Topic
Plaster (1)
3 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Leviticus 14:42ISBE
And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.
- Deuteronomy 27:2ISBE
And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister:
- Daniel 5:5ISBE
¶ In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 4 references
plas'-ter (sidh): In Egypt, now as in ancient times, the buildings are plastered inside and out. The poor quality of the stone commonly used makes this necessary if a smooth attractive surface is desired. Among the poorer classes, clay mixed with straw is used. In Palestine and Syria, where there is a rainy season, the coating on the outside walls, if made of clay, must be frequently renewed. In Egypt burnt gypsum, and in Palestine and Syria burnt limestone (lime) are the commonest materials for making mortar. For the first coat of plastering the lime is mixed with "fat" red sand or with the ash from the bathhouse fires, and the finishing coat is composed of white sand and slaked lime with or without chopped flax straw. The plaster on some of the ancient Egyptian ruins seems to indicate that milk or some similar substance was added to the mortar to give a better surface.
The ancients preferred plastered surfaces for decorating, and even the finest granite was covered with stucco on which to paint or carve the decorations (De 27:2; Da 5:5). Columns were often first stuccoed and then painted.
The Arabic word for mortar is Tin, which really means "clay." The Hebrew sidh, literally, "to boil up," refers to the boiling of the water with which the lime is slaked, because of the heat generated during the slaking process. In Da 5:5 occurs gir, i.e. "burned in a kiln," which might mean either lime or gypsum. In Le 14:42 occurs Tuach, "to smear."
James A. Patch
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.