Mortar

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Mortar.

1. "A wide-mouthed vessel in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or bruised with a pestle". - Webster. The simplest, and probably most ancient, method of preparing corn for food was by pounding it between two stones. The Israelites, in the desert, appear to have possessed mortars and handmills among their necessary domestic utensils. When the manna fell, they gathered it, and either ground it in the mill, or pounded it in the mortar, till it was fit for use. Numbers 11:8. So, in the present day, stone mortars are used by the Arabs to pound wheat for their national dish, kibby.

Another word occurring in Proverbs 27:22, probably denotes a mortar of a larger kind in which corn was pounded: "Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." Corn may be separated from its husk and all its good properties preserved by such an operation, but the fool's folly is so essential a part of himself that no analogous process can remove it from him. Such seems the natural interpretation of this remarkable proverb.

The language is intentionally exaggerated, and there is no necessity for supposing an allusion to a mode of punishment, by which criminals were put to death, by being pounded in a mortar. A custom of this kind existed among the Turks, but there is no distinct trace of it among the Hebrews. Such, however, is supposed to be the reference in the proverb by Mr. Roberts, who illustrates it from his Indian experience.

2. Genesis 11:3; Exodus 1:14; Leviticus 14:42; Leviticus 14:45; Isaiah 41:25; Ezekiel 13:10-11; Ezekiel 13:14-15; Ezekiel 22:28; Nehemiah 3:14. The various compacting substances, used in Oriental buildings appear to be -

i. Bitumen, as in the Babylonian structures;

ii. Common mud or moistened clay;

iii. A very firm cement compounded of sand, ashes and lime, in the proportions respectively of 1, 2, , well pounded, sometimes mixed and sometimes coated with oil, so as to form a surface almost impenetrable to wet or the weather. In Assyrian and also Egyptian brick buildings, stubble or straw, as hair or wool among ourselves, was added to increase the tenacity.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

medokah , wherein the manna was pounded for use (Numbers 11:8). So still the Arabs pound wheat for their national dish, kibby (Thomson, Land and Book, 8:94). The maktesh was a larger mortar. Proverbs 27:22; "though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, (yet) will not his foolishness depart from (upon) him." The husk upon the grain can be bruised off it, but the mortar of trial cannot remove the fool's folly inherent by nature and habit (Jeremiah 13:23). So Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:22), Judah (Isaiah 1:5-6; Isaiah 9:13; Jeremiah 5:3). The corrector's patience is tried, the corrected is not reformed, Roberts (Orient. Illustr. 368) mentions in the East large mortars for rice worked by two women, each in turn striking with a pestle five feet long. Criminals at Kandy were so beaten to death in such a mortar.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) A strong vessel, commonly in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or rubbed with a pestle.

(2): (n.) A short piece of ordnance, used for throwing bombs, carcasses, shells, etc., at high angles of elevation, as 45?, and even higher; - so named from its resemblance in shape to the utensil above described.

(3): (n.) A building material made by mixing lime, cement, or plaster of Paris, with sand, water, and sometimes other materials; - used in masonry for joining stones, bricks, etc., also for plastering, and in other ways.

(4): (v. t.) To plaster or make fast with mortar.

(5): (n.) A chamber lamp or light.

King James Dictionary

MOR'TAR, n. L. mortarium.

1. A vessel of wood or metal in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or bruised with a pestle. 2. A short piece of ordnance, thick and wide, used for throwing bombs, carcasses,shells, &c. so named from its resemblance in shape to the utensil above described.

MOR'TAR, n. A mixture of lime and sand with water, used as a cement for uniting stones and bricks in walls. If the lime is slaked and the materials mixed with lime water, the cement will be much stronger.

Mort d'ancestor. In law, a writ of assize, by which a demandant recovers possession of an estate from which he has been ousted, on the death of his ancestor.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Genesis 11:3Exodus 1:14Isaiah 41:25Nahum 3:14Leviticus 14:42,45

Mortar for pulverizing (Proverbs 27:22 ) grain or other substances by means of a pestle instead of a mill. Mortars were used in the wilderness for pounding the manna (Numbers 11:8 ). It is commonly used in Palestine at the present day to pound wheat, from which the Arabs make a favourite dish called kibby.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Exodus 27:20Joshua 15:19Zephaniah 1:112Exodus 1:14Isaiah 41:25Nahum 3:14Genesis 11:3Leviticus 14:4214:45Ezekiel 13:10-1113:14-15

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

This well-known utensil was employed by the Hebrews in preparing manna for use, Numbers 11:8 . Large iron mortars, for pounding grain, have been used by the Turks in the execution of criminals; but it is not known that the Jews ever practiced this mode of punishment. To this day a favorite article of food in Syria is prepared by pounding meat for hours in an iron mortar, and adding grain and spice while the process of "braying" goes on, Proverbs 27:22 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

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. Numbers 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. Proverbs 27:22 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

MORTAR (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘morter’). See House, §§ 1, 4, and cf. Bitumen.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

[for building] stands in the Auth. Vers. for two Heb. words: חֹמֶר (cho'mer, prop. red "clay," as sometimes rendered), cement, of lime and sand (Genesis 11:3; Exodus 1:14), also potter's clay (Isaiah 41:25; Nahum 3:14); עָפָר(aphar', prob. whitish "dust," as usually rendered), mud or clay, used as a cement in the walls of buildings (Leviticus 14:42; Leviticus 14:45). In Ezekiel 13:10 the expression occurs, "One built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar" (there is no word in the original answering to this last), which the Targum and the Vulgate seem to understand not of plaster, but of the cement used in uniting the materials of a wall, rendering it "clay without straw," clay and straw, well mixed together, being understood to have been the ordinary cement of Eastern buildings. There is no doubt that the Hebrews sometimes plastered their walls; and that kind of plaster now most common in the East is made with the same materials as the cob-walls, sun-dried bricks and mortar, namely, clay and straw mixed together, the straw such as they give to their cattle, chopped and beaten small, and serving the same purpose as the ox-hair which our plasterers mix with their plaster. This requires to be well tempered, which is generally done by long-continued treading or beating (Kitto, Pict. Bible, note ad loc.). (See Brick).

Mr. Rich, speaking of the Birs Nimroud at Babylon, says, "The fire-burned bricks of which it is built have inscriptions on them, and so excellent is the cement, which appears to be lime-mortar, that it is nearly impossible to extract one Whole." (See Dwelling). "Omitting iron cramps, lead, (See Handicraft), and the instances in which large stones are found in close apposition without cement, the various compacting substances used in Oriental buildings appear to be: (1) bitumen, as in the Babylonian structures; (2) common mud or moistened clay; (3) a very firm cement compounded of sand, ashes, and lime, in the proportions respectively of 1, 2, 3, well pounded, sometimes mixed and sometimes coated with oil, so as to form a surface almost impenetrable to wet or the weather. (See Plaster).

In Assyrian, and also Egyptian brick buildings, stubble or straw, as hair or wool among ourselves, was added to increase the tenacity (Shaw, Trav. page 206; Volney, Trav. 2:436; Chardin, Voy. 4:116). If the materials were bad in themselves, as mere mud would necessarily be, or insufficiently mixed, or, as the Vulgate seems to understand (Ezekiel 13:10), if straw were omitted, the mortar or cobwall would be liable to crumble under the influence of wet weather. (See Shaw, Trav. page 136, and Gesenius, Thesaur. page 1515, s.v. תָּפֵּל a word connected with the Arabic tufal, a substance resembling pipe-clay, believed by Burckhardt to be the detritus of the felspar of granite, and used for taking stains out of cloth; Burckhardt, Syria, page 488; Mishna, Pesach, 10:3.) Wheels for grinding chalk or lime for mortar, closely resembling our own machines for the same purpose, are in use in Egypt (Niebuhr, Voy. 1:122, pl. 17; Burckhardt, Nubia, ) pages 82, 97, 102, 140; Hasselquist, Trav. page 90)." (See Mason).

Modern Orientals have several materials for mortar superior to bitumen. These consist of three kinds of calcareous earth found abundantly in the desert west of the Euphrates. The first, called niura, is, in present use, mixed with ashes, and employed as a coating for the lower parts of walls in baths and other places liable to dampness. Another, called by the Turks karej, and by the Arabs jus, is also found in powder mixed with indurated pieces of the same substance and round pebbles. This forms even now the common cement of the country and constitutes the mortar generally found in the burned brickwork of the most ancient remains. When good, the bricks cemented by it cannot well be detached without being broken, while those laid in bitumen can easily be separated. The third sort, called borak, is a substance resembling gypsum, and is founding large lumps of an earthy appearance, which, when burned, form an excellent plaster or whitewash. Pure clay or mud is also used as a cement; but this is exclusively with the sun-dried bricks (Kitto, Pict. Bible, note on Genesis 11:3). (See Clay); (See Lime).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

môr´tẽr ( מדכה , medhōkhāh Numbers 11:8 , מכתּשׁ , makhtēsh Proverbs 27:22 ): A hollowed stone or vessel in which grain or other substance was pounded or beaten with a pestle. The Israelites used a mortar in which to beat the manna in the wilderness Numbers 11:8 , and Proverbs 27:22 declares, "Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle ... yet will not his foolishness depart from him," i.e. it is inherent and ineradicable. Some have supposed an allusion to an oriental mode of punishment by pounding the criminal to death in a mortar, but this is unlikely. In illustration of Proverbs 27:22 such proverbs are quoted as "Though you beat that loose woman in a mortar, she will not leave her ways." See also Bray . For "mortar" (the King James Version "morter") see Bitumen .