Bible Women and Salt

Today we come to the end of our overview of some of the ingredients Bible women had and used, based on stories and recipes from my book A Sampler of Bible Beauty. Maybe you’ve tried one or two of the recipes over the past several weeks. Perhaps you’ve reached out to someone impacted by the COVID19 pandemic, and likely you’ve felt the impact as well.

The final ingredients we’re looking at is salt. Salt is an important addition, not just for flavoring, but for curing foods. Salt was such an important commodity in the ancient world that it was used as a form of currency. Areas with salt deposits became wealthy. Excavations at places like Halstatt in Austria have had salt mines for millennia. Many scholars think that the earliest miners were Celts. Although Roman writers portrayed the Celtic peoples as barbarian, archeology has determined that they, in fact, had a very sophisticated society. 

Salt in ancient Israel probably came from the Dead Sea area, rather than Halstatt. Salt is mentioned in the Bible in relation to many things. Mosaic law commands, every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt (Lev. 2:13). A famous reference to salt is the story of Lot’s wife, who looked back at Sodom and turned into a pillar of salt. (Gen. 19:26). I used that story in A Sampler of Bible Beauty.

Infants were rubbed with salt when they were born as noted in Ezekiel 16:4. As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. The prophet is comparing Jerusalem to a child who was not treated in this way because she was illegitimate.

Conquerors sometimes devastated an area by plowing in salt so that nothing would grow. This is mentioned in Judges 9:45 when Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed the people who were in it; and he demolished the city and sowed it with salt.

Animals and humans need salt in their diet. Perhaps women noticed animals licking at certain spots and began to collect some of the salt to use when they were not close to a salt lick. Salt was, of course, used as flavoring. Job asks Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? (Job 6:6) Fish and other meat were preserved by layering in salt. Meat layered in salt dried more quickly than when it was just left to air dry.

Salt is a synonym for wisdom, too. Jesus notes, Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? (Mark 9:50 and Luke 14:34) In the Letter to the Colossians, Paul counsels, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (Colossians 4:6)

When Jesus talks about saltiness, he isn’t just talking about flavoring, he is talking about the stone used under the fire to keep it hot (something I learned just recently!). A salt block in the fire retained the heat, just like we are supposed to retain and share the love of God.

In the Gospels Jesus adds, Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another. Commentators note that this conversation follows after Jesus tells his disciples some of the costs of following him. In Mark, he talks about cutting off an offending body part (Mark 8:42-48) rather than going to the fires of hell. In Luke, he urges followers to count the cost and not be like the builder who couldn’t finish, or the king going to war (Luke 14:25-33)

What do these warnings, and the call to be salt say to you in this time when it can feel like all stability has been rocked and shaken off the foundations?

If we are to be, as Jesus says, the salt of the world, what can we do during this COVID-tide (a phrase coined by Bishop Mark VanKoevering of the Diocese of Lexington) to be salt in the world?

Just for fun, you might want to try one of these recipes. Perhaps you can gift them to someone—being careful to social distance! 


Deborah’s Salt Glow
2 tablespoons table salt
1 tablespoon oil

Mix into a paste, massage into face and neck. Avoid sensitive or irritated areas. Rinse in a warm (not hot) water. You can also use this on rough parts of your body like elbows.

Peninnah’s Easy Pickles

A fast fresh pickle can be made by marinating beet or cucumber slices in vinegar, salt and seasonings a couple hours or overnight.  


More recipes and stories of women of the Bible are found in A Sampler of Bible Beauty by CynthiaDavis. Next Sunday is Pentecost. During the season of Pentecost, we'll be considering Ecclesiastes 3--the famous citation about 'a time for everything'. 

Bible Women and Honey

Last week we considered the uses of fruit, fresh and dried, as well as nuts in the diets of Bible women. We’ve also seen that grains and milk were important staples from the very earliest times. In our own restricted time, we’ve seen that these ancient women can give us insight into using what we have available to be creative. We’ve noticed that God is present in and through the products that were grown and gathered. Early people saw God in all aspects of life.

As we continue looking at the lives of these women, we remember that they didn’t have the benefits we have, even though we may be in self-isolation. It probably doesn’t ease the frustration and stress of weeks of staying at home. However, we can learn to look for God, even in our homes.

This week we look at honey. It was an important food item, and not just because it was a natural sweetener. Honey also has antiseptic value, and because it never goes bad, it was prized. Some cultures even believed it had sacred qualities because it didn't spoil. Some people say that using honey made by bees in your area can help with allergies. Did you know-if the honey in your cupboard crystalizes, that doesn’t mean it needs to be thrown away. Just put the container in a cup of hot water until the honey dissolves.

In the book A Sampler of Bible Beauty, I use the story of Samson in Judges 13-15 to introduce honey. Samson finds a honeycomb in the carcass of a lion and uses that to formulate a riddle for the men of Timnah when he marries one of their women. Samson said to them, ‘Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.’ So they said to him, ‘Ask your riddle; let us hear it.’ He said to them, ‘Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.’ (Judges 14:12-14)

The men of the town cheat by getting Samson’s new bride to wheedle the answer out of him. The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, ‘What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?’ And he said to them, ‘If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.’ (Judges 14:18)

References to honey are found throughout the Bible. In the book of Genesis, Jacob sends honey with his sons to appease the ruler of Egypt (not knowing it is his son Joseph). Take some of the best fruits of the land…a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. (Gen. 43:11). Manna is compared in taste to wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31).

Honey was known to be a good food and to give energy. Jonathan tells the soldiers with him My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. (1 Samuel 14:29). In the New Testament, John the Baptist was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. (Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6)

Psalm 119:103 rejoices, How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! In Ezekiel, the prophet is given a scroll by an angel who said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you." So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness. (Ezekiel 3:3) This is similar to the “little book” the angel gives John in Revelation (10:9-10).

Honey, although tricky to harvest because bees don’t like to give up their work, was useful for sweetening dishes and the natural astringent quality was good on the face. No wonder the Psalmist compared it to God's word. 
It is amazing that bees can gather the nectar from flowers and convert it into the sweet syrupy goodness that is honey. Perhaps there is a lesson there-when we share the sweet bits of our day-to-day lives with he 'hive' of our extended communities, good can multiply. Think of creative ways you might do that, even while self-isolating.      

Is there a way you can bring sweetness to another person’s life? Perhaps with a phone call or a card. Sunday is Mother’s Day. What are you doing special for your mom? Maybe it’s a virtual wave or hug via Facebook. What are some of your ideas? Maybe make one of these recipes or one from an earlier post. Making granola is wonderfully simple and the end result is nutritious.

Bathshua’s Breath Freshener

1 teaspoon honey
Dusting of cinnamon
½ cup warm water

Mix together and gargle with the mixture.

Gomer’s Granola

3 cups rolled oats (whole, not instant)
1 cup toasted nuts (almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pecans)
½ cup sunflower seeds (or Toasted squash or pumpkin seeds)
¼ cup oil
½ cup honey
½--1 cup dried fruit (cranberry, raisin, apples cubes, apricots, cherries, craisins)

Stir all ingredients, except fruit, together. Spread on a big flat cookie sheet or baking pan with a rim. Bake at 300^o for 1/2 hour, stirring every 10 minutes so it doesn’t clump, until golden brown. Cool slightly and stir in fruit. Stir a couple of times as it cools.

You can stir in a nut butter (peanut or almond) to make a sticky dough which can be formed into granola bars, if you prefer.

More recipes and stories of women of the Bible are found in A Sampler of Bible Beauty by CynthiaDavis.  

Bible Women and Fruits

How are you doing in self-isolation and social distancing? We all hope to be able to move more freely in the not too distant future. Some of us are even emerging from our homes as stay-at-home orders relax. Others of us don’t feel secure enough to leave the safety, even if some restrictions are lifting.

As spring warms up the ground and plants start popping up, we may feel like it’s time to get out and stir in the soil, too. I know I do. Getting out in the sun is good. If you have a place where you can plant something, even if it’s just a little planter on your deck, do it!

Women throughout the ages, as we saw last time, have always been in the vanguard of planting and harvesting.  During Easter-tide we are looking at ways to find solidarity with the women of centuries ago by creating some of the foods and beauty products they might have used. We have looked at how milk and grains have been part of the human diet since before recorded history. We’ve seen how innovative women could have used these products for things beside food. Another staple is fruit and nuts, which had multiple uses.

Fruits and nuts were likely incorporated early on. They were easy to find as they grew wild on trees and bushes. Even though there was competition with animals to harvest these delicious items, they were gathered and stored. Drying fruits for future use may have been accidentally discovered, or something that women experimented and learned so they could keep the delicious sweet products longer. Nuts were easier to store, although they had to learn to seal them up so that mice, rats, or squirrels (like this cute guy) wouldn’t get into the precious supplies.

In A Sampler of Bible Beauty, the story of Abigail is used to illustrate the importance of fruit. She took food, including fruit, to stave off David’s attack on Nabal’s household. We hear that Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs (I Samuel 25:18).

The ‘cakes of figs’ were not desserts; they were finely chopped figs pressed into a form and dried. The clusters of raisins were in fact raisins pressed into a form and dried. These dried fruits were easily carried when traveling. Later, in 1 Samuel 30 we learn that David’s warriors are pursuing the Amalekites who burned Ziklag and kidnapped the women. They are carrying supplies, of course. In the open country they found an Egyptian and brought him to David. They gave him bread and he ate; they gave him water to drink; they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit revived; for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. (I Samuel 30:11-12)

Fruit and nuts are mentioned many places in scripture. Pomegranates were used to ornament the bottom of the priestly garments, interspersed with bells. (Exodus 28:33) Rabbis taught that it was a pomegranate that Eve shared with Adam in the Garden. The design of pomegranates is also incorporated into the design of the Temple. (1 Kings 7:20, 42; 2 Kings 25:17; 2 Chronicles 3:16; 4:13)

Fruits were highly desired foods. Because they could be stored better than many other fruits, dates, figs, and raisins were used over the winter as were dried apples. The date palm itself provided more than just fruit. Nearly all parts of the tree were used for something. The leaves provided thatch and the wood was used for building. In the desert, the palm tree was a sign that water was near.

The fig and fig tree are used as metaphors for the people of Israel, as are almonds. In Numbers (17:8), it is because Aaron’s almond tree staff budded that he is affirmed as priest. The shape of an almond flower was used in the golden lamp stand in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle and later the Temple.

Jesus tells us that “you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16-17). In the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says “I am the true vine” and compares all believers to the branches that abide and flourish. Those that do not bear fruit are “cast forth…and gathered and thrown into the fire.” Paul uses the term “fruit of the Spirit” to explain the change to our lives that comes when we follow God. (Galatians 5:22-23) He says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

The COVID19 pandemic has affected so many. Lines at food distribution sites are longer than ever. Consider making a donation to a food pantry or other organization focused on feeding people, or finding another way you can assist, even while staying safe. 


To make the fruit even sweeter, Bible women might be rolled in honey and left to dry slightly. The coarse texture of chopped nuts and the oils in the nuts meant that it was useful for beauty products as well as eating. Try one of these items this week. 


Ahinoam’s Citrus Almond Face Scrub

3 almonds
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey

In mortar and pestle (or food processor), grind almonds finely. Mix in juice and honey. Massage gently onto face in circular motion. Rinse with warm water.

The citrus and honey together tighten the pores and the ground almonds provide just enough texture to scrub the face gently.

Honeyed Dates

Remove seeds from 20-30 dates. Insert a whole almond into each date. Pour ½ cup honey in bowl and roll each almond filled date in the honey. Air dry or roll in sugar and then let dry.

More recipes and stories of women of the Bible are found in A Sampler of Bible Beauty by CynthiaDavis. 

Bible Women and Grains

For Easter-tide we’ll offer some thoughts, history, and recipes based on my book A Sampler of Bible Beauty. As we stay in our own homes, we can find solidarity with the women of centuries ago by creating some of the foods and beauty products they might have used. We’ll think about ways they flourished and were faithful in their time, which certainly didn’t have all the benefits we enjoy even in self-isolation.

Last week we looked at how milk might have been discovered and used. Today, we consider another basic food source: Grains. Even before ancient peoples started cultivating seed-bearing grasses, they gathered them for use in their diet. Bread was made from any grain that grew in the area. In my book, I use the familiar story of Ruth to illustrate the importance of grains. By the time of Ruth, grains had been cultivated and used for millennia.

In hunter-gatherer societies, the women would have been the ones seeking out the best grasses and grains to use. As ancient people became more settled, the women would have been part of the process of growing, harvesting, and milling the grain. Of course, they also would have been the ones who used the flour to make daily bread.

Women of the Bible were involved in all aspects of using grains. The barley and wheat harvest were some of the defining seasons of the year. As Ruth learned, the barley harvest came first, about the time of spring equinox. The wheat ripened later. 

Barley and wheat were important food crops in other nations. During the seventh plague on Egypt, Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire came down on the earth… (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.) (Exodus 9: 24-32)

Because grains were so important, Moses tells the Israelites “the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land… a land of wheat and barley…where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing…” (Deuteronomy 8:7-9).

Grain is important in the religious life of Bible men and women. Grain was part of the ‘wave offering’ commanded in Exodus 29, and in Leviticus. A sheaf of barley was presented to the priest who swung it up and down as an offering to God. This sheaf was then used by the priests for their own meals.

After the Babylonian Exile, King Cyrus of Babylon allows the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem. A few years later research by King Darius unearths the original decree of Cyrus. (Ezra 6:1-5) designating offerings to God from the people around Jerusalem. He then writes to Tattenai, governor of the Province Beyond the River…Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil…let that be given to them day by day without fail... (Ezra 6:9-10).

In the New Testament grain is important. We see Jesus and his disciples picking grain on the Sabbath because they were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat… (Matthew 12:1-4).  There is also the image of the end of the age when two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left (Mathew 24:41)

The grains in our groceries, whether flour or whole grains like rice and oats, are likely grown on large farms. This is now done by machinery, but until less than a century ago this wasn’t true. Families, or communities worked together. Large landowners used, and too often abused, workers whether they were serfs, slaves, or freedmen. We often think of cotton and tobacco plantations as locations where the enslaved people worked. There were also rice plantations which sought out men and women from specific areas in Africa because they knew how to grow rice.

Many women around the world are still closely involved in the planting, harvesting, processing, and cooking grains. Despite this, there are areas of the world, like India and Africa, that do not have enough food for the people. Droughts, floods, insects, and lack of land all contribute to this problem. Poverty and lack of education are also contributing factors. You may want to research organizations that help address the underlying poverty or lack of education. With Earth Day just past, you may want to consider the effect large scale farming has on the environment. 

We are most familiar with grains being used for cooking, but they can also be used in beauty products, as we saw last week and below. Try one of these recipes. You might even get some whole grain and grind it yourself. Remember that while you use a blender, many women are still grinding their wheat, oats, rice, or other grain in a mortar or even on a stone. 

Bernice’s Whole Wheat Flat Bread

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water or milk

Combine flour, oil, and water or milk until a stiff dough forms. Use your hands if it is too stiff to use a spoon. Knead until smooth. Cover with a towel and let rest for 20-30 minutes. Divide dough into 10 pieces. Roll or pat each piece into a round (as thin as possible) on flour dusted board. Heat a dry cast iron or non-stick griddle over medium-high heat. Toast one side until lightly browned, flip and cook other side until lightly browned.

Haggith’s Honey and Oat Mask (for all skin types)

¾ cup oatmeal, cooked and cooled
1/3 cup honey

Combine ingredients into a sticky paste. Spread evenly and thickly on damp skin, avoiding eye area. Leave on for 20-25 minutes. Rinse with warm water, and pat dry. Use immediately after mixing, discard unused portion.

More recipes and stories of women of the Bible are found in A Sampler of Bible Beauty by CynthiaDavis. 

Bible Women and Milk

For Easter-tide we’ll offer thoughts, history, and recipes based on my book A Sampler of Bible Beauty. In our own homes, we can find solidarity with the women of centuries ago by creating some of the foods and beauty products they might have used. As we think about ways they flourished and were faithful in their time, which certainly didn’t have all the benefits we enjoy, we may learn ways to flourish even in self-isolation.
We start with milk, a staple of all cultures. In the book, I postulate that it might have been one of the very earliest Bible women mentioned who first used milk. The story of Adah and Lamech is found in Genesis 4:19-24. Milk isn’t specifically mentioned, but they did have livestock, which means they would have had access to milk when the sheep or goats or camels had young.
There are many places where milk and milk products are mentioned in the Bible. One notable citation is the description of Canaan as the land of milk and honey. (Exodus 3:8, 3:17, 13:15, 33:3, Deuteronomy 6:33, 11:9, Joel 3:18) This promise to the Children of Israel meant that they were entering a rich land of abundance.  
Milk was used for hospitality, as told in Genesis 18:1-8. When the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day, Abraham makes them visitors welcome. He tells Sarah to make bread, slaughters and cooks a calf, then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
Curds are the milk solids that form cheese. During the cheese making process the milk solidifies and is cut into chunks which ultimately form the cheese. The liquid, called whey, is drained away. The longer the draining and drying time, the harder the final cheese product. Abraham provided his heavenly visitors with the softest and sweetest ‘first cheese’ by giving them curds.
Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite uses milk to welcome and soothe Sisera when he flees from Deborah. She then murders him with a tent peg while he sleeps, gaining her a place in the book of Judges for her courage. (Judges 4:19, 5:25)
In the New Testament, Paul and Peter both use milk as an analogy for those who are new in the faith. (1 Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12-13) Believers are advised to rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:1-3).
Ancient women, whether it was Adah or others, were probably the ones who realized how useful milk from the domesticated sheep, goats, camels, and cattle could be. It is thought that cheese was discovered accidentally when milk was stored in skin bags. The tannin in the skin curdled the milk and turned it to cheese. It was probably not long before women began experimenting with using milk products on their skin, too.
Women in many places around the world are still directly dependent on flocks and crops rather than grocery stores for their supplies. While we are limited in our access to going to the handy neighborhood market, we may take time to pray for the thousands and thousands of women who still milk their animals for their families. Consider supporting something like Heifer Project that provides livestock to women and families around the world to give them independence and access to healthy food sources.

Make one of these recipes in solidarity with women who don’t have a handy grocery store. You can make yogurt at home. You can use it for a snack, or in the face scrub recipe. You can also use store-bought plain (organic if possible) yogurt for the face scrub.

Adah’s Homemade Yogurt
3 cups cold milk
1/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
¼ cup commercial, unflavored, yogurt culture* (or one dry packet)
2-4 tablespoons sugar or honey (optional)

Heat milk gently to about 200^oF, stir in nonfat dry milk powder. Do not boil. Cool to 112^oF. Mix 1 cup of warm milk with yogurt starter culture.* Add to the rest of the milk. Pour immediately into the clean, hot 1-quart thermos, cover and incubate about 4 hours. Refrigerate immediately. Use within 10 days. Homemade yogurt will be thinner than store bought variety. Add honey, sugar, fruits, granola, or other ingredients when serving, as desired.

You can use a crockpot to make a larger amount. Here’s a recipe. 

*An active (living) yogurt culture is needed as a “starter.” Yogurt starter cultures can be purchased at health food stores and online in dry or live varieties.

Zillah’s Facial Scrub
½ cup yogurt (homemade, or store-bought plain, organic)
½ cup oats
Process the oats in a blender or food processor until extremely fine. Mix with the yogurt.  Use as facial scrub. Keep refrigerated for up to a week. The lactic acid in the milk provides natural skin softening benefits.

More recipes and stories of women of the Bible are found in A Sampler of Bible Beauty by Cynthia Davis.