Recipientes bíblicos III. † *’ÔḆ

Abstract

The authors of the present article, the third of a series for the identification of biblical vessels, consider that the hápax legómenon ’ôḇ (mentioned in Job 32,19) designates a skin vessel of a large size, apt for the growing, storing and carrying of liquids, particularly of wine, a definition which very well matches that of the Spanish terms for wineskin odre, odrina and pellejo. In this sense the Jewish and the Christian exegesis have understood this beautiful simile which, taken from the rural world, reached its full expression in a famous passage of the Gospels. Such has been the common interpretation prevailing since the translation of the LXX till the most recent ones that have been made into modern languages. Archaeology -contrary to an unfortunate opinion published by Guillaume in an article on the verse we are dealing with- also favours this theory by confirming the antiquity of hide tanning technique and the early use of vessels made of this material, statements that are illustrated, to give but an example, by Yigael Yadin's and Ruth Amiran's excavation findings.