Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(1) Hollow vessel of wood or stone, in which corn was ground with a pestle (Num. 11:8; Prov. 27:22). (2) Various cementing substances used in building, as bitumen, clay, and ordinary mixture of sand and lime (Gen. 11:3; Ex. 1:14; Lev. 14:42; Isa. 41:25).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
Stone Mortar and Pestle
The monuments of Egypt show that anciently, as now, stone mortars with stone pestles were used for pounding hard seeds. The manna was ground in mills or beaten in a mortar (Num. 11:8). Though by this means the seeds were pounded very small, yet even such treatment would not cure a fool of his folly: it shows the incorrigible nature of him who despises wisdom and instruction (Prov. 27:22).
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Proverbs 27:22. Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
Mortars, for cracking grain by pounding with a pestle, are often used in the East. They are made of metal, earthenware, wood, or stone, the last being the most common material. The pestle is usually about five feet long. Sometimes two pestles are used at the same time for one mortar, the two persons holding them striking alternate blows, like blacksmiths at an anvil. The ancient Israelites used the mortar for heating their manna (Num. 11:8).
There is no evidence that the Hebrews ever administered punishment literally in the way indicated in the text, but it has been done among other nations. Beating to death in a mortar is a State punishment which is sometimes inflicted in Turkey and in India.
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