Pan

Pan [EBD]

a vessel of metal or earthenware used in culinary operations; a cooking-pan or frying-pan frequently referred to in the Old Testament (Lev. 2:5; 6:21; Num. 11:8; 1 Sam. 2:14, etc.).

The "ash-pans" mentioned in Ex. 27:3 were made of copper, and were used in connection with the altar of burnt-offering. The "iron pan" mentioned in Ezek. 4:3 (marg., "flat plate " or "slice") was probably a mere plate of iron used for baking. The "fire-pans" of Ex. 27:3 were fire-shovels used for taking up coals. The same Hebrew word is rendered "snuff-dishes" (25:38; 37:23) and "censers" (Lev. 10:1; 16:12; Num. 4:14, etc.). These were probably simply metal vessels employed for carrying burning embers from the brazen altar to the altar of incense.

The "frying-pan" mentioned in Lev. 2:7; 7:9 was a pot for boiling.

PAN [SMITH]

Of the six words so rendered in the Authorized Version, two seem to imply a shallow pan or plate, such as is used by the Bedouine and Syrians for baking or dressing rapidly their cakes of meal, such as were used in legal oblations; the others, a deeper vessel or caldron for boiling meat, placed during the process on three stones.

PAN [ISBE]

PAN - Name of a utensil used in the preparation or the serving of food, and representing several words in the original. Passing over the use of the word in connections like 1 Ch 9:31, "things baked in pans," where the Hebrew word chabhittim refers, not to the pan itself, but to the cakes baked in the flat pan or griddle which was called machabhath (see below), and the "firepans" (machtah) (Ex 27:3; 1 Ki 7:50, etc.) which seem to have been used to carry burning coals, we note the following words:

(1) machabhath, "pan" the King James Version, "baking-pan" the Revised Version (British and American), a dish of uncertain shape and size which was used in the preparation of the minchah or vegetable offering. See Lev 2:5; 6:21; 7:9; 1 Ch 23:29. On the basis of Ezek 4:3 it might be assumed that the pan was rectangular in shape and of good size.

(2) kiyyor, rendered "pan" in 1 Sam 2:14. The same word is used in the phrase, "pan of fire" the Revised Version (British and American), "hearth of fire" the King James Version (Zec 12:6); and it is also translated "laver" in the descriptions of the furnishing of tabernacle and temple (Ex 30:18; 1 Ki 7:30, etc.). As it held water and was used for boiling meat and the like, it must have been a kind of pot or kettle.

(3) masreth, (2 Sam 15:9). The connection gives no clue as to shape or size except that it must have been small enough to serve food in, and of the proper shape to hold a substance which could be poured out. Some authorities suggest a connection with the root se'or, "leaven," and think that this pan was like the kneading-trough in shape.

(4) sir, rendered "pan" in Ex 27:3 the King James Version, "pot" the Revised Version (British and American).

See POT.

(5) parur, "pan" in Nu 11:8 the King James Version, "pot" the Revised Version (British and American).

See POT.

(6) celachah (2 Ch 35:13). Some kind of dish or pot. Slightly different forms of the same root are rendered "cruse" (2 Ki 2:20 (tselochith), "dish" (2 Ki 21:13 (tsallachath); and also in the Revised Version (British and American) in Prov 19:24; 26:15, instead of the probably incorrect "bosom" of the King James Version.

(7) lebes translated "pan" in 1 Esdras 1:12 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "cauldron").

(8) teganon, 2 Macc 7:3,5, with the verb teganizo, 7:5, is the usual Greek word for "frying-pan," but here a large sheet of metal must be meant (compare 4 Macc 8:13; 12:10,20).

LITERATURE.

Whitehouse, Primer of Hebrew Antiquities, 76, 77; Benzinger, Hebraische Archaologie, 70, 71; Nowack, Hebraische Archdologie, I, 144.

Walter R. Betteridge