Bible Dictionary
EARTHEN VESSELS
Earthen vessels were clay containers used for cooking, boiling, preserving documents, and carrying food. Scripture also uses them as symbols of human frailty and of destruction.
Definition
Earthen vessels are containers made of clay. Because they resist heat, they were used for cooking and boiling, and they could also hold food or preserve documents. Such vessels symbolize commonness, frailty, and destruction.
Biblical Usage
An earthen vessel preserved a land deed. The breaking of one symbolized the destruction of Jerusalem, and earthen vessels represented the commonness and frailty of human bodies.
Historical Background
The vessels were probably nonporous and served practical purposes in Palestine and Syria. Travelers could receive food together with the vessels needed to cook it, reflecting ordinary hospitality and domestic use.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>urth'-'-n, (cheres, yetser; ostrakinos):</p><p>These vessels were heat-resisting and were used for cooking and for boiling clothes (Le 6:28; 11:33; 14:5,50). They were probably non-porous and took the place of the kidri or ma'ajin used in Syria today. A traveler in the interior of Palestine may still meet with the hospitality showed to David (2Sa 17:28). The generous natives brought not only gifts of food but the necessary vessels in which to cook it. An earthen vessel was used to preserve a land deed (Jer 32:14).</p><p>Figurative: In Jer 19:1 breaking of an earthen vessel was symbolical of the destruction of Jerusalem. These vessels were also used to symbolize the commonness (La 4:2) and frailness of our bodies (2Co 4:7).</p><p>See POTTERY.</p><p>James A. Patch</p>