearthstone, or plate cover ing the (ireful. which has already been mentioned. This also was to be mixed v.ith oil (1 ev. 11 :7).
As these various kinds of baked breads were allowed as offerings, there is no question that they were the be t modes of preparing broad known to the Hebrews in the time of Moses, and as all the ingredients were such as Palestine abundantly produced, they were such offerings as even the poorest might without much difficulty procure.
(8) Other Modes of Preparation. Besides these there are two other modes of preparing bread indicated in the Scriptures, which cannot with equal certainty be identified by reference to modern usages. (I) One of these is the nikuddim of t Kings xiv :3, translated 'cracknels' in the Authorized Version, an almost obsolete word de noting a kind of crisp cake. It is indeed not im probable that they may have been a sort of bis cuit or small and hard baked cakes. The exist ence of such biscuits is further implied in Josh. ix:5, 12, where the Gibeonites describe their bread as having become as hard as biscuit (not 'moldy,' as in the Authorized Version), by reason of the length of their journey. (2) The other was a kind of fancy bread, the making of which ap pears to have been a rare accomplishment, since Tamar was required to prepare it for Amnon in his pretended illness (2 Sam. xiii:6). As the name only indicates that it was some favorite kind of cake, of which there may have been dif ferent sorts, no conjecture with reference to it can be offered. See Hezel, Real-Lexicon, art. 'Brad;' Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins; and the various travelers in Palestine, etc., particu larly Shaw, Niebuhr, Monconys, Russell, Lane (Modern Egyptians), Perkins, Olin, etc.
FiguratiVe. (i) Bread of heaven is the manna showered down from heaven on the He brews in the wilderness for their food (Ps. cv: 40). (2) Bread of adversity and tears is such af fliction and sorrow as overwhelm the spirit and render men careless of food (Is. xxx :2o; Ps. lxxx :5). (3) Bread of sorrow is sustenance pro cured and enjoyed, with much labor and grief (Ps. cxxvii :2). (4) Bread of affliction and water of affliction denote coarse and scanty provision, such as jailers in the East cast to their prisoners, whom they are expected to treat with great cruelty (Dent. xvi :3; I Kings xxii:27). (5) Bread of the governor, the salary appointed for his suste nance (Neh. v:14). (6) Bread of men, common food (Ezek. xxiv:17). (7) Bread of mourners, coarse food, such as people used in time of mourn ing (Hos. ix:4). (8) Bread of wickedness, of de ceit, of violence, of idleness, is that which is ac quired by sin, by fraud, robbery, oppression, or is got in a way of sloth; or it is wickedness, deceit, violence and sloth delighted in by our soul (Prov. iv:17; xx :17; xxxi :27). (9) Bread pleasant when eaten in secret means illicit and other un lawful pleasures (Prov. ix:17). (to) Bread, or bread and water often denote all necessary out ward things, and they are a staff and stay. are necessary for the support of mortals (Is. iii:!; xxxiii :t7 ; Matt. vi :tr).