Reference: Basket
Easton
There are five different Hebrew words so rendered in the Authorized Version: (1.) A basket (Heb. sal, a twig or osier) for holding bread (Ge 40:16; Ex 29:3,23; Le 8:2,26,31; Nu 6:15,17,19). 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, (De 26:2,4). 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 (Am 8:1-2).
(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 (2Ki 10:7). This word is also rendered in the Authorized Version "kettle" (1Sa 2:14), "caldron" (2Ch 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 Mr 6:43, and in that recorded Mt 15:37 (Gr. spuris, large "rope-basket"); also of the basket in which Paul escaped (Ac 9:25, Gr. spuris; 2Co 11:33, Gr. sargane, "basket of plaited cords").
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Fausets
Ge 40:16; "I had three white (margin 'full of holes,' i.e. of open work, or rather 'baskets of white bread') baskets on my head." The Bible accurately represents Egyptian custom (Herodotus, 2:35), whereby men carried burdens on the head, women on the shoulders. In the distinct miracles of feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000 the KJV uses the stone term "baskets" for distinct Greek words. In Mt 14:20; Mr 6:43; Lu 9:17; Joh 6:13, the disciples took up twelve kophinoi of fragments at the feeding of the 5,000. In feeding the 4,000 with seven loaves recorded by two evangelists, the disciples took up seven spurides (Mt 15:37; Mr 8:8). Now kofinoi is always used by the evangelists when the miracle of the 5,000 is spoken of, spurides when that of the 4,000 is spoken of.
Thus also in referring back to the miracle (Mt 16:9-10) Jesus says: "Do ye not ... remember the five loaves of the 5,000, and how many kofinoi) ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the 4,000, and how many spurides) ye took up?" That the spurides) were of large size appears from Paul's having been let down in one from the wall (Ac 9:25). The kofinoi being twelve probably answers to the twelve disciples, a provision basket for each, and so are likely to have been smaller. The accurate distinction in the use of the terms so invariably made in the record of the miracles marks both events as real and distinct, not, as rationalists have guessed, different versions of one miracle.
The coincidence is so undesigned that it escaped our translators altogether; it therefore can only be the result of genuineness and truth in the different evangelists' accounts. In traveling through Samaria or Gentile regions the Jews used kofinoi, not to be defiled by eating Gentile unclean foods. Smith's Bible Dictionary wrongly makes the kofinos larger than the spuris.
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Hastings
The names of a round score of baskets in use in NT times are known from the Mishna (see Krengel, Das Hausger
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Morish
Various Hebrew words are translated 'basket,' and doubtless the size, shape and strength varied according to the purpose for which they were intended. In the N.T. there are three Greek words used: ???????, 'a hamper,' in which Paul was let down by the wall, 2Co 11:33, though for the same occurrence another word is used in Ac 9:25, ??????, which also signifies 'a hamper,' and is used for the seven baskets of fragments remaining after the four thousand were fed. Mt 15:37; 16:10; Mr 8:8,Mr 8:20. When the five thousand were fed there were twelve baskets of fragments, but it was then the ???????, 'a hand basket.' Mt 14:20; 16:9; Mr 6:43; 8:19; Lu 9:17; Joh 6:13. The two perfect numbers seven and twelve show the inexhaustible supply the Lord furnishes when His purpose is to bless His own.
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Smith
Basket.
The Hebrew terms used in the description of this article are as follows: (1) Sal, so called from the twigs of which it was originally made, specially used for holding bread.
ff.
Ex 29:3,23; Le 8:2,26,31; Nu 6:15,17,19
(2) Salsilloth, a word of kindred origin, applied to the basket used in gathering grapes.
(3) Tene, in which the first-fruits of the harvest were presented.
De 26:2,4
(4) Celub, so called from its similarity to a bird-cage. (5) Dud, used for carrying fruit,
as well as on a larger scale for carrying clay to the brick-yard,
(pots, Authorized Version), or for holding bulky articles.
In the New Testament baskets are described under three different terms.