Heb. tannur, ( Hosea 7:4 ). In towns there appear to have been public ovens. There was a street in Jerusalem ( Jeremiah 37:21 ) called "bakers' street" (the only case in which the name of a street in Jerusalem is preserved). The words "tower of the furnaces" ( Nehemiah 3:11 ; 12:38 ) is more properly "tower of the ovens" (Heb. tannurim). These resemble the ovens in use among ourselves.
There were other private ovens of different kinds. Some were like large jars made of earthenware or copper, which were heated inside with wood ( 1 Kings 17:12 ; Isaiah 44:15 ; Jeremiah 7:18 ) or grass ( Matthew 6:30 ), and when the fire had burned out, small pieces of dough were placed inside or spread in thin layers on the outside, and were thus baked. (See FURNACE .)
Pits were also formed for the same purposes, and lined with cement. These were used after the same manner.
Heated stones, or sand heated by a fire heaped over it, and also flat irons pans, all served as ovens for the preparation of bread. (See Genesis 18:6 ; 1 Kings 19:6 .)
The eastern oven is of two kinds --fixed and portable. The former is found only in towns, where regular bakers are employed. ( Hosea 7:4 ) The latter ia adapted to the nomad state, it consists of a large jar made of clay, about three feet high and widening toward the bottom, with a hole for the extraction of the ashes. Each household possessed such an article, ( Exodus 8:3 ) and it was only in times of extreme dearth that the same oven sufficed for several families. ( Leviticus 26:26 ) It was heated with dry twigs and grass, ( Matthew 6:30 ) and the loaves were placed both inside and outside of it.
OVEN
uv'-'-n.
See BREAD; FURNACE.
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