מְדֹכָה
me.do.khah (H4085)
mortar
AI Word Study
# Medokhah (מְדֹכָה): The Mortar The Hebrew word *medokhah* refers to a mortar—a vessel used for grinding or crushing substances. Based on the lexical data provided, this term appears only once in the biblical text, which limits our ability to determine its full semantic range or to observe how its usage might vary across different contexts. The single occurrence suggests that while mortars were functionally important in ancient Israelite daily life—used for preparing food, spices, or other materials—the biblical authors had limited occasion to reference this particular tool by name. The word's technical, concrete nature indicates it belonged to the vocabulary of domestic or culinary practice rather than theological or abstract discourse, which may explain its minimal presence in scripture. Without additional contextual examples from the biblical text itself, the significance of *medokhah* lies primarily in its straightforward denotation as a grinding vessel rather than in any metaphorical or symbolic dimension. The single attestation preserves evidence of ordinary material culture in ancient Israel but offers little basis for determining whether the term carried any special meaning or associations beyond its literal function.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil.