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.
From the co-author of the classic Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, Fausset's Bible Dictionary stands as one of the best single-volume Bible encyclopedias ever written for general use. The author's writing style is always clear and concise, and he tackles issues important to the average student of the Bible, not just the Biblical scholars. This makes Fausset an excellent tool for both everyday Bible study and in-depth lesson or sermon preparation.Wikipedia
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