HOUSE

(RVhere, 'cushion'), and where it is retained, as 1 S 10", the sense is doubtful. Reference may be made to the richly appointed bed of Holofernes, with its gorgeous mosquito curtain (Jth 10^ 13°).

The bed often served as a COUch by day (Kzk 23", Am 3'2 RV — see also Meais, § 3), and it is sometimes uncertain which is the more suitable rendering. In Est 1\ for example, RV rightly substitutes 'couches' for 'beds' in the description of the magnificent divans of gold and silver in the palace of Ahasuerus (cf. 7^). The wealthy and luxurious contemporaries of Amos had their beds and couches inlaid with ivory (Am 6') , and furnished, according to RV, with 'silken cushions' (3'^ RV).

As regards the stool above referred to, and the seats of the Hebrews generally, it must suffice to state that the seats of the contemporary Egyptians (tor illustt. see Wilkinson, op. cit. i. 408 ff.) and Assyrians were of two main varieties, namely, stools and chairs. The former were constructed either with a square frame or after the shape of our camp-stools; the latter with a straight or rounded back only, or with a back and arms. The Hebrew word for EUsha's stool is always applied else-where to the seats of persons of distinction and the thrones of kings; it must therefore have been a chair rather than a stool, although the latter is its usual meaning in the Mishna (Krengel, Das Hausgerdt in der Mishnah, 10 f. — a mine of information regarding the furniture, native and foreign, to be found in Jewish houses in later times). Footstools were also in use (2 Ch 9" and oft., especially in metaphors).

The tables were chiefly of wood, and, like those of the Egyptians (Wilkinson, op. cit. i. 417 f. with illustt.), were ' round, square, or oblong,' as the Mishna attests. They were relatively much smaller and lower than ours (see, further. Meals, § 4).

The fourth article in Elisha's room was a candlestick, really a lampstand, for which see Lamp. It would extend this article beyond due limits to discuss even a selection from the many other articles of furniture, apart from those reserved for the closing section, which are named in BibUcal and post-Biblical literature, or which have been brought to light in surprising abundance by the recent excavations. Mention can be made only of articles of toilet, such as the 'molten mirror' of Job 37" (AV looking-glass), the paint-pot (2 K Q'"), pins and needles, of which many specimens in bone, bronze, and silver have been found; of the distaff, spindle, and loom (see Spinning and Weaving), for the manufacture of the family garments, and the chest for holding them; and finally, of the children's cradle (Krengel, op. cii. 26), and their toys of clay and bone.

9. Utensils connected with food. — Conspicuous among the ' earthen vessels ' (2 S 17^8) of every household was the water-jar or pitcher (,kad) — the barrel of I K 18'', Amer. RV jar — in which water was fetched from the village weU (Gn 24", Mk 14", and oft.). From this smaller jar, carried on head or shoulder, the water was emptied into the larger waterpots of Jn 2'. Large jars were also required for the household provisions of wheat and barley — one variety in NT times was large enough to hold a man. Others held the store of olives and other fruits. The cruse was a smaller jar with one or two handles, used for carrying water on a journey (1 S 26"f-, 1 K 19=), also for holding oU (1 K 17"). (See, further, art. Pottery, and the elaborate studies, with illustrations, of the thousands of ' potter's vessels ' which the excavations have brought to light, in the great work of BUss and Macallster entitled Excavations in Palestine, 1898-1900, pp. 71-141, with plates 20-55; also Vincent's Canaan d'aprls I'exploration rScente, 1907, pp. 29&-360, with the illustrations there and throughout the book).

The bucket of Nu 24', Is 40" was a water-skin, probably adapted, as at the present day, for drawing water by having two pieces of wood inserted crosswise at the mouth. The main use of skins among the Hebrews,

HULDAH

however, was to hold the wine and other fermented liquors. The misleading rendering botHes is retained in RV except where the context requires the true rendering 'skins' or 'wine-skins' (Jos 9<- ", Mt 9"). For an-other use of skins see Milk. 'After the water-skins,' say s Doughty ,' a pair of mill-stones is the most necessary husbandry in an Arabian household,' and so it was among the Hebrews, as may be seen in the article Mill.

No house was complete without a supply of baskets of various sizes and shapes for the bread (Ex 29^2) and the fruit (Dt 26'), and even in early times for the serving of meat (Jg 6"). Among the 'vessels of wood' of Lv 16" was the indispensable wooden bowl, which served as a kneading-trough (Ex 12''), and various other bowls, such as the 'lordly dish' of the nomad Jael (Jg 5^) and the bowl of Gideon (6'8), although the bowls were mostly of earthenware (see IBowl).

As regards the actual preparation of food, apart from the oven (for which see Bkead), our attention is drawn chiefly to the various members of the pot family, so to say. Four of these are named together in 1 S 2", the kiyyOr, the dftd, the 'qaUacliath, and the pHrur, rendered respectively the pan, the kettle, the caldron, and the pot. Elsewhere these terms are rendered with small attempt at consistency; while a fifth, the most frequently named of all, the sir, is the flesh-pot of Ex 3", the 'great pot' of 2 K 4", and the 'caldron' of Jer 1". In what respect these differed it is impossible to say. The gir was evidently of large size and made of bronze (1 K 7«), while the parUr was small and of earthenware, hence ben-Sira's question: ' What fellowship hath the [earthen] pot with the [bronze] caldron?' (Sir 132,Heb. text). The kiyySr, again, was wide and shallow, rather than narrow and deep. Numerous illustrations of cooking-pots from OT times may be seen in the recent works above referred to. The only cooking utensils known to be of iron are the baking-pan (Lv 2' RV), probably a shallow iron plate (see Ezk 4»), and the frying-pan (Lv 2'). A knife, originally of flint (Jos 5^) and later of bronze, was required for cutting up the meat to be cooked (Gn 22'- 1°, Jg 19"), and a fork for lifting it from the pot (1 S 2" EV fleshhook [wh. see]).

In the collection of pottery figured in Bliss and Macalister's work one must seek the counterparts of the various dishes, mostly wide, deep bowls, in which we read of food being served, such as the ' dish ' from which the sluggard is too lazy to withdraw his hand (Pr 192* RV), and the chargers of Nu 7", though here they are of silver (see, further. Meals, § 5). In the same work the student will find an almost endless variety of cups, some for drawing the 'cup of cold water' from the large water-jars, others for wine — flagons, jugs, and juglets. The material of all of these will have ascended from the coarsest earthenware to bronze (Lv 6^'), and from bronze to silver (Nu 7", Jth 12i) and gold (1 K 10'', Est 1'), according to the rank and wealth of their owners and the purposes for which they were designed.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

HOZAI is given as a prop, name in RV of 2 Ch 33", where AV and RVm give 'the seers.' AVm has Hosai. It we retain the MT, the tr. of RV seems the only de-fensible one, but perhaps the original reading was 'his seers.'

HTJEKOK, — A place near Tabor on the west of Naphtali (Jos 19"). It may be the present village YakUk near the edge of the plateau to the N.W. of the Sea of Galilee.

HUKOK.— See Helkath.

HTTL. — The eponym of an Aramsean tribe (Gn 10^') whose location is quite uncertain.

HTTLDAH ('weasel'; an old totem clan-name — so W. R. Smith). — 'The prophetess, wife of Shallum, keeper of the wardrobe,' living in a part of Jerusalem called the Mishneh ('second quarter'), whose advice

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