Flagon

Heb. ashishah, ( 2 Samuel 6:19 ; 1 Chronicles 16:3 ; Cant 2:5 ; Hosea 3:1 ), meaning properly "a cake of pressed raisins." "Flagons of wine" of the Authorized Version should be, as in the Revised Version, "cakes of raisins" in all these passages. In Isaiah 22:24 it is the rendering of the Hebrew nebel , which properly means a bottle or vessel of skin. (Compare 1 Samuel 1:24 ; 10:3 ; 25:18 ; 2 Sam 16:1 , where the same Hebrew word is used.)

Bottle; vessel.

Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love FLAGONS of wine. ( Hosea 3:1 )

a word employed in the Authorized Version to render two distinct Hebrew terms:

1. Ashishah , ( 2 Samuel 6:19 ; 1 Chronicles 16:3 ; Solomon 2:5 ; Hosea 3:1 ) It really means a cake of pressed raisins. Such cakes were considered as delicacies; they were also offered to idols.
2. Nebel , ( Isaiah 22:24 ) is commonly used for a bottle or vessel, originally probably a skin, but in later times a piece of pottery. ( Isaiah 30:14 )

FLAGON

flag'-un:

The translation of 'ashishah, in the King James Version in 2 Samuel 6:19; 1 Chronicles 16:3; Song of Solomon 2:5; Hosea 3:1. In all, these passages the Revised Version (British and American) reads "cake of raisins" or "raisins." It was probably a pressed raisin cake. the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) read "flagons," in Isaiah 22:24 as a rendering of nebhalim, which is elsewhere (1 Samuel 1:24; 10:3; 2 Samuel 16:1, etc.) rendered "bottles," the Revised Version, margin "skins." These were the bags or bottles made of the whole skin of a kid, goat or other animal. the Revised Version (British and American) has "flagons" in Exodus 25:29 and 37:16 as translation of qeshawoth, a golden jug or jar used in the tabernacle from which the drink offerings were poured out. The same word is translated "cups" in Numbers 4:7.

George Rice Hovey