סנה. This word occurs in Exod. iii, 2, 4, and Deut. xxxiii, 16, as
the name of the bush in which God appeared to Moses. If it be the χιονὸς
mentioned by Dioscorides, it is the white thorn. Celsius calls it the
_rubus fructicosus_. The number of these bushes in this region seems to
have given the name to the mountain Sinai. The word נהללים, found only
in Isa. vii, 19, and there rendered “bushes,” means _fruitful pastures_.
BUTTER is taken in Scripture, as it has been almost perpetually in the
east, for cream or liquid butter, Prov. xxx, 33; 2 Sam. xvii, 29. The
ancient way of making butter in Arabia and Palestine was probably nearly
the same as is still practised by the Bedoween Arabs, and Moors in
Barbary, and which is thus described by Dr. Shaw: “Their method of
making butter is by putting the milk or cream into a goat’s skin turned
inside out, which they suspend from one side of the tent to the other;
and then pressing it to and fro in one uniform direction, they quickly
separate the unctious and wheyey parts. In the Levant they tread upon
the skin with their feet, which produces the same effect.” The last
method of separating the butter from the milk, perhaps may throw light
upon a passage in Job of some difficulty: “When I washed my steps with
butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil,” Job xxxi, 6. The
method of making butter in the east illustrates the conduct of Jael, the
wife of Heber, described in the book of Judges: “And Sisera said unto
her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty:
and she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink and covered him.” In
the Song of Deborah, the statement is repeated: “He asked water, and she
gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish,” Judges iv,
19; v, 25. The word חמאה, which our translators rendered _butter_,
properly signifies _cream_; which is undoubtedly the meaning of it in
this passage: for Sisera complained of thirst, and asked a little water
to quench it;--a purpose to which butter is but little adapted. Mr.
Harmer, indeed, urges the same objection to cream, which, he contends,
few people would think a very proper beverage for one that was extremely
thirsty; and concludes that it must have been butter-milk which Jael,
who had just been churning, gave to Sisera. But the opinion of Dr.
Russel is preferable,--that the _hemah_ of the Scriptures is probably
the same as the _haymak_ of the Arabs, which is not, as Harmer supposed,
simple cream, but cream produced by simmering fresh sheep’s milk for
some hours over a slow fire. It could not be butter newly churned, which
Jael presented to Sisera, because the Arab butter is apt to be foul, and
is commonly passed through a strainer before it is used: and Russel
declares, he never saw butter offered to a stranger, but always
_haymak_; nor did he ever observe the orientals drink butter-milk, but
always _leban_, which is coagulated sour milk, diluted with water. It
was _leban_, therefore, which Pococke mistook for butter-milk, with
which the Arabs treated him in the Holy Land. A similar conclusion may
be drawn concerning the butter and milk which the wife of Heber
presented to Sisera: they were forced cream or _haymak_, and _leban_, or
coagulated sour milk, diluted with water, which is a common and
refreshing beverage in those sultry regions. In Isaiah vii, 15, butter
and honey are mentioned as food which, in Egypt and other places in the
east, is in use to this day. The butter and honey are mixed, and the
bread is then dipped in it.
the name of the bush in which God appeared to Moses. If it be the χιονὸς
mentioned by Dioscorides, it is the white thorn. Celsius calls it the
_rubus fructicosus_. The number of these bushes in this region seems to
have given the name to the mountain Sinai. The word נהללים, found only
in Isa. vii, 19, and there rendered “bushes,” means _fruitful pastures_.
BUTTER is taken in Scripture, as it has been almost perpetually in the
east, for cream or liquid butter, Prov. xxx, 33; 2 Sam. xvii, 29. The
ancient way of making butter in Arabia and Palestine was probably nearly
the same as is still practised by the Bedoween Arabs, and Moors in
Barbary, and which is thus described by Dr. Shaw: “Their method of
making butter is by putting the milk or cream into a goat’s skin turned
inside out, which they suspend from one side of the tent to the other;
and then pressing it to and fro in one uniform direction, they quickly
separate the unctious and wheyey parts. In the Levant they tread upon
the skin with their feet, which produces the same effect.” The last
method of separating the butter from the milk, perhaps may throw light
upon a passage in Job of some difficulty: “When I washed my steps with
butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil,” Job xxxi, 6. The
method of making butter in the east illustrates the conduct of Jael, the
wife of Heber, described in the book of Judges: “And Sisera said unto
her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty:
and she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink and covered him.” In
the Song of Deborah, the statement is repeated: “He asked water, and she
gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish,” Judges iv,
19; v, 25. The word חמאה, which our translators rendered _butter_,
properly signifies _cream_; which is undoubtedly the meaning of it in
this passage: for Sisera complained of thirst, and asked a little water
to quench it;--a purpose to which butter is but little adapted. Mr.
Harmer, indeed, urges the same objection to cream, which, he contends,
few people would think a very proper beverage for one that was extremely
thirsty; and concludes that it must have been butter-milk which Jael,
who had just been churning, gave to Sisera. But the opinion of Dr.
Russel is preferable,--that the _hemah_ of the Scriptures is probably
the same as the _haymak_ of the Arabs, which is not, as Harmer supposed,
simple cream, but cream produced by simmering fresh sheep’s milk for
some hours over a slow fire. It could not be butter newly churned, which
Jael presented to Sisera, because the Arab butter is apt to be foul, and
is commonly passed through a strainer before it is used: and Russel
declares, he never saw butter offered to a stranger, but always
_haymak_; nor did he ever observe the orientals drink butter-milk, but
always _leban_, which is coagulated sour milk, diluted with water. It
was _leban_, therefore, which Pococke mistook for butter-milk, with
which the Arabs treated him in the Holy Land. A similar conclusion may
be drawn concerning the butter and milk which the wife of Heber
presented to Sisera: they were forced cream or _haymak_, and _leban_, or
coagulated sour milk, diluted with water, which is a common and
refreshing beverage in those sultry regions. In Isaiah vii, 15, butter
and honey are mentioned as food which, in Egypt and other places in the
east, is in use to this day. The butter and honey are mixed, and the
bread is then dipped in it.