Oven

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

OVEN ( κλίβανος).—In the reference to fuel for the village oven ( Matthew 6:30,  Luke 12:28) the term ‘grass’ is used generally for any wild produce of the fields, including thorns and thistles.

The Bible references to the baking of bread correspond to the three principal methods now employed in Palestine. (1) The simplest is that in use among the Bedouin or migratory Arabs of the desert. It is to make a slight hollow in the ground at the tent door, and burn upon it dry grass or twigs until sufficient hot ash is made for the baking of the bread cakes ( Genesis 18:6,  1 Kings 17:12;  1 Kings 19:6). An improvement upon this is seen in the small villages, where the conditions of life are more stationary. The hollow is deepened a little more, and covered with large pebbles in order to retain the heat, and the bread is either laid upon these after the ashes have been brushed aside, or, without removal of the ashes, the bread is laid upon a convex metal disc or griddle slightly raised above the fire-place. (2) The next stage of advance is seen in the large, pot-like hole dug in the ground, and lined with a smooth coating of plaster. The same kind of fuel is laid as before on the pebbles at the bottom, and the thin cakes are fired by being placed for a minute on the hot concave surface of the oven. The work of baking is done by a woman who sits beside the oven, and from time to time adds a few handfuls of fuel. She has on one side the tray of dough from which she tears out a small piece, and after rolling it out into a thin cake she distends it still further by slapping it over one arm and then over the other. She then lays it upon a circular cushion-like pad kept for the purpose, and thus applies it to the plaster surface of the pot oven. As each loaf, about a foot and a half in diameter and of wafer-like thinness, is rapidly fired, it is placed upon the pile of bread on her other side. This is the ordinary oven for home-made bread in the villages, the tannûr of the OT and the simpler form of the klibănos of the NT. In the warning of  Leviticus 26:26, the predicted scarcity of fuel and flour would be such that ten women in one cluster or section of the village houses, instead of using in turn the same oven for their separate households, would have to unite their little stock of flour to make a baking to be done by one of them, and then receive by weight the share of bread belonging to each.

(3) The final form is that of the baker’s oven. The ordinary village usually has one of these, in which baking is done on three or more days of the week, and the towns are furnished with a larger number in daily use on account of the increased demand. The oven recess, instead of being a hollow in the ground, is now a vault about twelve feet long, four feet high, and eight feet broad, built in the bake-house. The pebbles of the primitive form are represented by a pavement of squared stone along the length and breadth of the semi-cylindrical vault. Upon it is laid fuel of the same kind as before, with an addition of thicker twigs and pieces of cleft wood, and the fire is kept up until sufficient heat has been produced. The hot ashes are then brushed off and banked up on each side, and the bread is laid on this cleared space of the hot stone pavement ( Isaiah 44:19,  Jeremiah 37:21). The heat is considerably greater than what is needed for the more gradual firing of our larger European loaf, and the Oriental oven thus became the emblem of vehement desire ( Hosea 7:6-7) and the indignant anger of God ( Psalms 21:9).

G. M. Mackie.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Κλίβανος (Strong'S #2823 — Noun Masculine — klibanos — klib'-an-os )

is mentioned in  Matthew 6:30;  Luke 12:28 . The form of "oven" commonly in use in the east indicates the kind in use as mentioned in Scripture. A hole is sunk in the ground about 3 feet deep and somewhat less in diameter. The walls are plastered with cement. A fire is kindled inside, the fuel being grass, or dry twigs, which heat the oven rapidly and blacken it with smoke and soot (see  Lamentations 5:10 ). When sufficiently heated the surface is wiped, and the dough is molded into broad thin loaves, placed one at a time on the wall of the "oven" to fit its concave inner circle. The baking takes a few seconds. Such ovens are usually outside the house, and often the same "oven" serves for several families ( Leviticus 26:26 ). An "oven" of this sort is doubtless referred to in  Exodus 8:3 (see Hastings, Bib. Dic.).

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Tanur . Fixed or portable. The fixed ovens were inside towns. The portable ovens consisted of a large clay jar, three feet high, widening toward the bottom, with a hole to extract the ashes. Sometimes there was an erection of clay in the form of a jar, built on the house floor. Every house had one (Exodus viii. 3 ); only in a famine (lid one suffice for several faro-flies (Leviticus xxvi. 26). Tile heating fuel was dry grass and twigs (Blurt. Vt. 30: "Grass, Which To-Day Is, To-Morrow Is Cast Into The Oven") . The loaves were placed inside, and thin cakes outside of it.

Image of consuming vengeance ( Malachi 4:1).  Psalms 21:9; "Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger... burning with Thy hot, wrath in the day of the Lord."  Hosea 7:4, 7: "they are all adulterers, as an oven heated by (Burning From) the baker," i.e. the fire burns of itself, even after tlle baker has ceased to feed it with fuel. "Who teaseth from raising (Rather From Heating It Meeir ) after he hath kneaded the dough until it be leavened:" he omits to feed it only during the short time of the fermentation of the bread. So their lusts were on fire even in the short respite that Satan gives, till his leaven has worked.  2 Peter 2:14, "cannot cease from sin."

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Except in cities where there were those who followed the trade of the baker, with built-up ovens, it was customary for every household to have its own simple oven. A hole was dug in the ground and coated with clay, which hardened with the heat of the fire. Any species of grass soon dried in the sun and was then thrown into the oven to heat it. The bread was made into thin cakes which were baked by being stuck to the sides of the oven, or placed on a cover at the top. There are many instances in scripture where on the arrival of a visitor bread had to be kneaded and baked for them.  Exodus 8:3;  Leviticus 2:4;  Leviticus 7:9;  Leviticus 11:35;  Leviticus 26:26;  Lamentations 5:10;  Hosea 7:4-7;  Matthew 6:30;  Luke 12:28 . The heat of the oven is used symbolically for rapid destruction.  Psalm 21:9;  Malachi 4:1 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Hosea 7:4 Jeremiah 37:21 Nehemiah 3:11 12:38

There were other private ovens of different kinds. Some were like large jars made of earthenware or copper, which were heated inside with wood ( 1 Kings 17:12;  Isaiah 44:15;  Jeremiah 7:18 ) or grass ( Matthew 6:30 ), and when the fire had burned out, small pieces of dough were placed inside or spread in thin layers on the outside, and were thus baked. (See Furnace .)

Pits were also formed for the same purposes, and lined with cement. These were used after the same manner.

Heated stones, or sand heated by a fire heaped over it, and also flat irons pans, all served as ovens for the preparation of bread. (See   Genesis 18:6;  1 Kings 19:6 .)

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Oven. The eastern oven is of two kinds - fixed and portable. The former is found only in towns, where regular bakers are employed.  Hosea 7:4. The latter ia adapted to the nomad state, it consists of a large jar made of clay, about three feet high and widening toward the bottom, with a hole for the extraction of the ashes.

Each household possessed such an article,  Exodus 8:3, and it was, only in times of extreme dearth, that the same oven sufficed for several families.  Leviticus 26:26. It was heated with dry twigs and grass,  Matthew 6:30, and the loaves were placed both inside and outside of it.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Oven. The Eastern oven is of two kinds—fixed and portable. The former is found only in towns, where regular bakers are employed.  Hosea 7:4. The latter is adapted to the nomad state. It consists of a large jar made of clay, about three feet high and widening toward the bottom, with a hole for the extraction of the ashes. Each household possessed such an article,  Exodus 8:3; and it was only in times of extreme dearth that the same oven sufficed for several families.  Leviticus 26:26. It was heated with dry twigs and grass,  Matthew 6:30, and the loaves were placed both inside and outside of it.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Psalm 21:9 (a) In this way GOD describes His fierce anger which will bring great suffering upon His enemies.

 Hosea 7:4 (a) This strange figure describes the terrible passions that occupy the hearts of ungodly men who burn in their hatred of one another, or in their lusts for one another. GOD describes it as a heat that so destroys the virtues of the soul that only evil remains.

 Malachi 4:1 (a) This picture represents the fierce wrath of GOD which will be poured out on this earth in the day of Jacob's trouble. At this time the Lord will come forth from Heaven to rule the nations with a rod of iron.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 2:4 Exodus 8:3 Matthew 6:30 Luke 12:28Cooking And Heating

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) A place arched over with brick or stonework, and used for baking, heating, or drying; hence, any structure, whether fixed or portable, which may be heated for baking, drying, etc.; esp., now, a chamber in a stove, used for baking or roasting.

King James Dictionary

OVEN, n. uv'n.

An arch of brick or stone work, for baking bread and other things for food. Ovens are made in chimneys or set in the open air.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

See Bread .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

OVEN. See Bread.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Oven'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/o/oven.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.