Fire Pans in the Bible and Archaeology

[1] See HALOT, חתה.

[2] See also, Isaiah 30:14; Proverbs 25:22; Psalms 52:7.

[3] This article is based on Raz Kletter and Irit Ziffer, “Incense-Burning Rituals: From Philistine Fire Pans at Yavneh to the Improper Fire of Korah,” IEJ 60 (2010): 166–187; and Raz Kletter and Irit Ziffer, “The Yavneh Fire Pans and the Biblical maḥtāh,” in, Yavneh II: The Excavation of the “Temple Hill” Repository Pit, ed. Raz Kletter Irit Ziffer, and Wolfgang Zwickel; OBO AS 36 (Fribourg and Göttingen: Academic Press and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2015), 1–21.

[4] See also Exod 37:23 and Num 4:9.

[5] Paul Heger, The Development of Incense Cult in Israel, BZAW 245 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1997): 176 [n. 6]; Victor A. Hurowitz, “Solomon’s Golden Vessels and the Cult of the First Temple,” in, Pomegranates and Golden Bells. Studies in Biblical, Jewish and Near Eastern Ritual, Law and Literature in Honor of Jacob Milgrom (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 151–164.  

[6] See also Exod 38:3; Num 4:14. 

[7] Cornelis Houtman, Exodus: Chapters 20–40, vol. 3, Historical Commentary on the Old Testament (Leuven: Peeters, 2000), 441–451; Beno Jacob, The Second Book of the Bible: Exodus (New Jersey: Ktav, 1992), 800–805; Paul Heger, The Three Biblical Altar Laws: Developments in the Sacrificial Cult in Practice and Theology. Political and Economic Background, BZAW 279 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999), 171–281; Martin Noth, Numbers. A Commentary, trans., James D. Martin, Old Testament Library (London: S.C.M. Press, 1968), 41–43; translation of: Das vierte Buch Mose, Numeri (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966); Jacob Milgrom, Numbers, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: JPS, 1990), 27.

[8] The Mishnah is also aware of fire pans made of clay used by lay people (m. Kelim 2:3; m. Berakhot 6, 6; t. Shabbat 1, 23).

[9] Another, later rabbinic source (Numbers Rabbah 4:16), seems to imagine a fire pan placed on top of the incense altar into which the burning coals and incense would be places:

מה היו כליו כף ומחתה כף לקטורת סמים ומחתה להכניס בה גחלים היה מניח המחתה של גחלים על גבי המזבח ומערה הקטורת שבכף לתוכה על גבי הגחלים…

What were its accoutrements? Spoon and fire pan. The spoon for the incense and the fire pan into which the coals would be places. He would leave the fire pan of coals on top of the altar, and pour the incense from the spoon inside it, upon the [hot] coals…

Even though the function here seems different (though see ibn Ezra’s interpretation of the lamp’s fire pans mentioned above), Numbers Rabbah is still imagining something physically similar to the biblical fire pan, i.e., an open-topped flat object.

[10] It would seem that the smoke from the holy fire ensures that the high priest does not accidentally see what he is not supposed to see, perhaps YHWH himself, and die as a consequence.

[11] Editor’s note: For more on this story and their sin, see Ed Greenstein, “The Incident of Nadav and Avihu: A Mysterious Transgression or a Mysterious Deity?” TheTorah.com (2014); James Diamond, “How Was God Sanctified through Nadav and Avihu’s Death?” TheTorah.com (2016); David Frankel, “‘That Is What YHWH Said’: Moses Interprets Nadav and Avihu’s Death,” TheTorah.com (2018).

[12] Some believe this story to be a late addition to P’s core text. See, Heger, The Development of Incense Cult in Israel, 68, 71; Jacob, The Second Book of the Bible, 901; Reinhard Achenbach, “Das Versagen der Aaroniden: Erwägungen zum literarhistorischen Ort von Leviticus 10,” in Basel und Bibel: Collected Communications to the XVIIth Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, ed., Matthias Augustin, and Herrmann M. Niemann (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2004), 55–70; Christoph Nihan, From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch. A Study in the Composition of the Book of Leviticus, FAT 2.25 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), 150.

[13] The story of Korah’s rebellion is complicated as it contains multiple layers of redaction. First, as noted by almost all source critics, the text as we have it splices together a story about the complaint of Datan and Abiram from a Non-Priestly sources, and the challenge of the 250 elders from the Priestly source. In addition to this, some scholars, such as Israel Knohl and David Frankel, see Korah himself as a redactional character. For various models reconstructing the composition of Numbers 16, see “Korah, Datan and Abiram: A Case Study For The Methods of Academic Biblical Studies,” TheTorah.com (2013).

[14] On lifting up cultic offerings see Jacob Milgrom, “The Alleged Wave Offering in Israel and in the Ancient Near-East,” in Studies in Cultic Theology and Terminology (Leiden: Brill, 1983), 133–138; Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World. Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 331, Fig. 442.

[15] Martin Noth sees this as a very late addition to the story. See Noth, Numbers, 118–130; cf. Nihan, From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch; Thomas C. Römer, “Israel’s Sojourn in the Wilderness and the Construction of the Book of Numbers,” in Reflection and Refraction. Studies in Biblical Historiography in Honour of A. Graeme Auld, ed. Robert Rezetko and Timothy H. Lim (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 419–445; David Frankel, “Why the Fire Pans Were Used to Plate the Altar,” TheTorah.com (2018).

[16] Noth (Numbers) sees this as a late addition to the story as well, but earlier than the addition of the fire pans as plating account.

[17] As it can be difficult to assess purpose/s of vessels found in archaeology, scholars use many terms (incense burners, shovels, censers, braziers, lamps, scoops, chafing pans, scuttles…).

[18] Avraham Biran, דן: 25 שנות חפירות בתל דן [Dan: 25 Years of Excavation] (Tel Aviv: HaKibbutz HaMeuchad, 1992), 178–180; Hans-Günter Buchholz, “Sakralschauffeln im antiken Zypern,” Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (1994): 129-154 [150]; Wolfgang Zwickel, Räucherkult und Räuchergeräte: Exegetische und archäologische Studien zum Räucheropfer im Alten Testament. (Fribourg: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990), 161–166; Jonathan S. Greer, “An Israelite Mizrâq at Tel Dan?” BASOR 358 (2010): 38–40.

[19] Hara S. Georgiou, Keos VI. Aya Irini: Specialized Domestic and Industrial Pottery (Mainz: Von Zabern, 1986) 28; Fig. 1.13.

[20] They are too small to be braziers or portable ovens and are not lamps (the discoloration inside does not fit lamps.

[21] Buchholz, “Sakralschauffeln.”

[22] For Pylos: Michael Ventris, and John Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), 337 no. 237; Thomas G. Palaima, “Sacrificial Feasting in Linear B Documents,” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 73.2 [special edition, The Mycenaean Feast: An Introduction, ed. James C. Wright] (2004), 217-246; For Thera: Christos Doumas, The Wall-paintings of Thera. (Athens: The Thera Foundation-Petros M. Nomikos, 1992), Pls. 24–25; Christos Boulotis, “Aspects of Religious Expression at Akrotiri,” ΑΛΣ 3 (2005): 20–75 [53, 65].

[23] For the ancient form of genizah see Kletter, Yavneh I, 199–206; and recently Nicole Strassburger, Heilige Abfallgruben. Favissae und Kultdeposite in Israel/Palästina von der Spätbronzezeit bis zur Perserzeit, Ägypten und Altes Testament 92 (Münster: Zaphon Press, 2018).

[24] Sara Ben-Arieh, “Temple Furniture from a Favissa at ‘En Hazeva,” ‘Atiqot 68 (2011): 107–175 [Nos. 56–57].

[25] This fits with what was found regarding the Aegean Bronze Age fire pans which resemble Minoan and Mycenaean lamps, and the Archaic-Classical Cypriot fire pans, which are similar to “Punic” lamps with two nozzles.

[26] Rachel Hachlili, Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the land of Israel (Leiden: Brill, 1988), 172, 355.

[27] Scholars debate whether they were functional or only symbolic. Zeev Weiss, The Sepphoris Synagogue. Deciphering an Ancient Massage through its Archaeological and Socio-Historical Contexts (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2005), 68, 73; Richard A. Freund, “The Fire Pan of Bethsaida and Synagogue Iconography in Late Antiquity,” in, Bethsaida: A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, vol. 2, ed., Rami Arav, and Richard A. Freund (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 1999), 414–422; Leonard V. Rutgers, “Incense Shovels at Sepphoris?” in, Galilee through the Centuries, ed., Eric M. Meyers (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 177–198; Eric M. Meyers, “The Ceramic Fire Pans from Sepphoris: Another View,” in, “I Will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times”: Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar, ed., Aren M. Maeir and Pierre de-Miroschedji (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2006) 865–876; Eric M. Meyers and Carol M. Meyers, Sepphoris I: The Pottery (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2013); Yigal Yadin, The Finds from the Bar-Kokhba Period in the Cave of Letters (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1963), 18–22, 44–45.

[28] See discussion in Yehoshua Brand, כלי החרס בספרות התלמוד [Ceramics in Talmudic Literature] (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1953), 285–293; Freund, “The Fire Pan of Bethsaida and Synagogue Iconography in Late Antiquity,” 436–437; Rutgers, “Incense Shovels at Sepphoris?”, 189–190.

[29] In the Roman and Byzantine periods, maḥtot were used by gentiles and Jews alike in “secular” occasions – after meals, when concluding deals, or in funerary contexts.

[30] Lihi Habas, “Donations and Donors as Reflected in the Mosaic Pavements of Transjordan Churches in the Byzantine and Umayyad Periods,” in: Between Judaism and Christianity. Art Historical Essays in Honor of Elisheva (Elisabeth) Revel-Neher, ed., Katrin Kogman-Appel and Mati Meyer (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 73–90 (84); Elisheva Reval-Neher, “From Dream to Reality: Evolution and Continuity in Jewish Art,” in, From Dura to Sepphoris. Studies in Jewish Art and Society in Late Antiquity, Lee I. Levine and Zeev Weiss; Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 40 (Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2000), 53–63 [57–61]; Itamar Taxel and Mark Iserlis, “Two-part ceramic incense burners in Late Roman and Byzantine Palestine: Technological, Regional and Ethno-Religious Aspects,” in, Roman Pottery in the Near East: Local Production and Regional Trade: Proceedings of the round table held in Berlin, 19-20 February 2010, ed., Bettina Fischer-Genz, Yvonne Gerber, Hanna Hamel, Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean Pottery 3 (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2014), 159–169.