11. Bread Making

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Genesis 18:66And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. (Genesis 18:6). And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
1. Bread in the East is made from wheat or barley, rye being but little cultivated. The “fine meal” here spoken of is wheat flour finely sifted, and is considered very choice.
2. The “three measures” were equal to an ephah, which is supposed to have contained a little less than a bushel. It was an ordinary quantity for baking. See Judges 6:1919And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. (Judges 6:19); 1 Samuel 1:2424And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh: and the child was young. (1 Samuel 1:24); Matthew 13:3333Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. (Matthew 13:33). The seah or “measure” is also mentioned in 2 Kings 7:1,161Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. (2 Kings 7:1)
16And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. (2 Kings 7:16).
3. From the haste with which this bread was prepared it was evidently unleavened. The flour and water were hastily mixed, and the thin dough was either laid on heated stones, where the cakes would soon bake, or the “hearth” in the text was a smooth spot of ground on which fire had been kindled and the embers brushed off, when the dough was placed on the ground and the embers raked over it. In other way the bread would soon be ready for the guests. See also 1 Kings 17:12-13; 19:612And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. 13And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. (1 Kings 17:12‑13)
6And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. (1 Kings 19:6).
Palmer, while visiting the outlying districts of Sinai, found, upon the watershed of Wady el-Hebeibeh, the remains of a large and evidently ancient encampment. “The small stones which formerly served, as they do in the present day, for hearths, in many places still showed signs of the action of fire, and on digging beneath the surface we found pieces of charcoal in great abundance.” (Desert of the Exodus, p. 258). What gives peculiar interest to this discovery is the fact that Mr. Palmer thinks that he here discovered the remains of the ancient Israelitish camp at Kibroth-Hattaavah. A detail of the reasoning by which he reaches this conclusion would be out of place here. The curious reader is referred to Palmer’s interesting work, pp. 260, 312, 507, 508.