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Bible Dictionaries
Butter
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
or The Hebrew word usually rendered butter denotes, properly, sour or curdled milk, Genesis 18:8; Judges 5:25; Job 20:17 . This last is a favorite beverage in the East to the present day. Burckhardt, when crossing the desert from the country south of the Dead sea to Egypt, says, "Besides flour, I carried some butter and dried leben, (sour milk,) which, when dissolved in water, not only forms a refreshing beverage, but is much to be recommended as a preservative of health when travelling in summer." Yet butter may have been known to the Hebrews. It is much used by the Arabs and Syrians at the present day, and is made by pouring the milk into the common goatskin bottle, suspending this from the tent-poles, and swinging it to and fro with a jerk, until the process is completed. Still it is not certain that the Hebrew word rendered butter ever denotes that article. Even in Proverbs 30:33 we may render, "The pressing of milk bringeth forth cheese;" and everywhere else the rendering "curd," or "curdled milk," would be appropriate.
These files are public domain and are a derivative of the topics are from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary published in 1859.
Rand, W. W. Entry for 'Butter'. American Tract Society Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ats/b/butter.html. 1859.
