Basket
There are five different Hebrew words so rendered in the Authorized Version: (1.) A basket (Heb. sal, a twig or osier) for holding bread (Gen 40:16; Ex 29:3, Ex 29:23; Lev 8:2, Lev 8:26, Lev 8:31; Num 6:15, Num 6:17, Num 6:19). Sometimes baskets were made of twigs peeled; their manufacture was a recognized trade among the Hebrews.
(2.) That used (Heb. salsilloth’) in gathering grapes (Jer 6:9).
(3.) That in which the first fruits of the harvest were presented, Heb. tene, (Deut 26:2, Deut 26:4). It was also used for household purposes. In form it tapered downwards like that called corbis by the Romans.
(4.) A basket (Heb. kelub) having a lid, resembling a bird-cage. It was made of leaves or rushes. The name is also applied to fruit-baskets (Amos 8:1, Amos 8:2).
(5.) A basket (Heb. dud) for carrying figs (Jer 24:2), also clay to the brick-yard (R.V., Ps 81:6), and bulky articles (2 Kgs 10:7). This word is also rendered in the Authorized Version “kettle” (1 Sam 2:14), “caldron” (2 Chr 35:13), “seething-pot” (Job 41:20).
In the New Testament mention is made of the basket (Gr. kophinos, small “wicker-basket”) for the “fragments” in the miracle recorded Mark 6:43, and in that recorded Matt 15:37 (Gr. spuris, large “rope-basket”); also of the basket in which Paul escaped (Acts 9:25, Gr. spuris; 2 Cor 11:1–33: 33, Gr. sargane, “basket of plaited cords”).
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
