Kneading Trough
Summary
A vessel used for mixing and fermenting bread dough, mentioned in connection with the plagues of Egypt and the Exodus.
☩Description
The kneading trough was the vessel in which bread ingredients were mixed and left to ferment after leavening. The Hebrew word mishereth comes from a root suggesting fermentation. Unlike modern kneading troughs, ancient Near Eastern versions were typically small wooden bowls, since each family baked only enough for a single day. The Bedouin Arabs used leather bags that could be drawn up by a running cord. The kneading troughs used by the Israelites in Egypt were likely small enough to be carried on their shoulders when wrapped in their cloaks.
☩In the Plagues and Exodus
Kneading troughs appear twice in the Exodus narrative. During the plague of frogs, the creatures invaded everywhere, including the kneading troughs, contaminating the food preparation (Exodus 8:3). More significantly, when the Israelites fled Egypt, they took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading troughs bound up in their clothes on their shoulders (Exodus 12:34). This hasty departure, with unleavened dough, became the basis for the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorating their deliverance.
☩In Covenant Blessings and Curses
Moses included the kneading trough in the covenant blessings and curses. Obedience would bring blessing on the kneading trough (Deuteronomy 28:5), meaning abundance of bread, while disobedience would bring cursing on it (Deuteronomy 28:17), meaning scarcity and want. The kneading trough thus represented daily sustenance and the household's basic provision.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Kneading - Trough," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.American Tract Society, "Kneading-Troughs," in American Tract Society Bible Dictionary (American Tract Society, 1859).
- 3.Matthew George Easton, "Kneading-trough," in Easton's Bible Dictionary (T. Nelson and Sons, 1897).