Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, December 25th, 2024
Christmas Day
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Bible Dictionaries
Pitch

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Pit
Next Entry
Pitcher
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

zepheth (from a root "to flow" ) in its liquid state; chemar (from a root "to bubble up") solid; kopher , as used in covering (from a root "to cover") woodwork, to make it watertight (Genesis 6:14); asphalt, bitumen. The town Ιs (Hit), eight days' journey from Babylon, supplied from springs the bitumen which was used as mortar in building that city (Genesis 11:3; Herodotus i. 179). Athenaeus (2:5) mentions a lake near Babylon abounding in bitumen which floated on the water. Bitumen pits are still found at Hit on the western bank of Euphrates; so tenacious is it "that it is almost impossible to detach one brick from another" (Layard, Nin. and Bab.). Asphalt is opaque, and inflammable, bubbling up liquid from subterranean fountains and hardening by exposure. Pitch or bitumen made the papyrus ark of Moses watertight (Exodus 2:3).

The Dead Sea was called Lacus Αsphaltites from the asphalt springs at its southern end, the vale of Siddim (Genesis 14:3; Genesis 14:10). The Salt Sea after Sodom's destruction spread over this vale. At the shallow southern end of the sea are the chief deposits of salt and bitumen. The asphalt crust on the bed of the lake is cast out by earthquakes and other causes (Josephus B. J. 4:8, section 4; Tac. Hist. 5:6). The inflammable pitch (Isaiah 34:9) on all the plain, ignited by the lightning, caused "the smoke of the country to go up as the smoke of a furnace" (Genesis 19:28). Κopher means also a "ransom" or "atonement" (Job 33:21 margin). As the pitch covered the ark from the overwhelming waters, so the atonement covers the believer in Jesus from the blood of God's wrath. Κippurim , "atonement" (Exodus 29:36; Leviticus 23:27), and kapporeth , "mercy-seat," the covering of the ark and the law inside it (Romans 3:25; Romans 10:4), are related.

Bibliography Information
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Pitch'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​fbd/​p/pitch.html. 1949.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile