Bible Dictionary
Beans
Beans were a common food in the ancient Near East and were eaten with other vegetables, oil, or meat. They were brought as provisions to David and included in Ezekiel’s unusual bread mixture.
Definition
Beans were a common and ancient food, probably including the horsebean. They could be eaten while unripe, cooked with oil and meat, or prepared with other foods. Beans were also used as part of an unusual bread mixture.
Biblical Usage
Beans were brought to David when he fled from Absalom. Ezekiel was commanded to include them with other ingredients in making bread.
Historical Background
Beans were cultivated in Palestine, Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. They were sown in autumn, harvested after the cereals, and threshed and winnowed like grain.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Mentioned in 2 Sam. 17:28 as having been brought to David when flying from Absalom. They formed a constituent in the bread Ezekiel (4:9) was commanded to make, as they were in general much used as an article of diet. They are extensively cultivated in Egypt and Arabia and Syria.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(2 Samuel 17:28; Ezekiel 4:9) Beans are cultivated in Palestine, which produces many of the leguminous order of plants, such, as lentils, kidney-beans, vetches, etc.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>benz (pol; Arabic ful): A very common product of Palestine; a valuable and very ancient article of diet. The Bible references are probably to the Faba vulgaris (N. D. Leguminosae) or horsebean. This is sown in the autumn; is in full flower--filling the air with sweet perfume--in the early spring; and is harvested just after the barley and wheat. The bundles of black bean stalks, plucked up by the roots and piled up beside the newly winnowed barley, form a characteristic feature on many village threshing-floors. Beans are threshed and winnowed like the cereals. Beans are eaten entire, with the pod, in the unripe state, but to a greater extent the hard beans are cooked with oil and meat.</p><p>In Eze 4:9, beans are mentioned with other articles as an unusual source of bread and in 2Sa 17:28 David receives from certain staunch friends of his at Mahanaim a present, which included "beans, and lentils, and parched pulse."</p><p>E. W. G. Masterman</p>