the Week of Proper 27 / Ordinary 32
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Bible Dictionaries
Pitcher
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or PITCHER (κεράμιον).—An earthenware jar with one or two handles, used chiefly by women for carrying water (Genesis 24:15, Judges 7:16, כֵּד; Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 and Authorized Version ‘pitcher’). The only occurrence of the word in the Gospels is in Mark 14:13 || Luke 22:10, in the directions given by our Lord for securing a room for the Paschal meal. It has been alleged (Speak. Com. Luke 22:10 note) that the sign of the pitcher was not so accidental as it appears. ‘According to Jewish usage, on the evening of the 13th [of the month Nisan], before the stars appeared in heaven, every father of a family was to go to the well to draw pure water, with which the unleavened bread was kneaded. It was a real rite which they performed.…’ But apart altogether from the chronological inaccuracy,—the disciples must have entered Jerusalem early in the day (Mark 14:17, Matthew 26:20),—this statement is not confirmed by Mark 14:14 and Luke 22:11, from which it may be inferred that the head of the house, who has been identified in turn with John Mark, Joseph of Arimathaea, and Nicodemus, is not the bearer of the pitcher.
There is, however, presumptive evidence that the pitcher was being used in the preparation of the unleavened bread, the making of which, together with the putting away of leaven from the houses, was part of the work in which many hundreds in Jerusalem (Josephus BJ vi. ix. 3) must have been employed on that day; but the demand for water for ordinary purposes alone will suggest the inference that in a city whose population was so enormously increased, the pitcher borne by this slave could pot be distinctive.
Whatever the probability of recognizing or of not recognizing the sign, the most important feature of the whole incident remains unaffected. For all time the pitcher will be a sign not of the need for secrecy and sealed orders, nor even of the prescience of Christ, though that is abundantly proved, but rather of the faith of the two disciples. Here also is presented a beautiful illustration of the co-operation of the human will with the Divine, the overruling of common events for Divine ends, a demonstration of the power that is laid under service to faith. Blessing in the ordinary affairs of life, as in the greatest crises of the soul, is attainable only by implicit and unquestioning confidence in the Master mind.
Literature.—Art. ‘Pitcher’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible ; S. Cox, Expositions, iv. 321; the Commentaries on the Gospels, ad locc.; the various Lives of Christ.
Alex. A. Duncan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Pitcher'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/pitcher.html. 1906-1918.
