Basket

There are several words in the Hebrew Scriptures by which different kinds of baskets appear to be indicated:—

Fig. 83—Large Baskets

1. Dud which occurs in 2Ki 10:7, where the heads of Ahab’s sons are sent from Samaria to Jezreel in baskets; Jer 24:2, as containing figs; and Psa 81:6 (rendered pots), also as containing figs; where, therefore, deliverance from the baskets means deliverance from the bondage of carrying burdens in baskets. In fact, very heavy burdens were thus carried in Egypt, its corn in very large baskets from the field to the threshing-floor, and from the threshing-floor to the granaries. They were carried between two men by a pole resting on their shoulders; which agrees with the previous clause of the cited text, ’I removed his shoulder from the burden.’ This labor and form of the basket are often shown in the Egyptian sculptures.

2. Teba, which occurs in connection with agricultural objects, ’the basket and the store’ (Deu 26:2-4; Deu 28:5-17), and would therefore appear to have been somewhat similar to the above; and, in fact, the Egyptian sculptures show different baskets applied to this use.

3. Kelub. From the etymology, this appears to have been an interwoven basket, made of leaves or rushes. In Jer 5:27, however, it is used for a bird-cage, which must have been of open work, and probably not unlike our own wicker bird-cages. The name is also applied to fruit-baskets (Amo 8:1-2), Egyptian examples of which are presented in #2 and #4 (which contain pomegranates) of the annexed figure.

Fig. 84—Ancient Egyptian baskets

4. Salsilloth, occurs only in Jer 6:9, where it obviously denotes baskets in which grapes were deposited as they were gathered. The form of the baskets used for this purpose is often shown on the Egyptian monuments, and is similar to that represented in #4 of the above fig. 84.

5. In all the other places where the word basket occurs, we are doubtless to understand a basket made of rushes, similar both in form and material to those used by carpenters for carrying their tools. This is still the common kind of basket throughout Western Asia; and its use in ancient Egypt is shown by an actual specimen which was found in a tomb at Thebes, and which is now in the British Museum. It was, in fact, a carpenter’s basket, and contained his tools ( #1, see fig. 84).

The specimens of Egyptian baskets in the British Museum, represented in fig. 84, convey a favorable idea of the basket-work of ancient times. Some of these are worked ornamentally with colors (#3, #5, see fig. 84). And besides these the monuments exhibit a large variety of hand-baskets, of different shapes, and so extensively employed as to show the numerous applications of basket-work in the remote times to which these representations extend. They are mostly manufactured, the stronger and larger sorts of the fibers, and the finer of the leaves of the palm-tree, and not infrequently of rushes, but more seldom of reeds.

Basket. The Hebrew terms, used in the description of this article, are as follows:

(1) Sal, so called from the twigs of which it was originally made, specially used for holding bread. Gen 40:16 ff. Exo 29:3; Exo 29:23; Lev 8:2; Lev 8:26; Lev 8:31; Num 6:15; Num 6:17; Num 6:19.

(2) Salsilloth, a word of kindred origin, applied to the basket used in gathering grapes. Jer 6:9.

(3) Tene, in which the first-fruits of the harvest were presented. Deu 26:2; Deu 26:4.

(4) Celub, so called from its similarity to a bird-cage.

(5) Dud, used for carrying fruit, Jer 24:1-2, as well as, on a larger scale, for carrying clay to the brick-yard, Psa 81:6, (pots, Authorized Version), or for holding bulky articles. 2Ki 10:7. In the New Testament, baskets are described under three different terms.

Gen 40:16; "I had three white (margin ’full of holes,’ i.e. of open work, or rather ’baskets of white bread’) baskets on my head." The Bible accurately represents Egyptian custom (Herodotus, 2:35), whereby men carried burdens on the head, women on the shoulders. In the distinct miracles of feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000 the KJV uses the stone term "baskets" for distinct Greek words. In Mat 14:20; Mar 6:43; Luk 9:17; Joh 6:13, the disciples took up twelve kophinoi of fragments at the feeding of the 5,000. In feeding the 4,000 with seven loaves recorded by two evangelists, the disciples took up seven spurides (Mat 15:37; Mar 8:8). Now kofinoi is always used by the evangelists when the miracle of the 5,000 is spoken of, spurides when that of the 4,000 is spoken of.

Thus also in referring back to the miracle (Mat 16:9-10) Jesus says: "Do ye not ... remember the five loaves of the 5,000, and how many kofinoi) ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the 4,000, and how many spurides) ye took up?" That the spurides) were of large size appears from Paul’s having been let down in one from the wall (Act 9:25). The kofinoi being twelve probably answers to the twelve disciples, a provision basket for each, and so are likely to have been smaller. The accurate distinction in the use of the terms so invariably made in the record of the miracles marks both events as real and distinct, not, as rationalists have guessed, different versions of one miracle.

The coincidence is so undesigned that it escaped our translators altogether; it therefore can only be the result of genuineness and truth in the different evangelists’ accounts. In traveling through Samaria or Gentile regions the Jews used kofinoi, not to be defiled by eating Gentile unclean foods. Smith’s Bible Dictionary wrongly makes the kofinos larger than the spuris.

the rendering in the Auth. Vers. of the following words:

1. SAL, סִל (Sept. usually κόφινος or σπυρίς, as in the N.T.), the most general term, so called from the twigs of which it was originally made; specially used, as the Greek κανοῦν (Hom. Od. 3, 442) and the Latin canistrum (Virg. En. 1:701), for holding bread (Gen 40:16 sq.; Exo 29:3; Exo 29:23; Lev 8:2; Lev 8:26; Lev 8:31; Num 6:15; Num 6:17; Num 6:19). The form of the Egyptian breadbasket is delineated in Wilkinson’s Anc. Egypt. 3, 226, after the specimens represented in the tomb of Rameses III. These were made of gold (comp. Hom. Od. 10:355), and we must assume that the term sal passed from its strict etymological meaning to any vessel applied to the purpose. In Jdg 6:19, meat is served up in a sal, which could hardly have been of wicker-work. The expression “white baskets,” הֹרַי סלֵּי (Gen 40:16), is sometimes referred to the material of which the baskets were made (Symmachus, κανᾶ βαϊνά), or the white color of the peeled sticks, or lastly to their being “full of holes” (A. V. margin), i.e. open-work baskets. The name Sallai (Neh 11:8; Neh 12:20) seems to indicate that the manufacture of baskets was a recognised trade among the Hebrews.

2. SALSILLOTH’. סִלְסַלּוֹת), a word of kindred origin, applied to the basket used in gathering grapes (Jer 6:9).

3. TE’NE, טֶנֶא, in which the first-fruits of the harvest were presented (Deu 26:2; Deu 26:4). From its being coupled with the kneading-bowl (A. V. “store;” Deu 28:5; Deu 28:17), we may infer that it was also used for household purposes, perhaps to bring the corn to the mill. The equivalent term in the Sept. for this and the preceding Hebrew words is κάρταλλος, which specifically means a basket that tapers downward (κόφινος ὀξὺς τὰ κάτω, Suid.), similar to the Roman corbis. This shape of basket appears to have been familiar to the Egyptians (Wilkinson, 2:401).

4. KELUB’, כְּלוּבso called from its similarity to a bird-cage or trap (κάρταλλος is used in the latter sense in Sir 11:30), probably in regard to its having a lid. From the etymology, this appears to have been an interwoven basket, made of leaves or rushes. In Jer 5:27, however, it is used for a bird-cage, which must have been of open work, and probably not unlike our own wicker bird-cages. The name is applied to fruit-baskets (Amo 8:1-2, where the Sept. gives ἄγγος; Symm. more correctly κάλαθος,Vulg. uncinus), Egyptian examples of which are presented in figs. 2 and 4 (which contain pomegranates) of the annexed cut.

5. DUD, דּוּד, or duday’, דּוּדִי, used like the Greek κάλαθος (so the Sept.) for carrying figs (Jer 24:1-2), as well as on a larger scale for carrying clay to the brick-yard (Psa 81:6; Sept. κόφινος, Auth. Vers. pots), or for holding bulky articles (2Ki 10:7; Sept. κάρταλλος); the shape of this basket and the mode of carrying it usual among the brickmakers in Egypt is delineated in Wilkinson, 2:99, and aptly illustrates Psa 81:6. See BRICK. In fact, very heavy burdens were thus carried in Egypt, as corn in very large baskets from the field to the threshing-floor, and from the threshing-floor to the granaries. They were carried between two men by a pole resting on the shoulders. SEE AGRICULTURE. In 1Sa 2:14: 2Ch 35:10; Job 41:20, however, the same word evidently means pots for boiling, and is translated accordingly.

In most places where the word basket occurs, we are doubtless to understand one made of rushes, similar both in form and material to those used by carpenters for carrying their tools. This is still the common kind of basket throughout Western Asia; and, its use in ancient Egypt is shown by an actual specimen which was found in a tomb at Thebes, and which is now in the British Museum. It was, in fact, a carpenter’s basket, and contained his tools (fig. 1 above). Some of the Egyptian baskets are worked ornamentally with colors (figs. 3, 5, above; also the modern examples, figs. 2, 7, below). And besides these the monuments exhibit a large variety of hand-baskets of different shapes, and so extensively employed as to show the numerous applications of basket-work in the remote times to which these representations extend. They are mostly manufactured, the stronger and larger sorts of the fibres, and the finer of the leaves of the palm-tree, and not infrequently of rushes, but more seldom of reeds. — Kitto, s.v. Smith, s.v.

In the N.T. baskets are described under the three following terms, κόφινος, σπυρίς, and σαργάνη. The last occurs only in 2Co 11:33, in describing Paul’s escape from Damascus: the word properly refers to any thing twisted like a rope (AEsch. Suppl. 791), or any article woven of rope (πλέγμα τι ἐκ σχοινίου Suid.); fish-baskets specially were so made (ἀπὸ σχοινίου πλεγμάτιον εἰς ὑποδοχὴν ἰχθύων, Etym. Mag.). It was evidently one of the larger and stronger description (Hackett’s Illustra. of Script. p. 69). With regard to the two former words, it may be remarked that κόφινος is exclusively used in the description of the miracle of feeding the five thousand (Mat 14:20; Mat 16:9; Mar 6:43; Luk 9:17; Joh 6:13), and σπυρίς in that of the four thousand (Mat 15:37; Mar 8:8), the distinction is most definitely brought out in Mar 8:19-20. The σπυρίς is also mentioned as the means of Paul’s escape (Act 9:25). The difference between these two kinds of baskets is not very apparent. Their construction appears to have been the same; for κόφινος is explained by Suidas as a “woven vessel” (ἀγγεῖον πλεκτόν), while σπυρίς is generally connected with sowing (σπεῖρα). The σπυρίς (Vulg. sporta) seems to have been most appropriately used of the provision-basket, the Roman sportula. Hesychius explains it as the “grain-basket” (τὸ τῶν πυρῶν ἄγγος, compare also the expression δεῖπνον ἀπὸ σπυρίδος, Athen. 8:17). The κόφινος seems to have been generally larger (Etym. Mag. βαθὺ καὶ κοῖλον χώρημα); since, as used by the Romans (Colum. 11:3, p. 460), it contained manure enough to make a portable hot-bed (see Smith’s Dict. of Class. Ant. s.v. Cophinus); in Rome itself it was constantly carried about by the Jews (quorum cophinus fanumque supellex, Juv. Sat. 3, 14; 6:542). Greswell (Diss. 8, pt. 4) surmises that the use of the cophinus was to sleep in, but there is little to support this. Baskets probably formed a necessary article of furniture to the Jews, who, when travelling either among the Gentiles or the Samaritans, were accustomed to carry their provisions with them in baskets, in order to avoid defilement.

Various Hebrew words are translated ’basket,’ and doubtless the size, shape and strength varied according to the purpose for which they were intended. In the N.T. there are three Greek words used: συργάνη, ’a hamper,’ in which Paul was let down by the wall, 2Co 11:33, though for the same occurrence another word is used in Act 9:25, σπυρίς, which also signifies ’a hamper,’ and is used for the seven baskets of fragments remaining after the four thousand were fed. Mat 15:37; Mat 16:10; Mar 8:8; Mar 8:20. When the five thousand were fed there were twelve baskets of fragments, but it was then the κόφινος, ’a hand basket.’ Mat 14:20; Mat 16:9; Mar 6:43; Mar 8:19; Luk 9:17; Joh 6:13. The two perfect numbers seven and twelve show the inexhaustible supply the Lord furnishes when His purpose is to bless His own.

BASKET.—All four Evangelists, in narrating the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, describe the baskets in which the fragments were placed as κόφινοι (Mat 14:20 = Mar 6:43 = Luk 9:17 = Joh 6:13); while the two who report the other miracle of feeding the four thousand, state that the fragments were placed in σπυρίδες (Mat 15:37 = Mar 8:8). It is clear from Mat 16:9 f. (= Mar 8:19 f.) that the variation is intentional. The baskets used on the one occasion differed either in size, shape, or material from those used on the other (cf. (Revised Version margin) in Mat 16:9 f. and Mar 8:19 f.). Our Lord preserved the distinction, and our present Gospels have also done so.

‘Basket’ occurs in the Authorized and Revised Versions Gospels in the above passages only. The older English versions use the confusing rendering of ‘baskets’ for both words, except that Wyclif has ‘coffyns’ and ‘leepis.’ By ‘coffyn’ he evidently meant a small basket. Rheims renders στυρἰδων, ‘maundes,’ i.e. hand-baskets. Davidson (NT, 1875) at Mar 8:19-20 has ‘basketfuls’ for κοφίνους and ‘walletsful’ for σπυριδων, as if he had found τηρῶν.

The authors of such renderings as the above forgot that St. Paul (Act 9:25) made his escape in a σπυρἱς. This fact at once excludes wallets or hand-baskets. If the distinction was one of size at all, which is not certain, we should perhaps have to assume that the σπυρίς was the larger. Bevan (Smith’s D^{B [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] 1 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} i. 172) says that the κόφινος was the larger, quoting Etym. Mag., βαθὺ καὶ κοῖλον χώρημα, and the use of cophinus in Latin, e.g. Colum. xi. 3, p. 460, as containing manure enough to make a hotbed. Greswell (Diss. viii. pt. 4, vol. ii.) thought that the cophinus was big enough to sleep in. He probably misunderstood the passage in Juvenal quoted below; for though the hay may have been used as a bed, it is not said that it was in the cophinus. Nor is it clear that the Latin cophinus and the Greek κόφινος were at all times identical in meaning (so the French balle is not a cannon-ball but a musket bullet, while our cannon-ball is a boulet). Let us examine the two words more closely.

(1) κόφινος is said to be derived from κόττω; but this appears to be more than doubtful, and the grammarians considered it less Attic than ἅρριχοτ, which was clearly a wicker or flag basket. In the Gr. OT it is used by LXX Septuagint and Symm^{. [Note: Symmachus.]} for Heb. dud in Psalms 80 [81]:6, and by Symm^{. [Note: Symmachus.]} only in Jer 24:1-2 (where LXX Septuagint has κάλαθος), and for sal by Aq^{. [Note: Aquila.]} in Gen 40:16 (where LXX Septuagint has κανᾶ). Certainly in the two latter passages a small basket, carried in the hand, or on the head, would suit the contexts. Suidas defines κ. as ἀγγεῖον τλεκτὀν. In CI^{G [Note: IG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.]} 1625, lines 44–46, it is clearly a corn-basket of a recognized size; cf. also CI^{G [Note: IG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.]} 2347 k. In Xen. Anab. iii. 8. 6 it occurs as a dung-basket (see the Latin cophinus in Columella, as cited above). It is said that the Jews at Rome carried cophini about with them to avoid the chance of food contracting any Levitical pollution in heathen places. The reason given appears fanciful, and anyhow would hardly apply to the journeys of our Lord and His apostles. But the fact is vouched for by Juvenal (Sat. iii. 14: ‘Judaeis, quorum cophinus fœnumque supellex’; vi. 542: ‘Cophino fœnoque relicto | Arcanam Judaea tremens mendicat in aurem’) and Martial (Epig. v. 7).

(2) στυρίς (or σφυρις, as W^{H [Note: H Westcott and Hort’s text.]} prefer) is not found in the LXX Septuagint . It is generally connected with στεῖρα = anything twisted (Vulgate sporta, of which the diminutives sportella and sportula occur, as small fruit or provision-baskets). Hesychius explains σπυρίς as τὸ τῶν τυρῶν ἀγγος, as though from πυρός; cf. δεῖτνον ἀτὸ στυρίδος (Athenaeus, viii. 17). Hence Greswell thought that before Pentecost, the season of wheat harvest, when the second miracle took place, the disciples were able to use corn-baskets, while the first miracle happening before Passover time, they used another kind of basket! Besides the improbability of this, we may note that there is no proof that in either case the baskets belonged to or were carried about by the disciples, for they may have been borrowed when needed. Yet Trench (Miracles, p. 380 note 2) inquires why the apostles should have been provided with either kind, and mentions (a) that perhaps they carried their provisions with them while travelling through a polluted land, such as Samaria (yet cf. Joh 4:8; Joh 4:31; Joh 4:40, Luk 9:52); and (b) he also mentions Greswell’s theory, that the disciples carried these baskets in order to sleep in them sub dio. This all comes from applying to the Twelve in the Holy Land what Roman satirists said about Jewish beggars at Rome.

As στυρίς in Act 9:25 = σαργἀνη in 2Co 11:33, and as the Vulgate has sporta in both places (and also in the Gospels for στυρίς but not for κόφινο;), we are led to inquire as to the force of σαργάνη. It is used of anything twisted like a rope, or woven of rope (aesch. Suppl. 791—πλἐγμα τι ἐκ σχοινίων Suid.). Fish-baskets were specially so made (ἀτὸ σχοιαἰων τλεγμάτων εἰς ὑποδοχὴν ἰχθὺων, Etym. Mag.), as rush-baskets are used in London.

Meyer considered the difference between σπυρίς and κόφινος to lie not in size, but in κόφινος being a general term, and σπυρίς specially a food-basket. Perhaps the true force of the words we have discussed is to be discovered in the use made of them by Greek-speaking working people at the present day. The writer of this article has therefore consulted a Greek priest, the Rev. H. A. Teknopoulos. In his reply he says: ‘In Asia Minor and in Constantinople our porters call κὁφινος that big and deep basket in which they carry different things. Σπυρίς is a smaller and round and shallow basket. Σαργάνη is a long bag, knitted by (i.e. of) rope, which is in one way very like the δίκτυον of fish, but is different from it in other way(s).’

One might ask whether the στυρἰς of Act 9:25 is not an error of memory on the part of St. Luke. St. Paul in his own account of his escape would surely use the right word. If so, the supposed need for a στυρίς being big enough to hold a person disappears, and we may accept the decision of those who consider it the smaller of the two kinds mentioned in the Gospels.

George Farmer.

BASKET.—The names of a round score of baskets in use in NT times are known from the Mishna (see Krengel, Das Hausgerät in der Mishnah, pp. 39–45). They were made of willow, rush, palm-leaf, and other materials, and used in an endless variety of ways, for purely domestic purposes, in agriculture, in gathering and serving fruit, and for collecting the alms in kind for the poor, etc. Some had handles, others lids, some had both, others had neither. In OT times the commonest basket was the sal, made, at least in later times, of peeled willows or palm-leaves. It was large and flat like the Roman canistrum, and, like it, was used for carrying bread (Gen 40:16 ff.) and other articles of food (Jdg 6:19), and for presenting the meal-offerings at the sanctuary (Exo 29:3). Another (dûd), also of wicker-work, probably resembled the calathus, which tapered towards the bottom, and was used in fruit-gathering (Jer 24:1). In what respect it differed from Amos’ ‘basket of summer fruit’ (Amo 8:1) is unknown. A fourth and larger variety was employed for carrying home the produce of the fields (Deu 28:5 ‘blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), and for presenting the first-fruits (Deu 26:2).

In NT interest centres in the two varieties of basket distinguished consistently by the Evangelists in their accounts of the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 respectively, the kophinos and the sphyris. The kophinos (Mat 14:20) is probably to be identified with the exceedingly popular kûphâ of the Mishna, which ‘was provided with a cord for a handle by means of which it was usually carried on the back’ (Krengel), with provisions, etc., and which, therefore, the disciples would naturally have with them. The Jews of Juvenal’s day carried such a provision basket (cophinus). The sphyris or spyris (Mat 15:37, Mar 8:8), from its use in St. Paul’s case (Act 9:25), must have been considerably larger than the other, and might for distinction be rendered ‘hamper.’

A. R. S. Kennedy.

bas´ket: Four kinds of “baskets” come to view in the Old Testament under the Hebrew names, dūdh, ṭene’, ṣal and k^elūbh). There is little, however, in these names, or in the narratives where they are found, to indicate definitely what the differences of size and shape and use were. The Mishna renders us some help in our uncertainty, giving numerous names and descriptions of “baskets” in use among the ancient Hebrews (see Kreugel, Dasse Hausgerat in der Mishna, 39-45). They were variously m ade of willow, rush, palm-leaf, etc., and were used for various purposes, domestic and agricultural, for instance, in gathering and serving fruit, collecting alms in kind for the poor, etc. Some had handles, others lids, some both, others neither.

1. Meaning of Old Testament Terms

(1) Dūdh was probably a generic term for various kinds of baskets. It was probably the “basket” in which the Israelites in Egypt carried the clay for bricks (compare Psa 81:6, where it is used as a symbol of Egyptian bondage), and such as the Egyptians themselves used for that purpose (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, I, 379), probably a large, shallow basket, made of wicker-work. It stood for a basket that was used in fruit-gathering (see Jer 24:1), but how it differed from Amos’ “basket of summer fruit” (Amo 8:1) we do not know. Dūdh is used for the “pot” in which meat was boiled (1Sa 2:14), showing probably that a pot-shaped “basket” was known by this name. Then it seems to have stood for a basket tapering toward the bottom like the calathus of the Romans. So we seem forced to conclude that the term was generic, not specific.

(2) The commonest basket in use in Old Testament times was the ṣal. It was the “basket” in which the court-baker of Egypt carried about his confectionery on his head (Gen 40:16). It was made in later times at least of peeled willows, or palm leaves, and was sometimes at least large and flat like the canistrum of the Romans, and, like it, was used for carrying bread and other articles of food (Gen 40:16; Jdg 6:19). Meat for the meat offerings and the unleavened bread, were placed in it (Exo 29:3; Lev 8:2; Num 6:15). It is expressly required that the unleavened cakes be placed and offered in such a “basket.” While a “basket,” it was dish-shaped, larger or smaller in size, it would seem, according to demand, and perhaps of finer texture than the dūdȟ.

(3) The ṭene’ was a large, deep basket, in which grain and other products of garden or field were carried home, and kept (Deu 28:5, Deu 28:17), in which the first-fruits were preserved (Deu 26:2), and the tithes transported to the sanctuary (Deu 26:2 f). It has been thought probable that the ḥabya, the basket of clay and straw of the Palestine peasantry of today, is a sort of survival or counterpart of it. It has the general shape of a jar, and is used for storing and keeping wheat, barley, oats, etc. At the top is the mouth into which the grain is poured, and at the bottom is an orifice through which it can be taken out as needed, when the opening is again closed with a rag. The Septuagint translates ṭene’ by kártallos, which denotes a basket of the shape of an inverted cone.

(4) The term k^elubh, found in Amo 8:1 for a “fruit-basket,” is used in Jer 5:27 (the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) “cage”) for a bird-cage. But it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that a coarsely woven basket with a cover would be used by a fowler to carry home his feathered captives.

2. Meaning of New Testament Terms

In the New Testament interest centers in two kinds of “basket,” distinguished by the evangelists in their accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 and of the 4,000, called in Greek kóphinos and spurı́s (Westcott-Hort sphurı́s).

(1) The kophinos (Mat 14:20; Mar 6:43; Luk 9:17; Joh 6:13) may be confidently identified with the kūphtā’ of the Mishna which was provided with a cord for a handle by means of which it could be carried on the back with such provisions as the disciples on the occasions under consideration would naturally have with them (of Kreugel, and Broadus, Commentary in the place cited.). The Jews of Juvenal’s day carried such a specific “provision-basket” with them on their journeys regularly, and the Latin for it is a transliteration of this Greek word, cophinus (compare Juvenal iii.14, and Jastrow, Dictionary, article “Basket”). Some idea of its size may be drawn from the fact that in CIG, 1625, 46, the word denotes a Beotian measure of about two gallons.

(2) The sphuris or spuris (Mat 15:37; Mar 8:8) we may be sure, from its being used in letting Paul down from the wall at Damascus (Act 9:25, etc.), was considerably larger than the kophinos and quite different in shape and uses. It might for distinction fitly be rendered “hamper,” as Professor Kennedy suggests. Certainly neither the Greek nor ancient usage justifies any confusion.

(3) The sargánē (2Co 11:33) means anything plaited, or sometimes more specifically a fish-basket.

Two different words for ‘basket’ are used in connexion with St. Paul’s escape from Damascus, one, óöõñßò or óðõñßò (Act_9:25), being the same as is found in the miracle of feeding the 4000 (Mat_15:37, Mar_8:8), the other, óáñãÜíç, being peculiar to the Apostle’s own version of the incident (2Co_11:33). The former kind of basket plays an important part in relation to the miracles of feeding, and the argument for its larger size as compared with êüöéíïò is supported by a reference to its use in facilitating St. Paul’s escape (but see Dict. of Christ and the Gospels , article ‘Basket’). The latter calls for detailed treatment here. It has been thought of: (1) as flexible, coming near the idea of reticule or net; (2) as rigid: either braid-work (used especially of fish-baskets [Encyclopaedia Biblica ]), or wicker-work. This last seems to be nearest the truth. In Jewish usage the root ñøð (ñøø) attaches to weaving in the rigid form (e.g. basket-making) as opposed to the flexible (e.g. spinning). One species of work-stool is called ñøðéï. The basket-making industry was located in the neighbourhood of the Sea of Galilee, with headquarters at Scythopolis, and a ready outlet for the manufactured article was found in Damascus (see S. Krauss, Talmud. Archäologie, ii. [Leipzig, 1911] 269f., where many kinds are specified).

In the absence of knowledge as to the nature and size of the window (èõñßò), and other details of St. Paul’s escape, we cannot hope to attain to a precise result regarding the structure of the óáñãÜíç. It need not be said that present-day tradition’s in Damascus are of little value. Only the lower half of the wall dates possibly from NT times (see Encyclopaedia Biblica , article ‘Damascus’). For the device of letting a person down through a window, see Jos_2:15 and 1Sa_19:12; cf. also Josephus, Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) i. xvi. 4.

W. Cruickshank.

Deu 28:5 (c) Moses is telling us that GOD will give abundant increase for us to take home to ourselves and enjoy for ourselves if we let the Lord GOD command us, and if we give obedient service.

Deu 28:17 (c) Here we find the opposite truth expressed, for if we refuse to listen to GOD, and to walk with Him, we shall find that GOD withholds the blessing, and leaves us with empty hands and desolate hearts.

Jer 6:9 (b) The figure here is that of the enemy who invades the land and gathers into his own possession the persons and the properties of disobedient Israel.