Basket

A basket can seem a small thing, yet it turns up all through Scripture. Joseph hears a baker’s dream of “three white baskets,” priests carry unleavened bread in one, and Israelites bring their first fruits in another. Moses sets before the people, “Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store,” and its opposite. After Jesus feeds the crowd, the disciples gather “twelve baskets full” of what is left. Later Paul escapes a city when friends let him “down by the wall in a basket.” Matthew 14:13-21 and Acts 9:23-25 are two easy places to read.

14 verses

Genesis

Genesis 40:16

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:

Genesis 40:17

And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.

Exodus

Exodus 29:3

And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.

Exodus 29:23

And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD:

Exodus 29:32

And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Leviticus

Leviticus 8:2

Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread;

Numbers

Numbers 6:15

And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 26:2

That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.

Deuteronomy 28:5

Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

Deuteronomy 28:17

Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

Matthew

Matthew 14:20

And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

Matthew 15:37

And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.

Acts

Acts 9:25

Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 11:33

And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

There are five different Hebrew words so rendered in the Authorized Version: (1.) A basket (Heb. sal, a twig or osier) for holding bread (Gen. 40:16; Ex. 29:3, 23; Lev. 8:2, 26, 31; Num. 6:15, 17, 19). Sometimes baskets were made of twigs peeled; their manufacture was a recognized trade among the Hebrews.

(2.) That used (Heb. salsilloth’) in gathering grapes (Jer. 6:9).

(3.) That in which the first fruits of the harvest were presented, Heb. tene, (Deut. 26:2, 4). It was also used for household purposes. In form it tapered downwards like that called corbis by the Romans.

(4.) A basket (Heb. kelub) having a lid, resembling a bird-cage. It was made of leaves or rushes. The name is also applied to fruit-baskets (Amos 8:1, 2).

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(5.) A basket (Heb. dud) for carrying figs (Jer. 24:2), also clay to the brick-yard (R.V., Ps. 81:6), and bulky articles (2 Kings 10:7). This word is also rendered in the Authorized Version “kettle” (1 Sam. 2:14), “caldron” (2 Chr. 35:13), “seething-pot” (Job 41:20).

In the New Testament mention is made of the basket (Gr. kophinos, small “wicker-basket”) for the “fragments” in the miracle recorded Mark 6:43, and in that recorded Matt. 15:37 (Gr. spuris, large “rope-basket”); also of the basket in which Paul escaped (Acts 9:25, Gr. spuris; 2 Cor. 11: 33, Gr. sargane, “basket of plaited cords”).

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

The Hebrew terms used in the description of this article are as follows: (1) Sal , so called from the twigs of which it was originally made, specially used for holding bread. (Genesis 40:16) ff. (Exodus 29:3,23; Leviticus 8:2,26,31; Numbers 6:15,17,19) (2) Salsilloth , a word of kindred origin, applied to the basket used in gathering grapes. (Jeremiah 6:9) (3) Tene , in which the first-fruits of the harvest were presented. (26:2,4) (4) Celub , so called from its similarity to a bird-cage. (5) Dud , used for carrying fruit, (Jeremiah 24:1,2) as well as on a larger scale for carrying clay to the brick-yard, (Psalms 81:6) (pots , Authorized Version), or for holding bulky articles. (2 Kings 10:7) In the New Testament baskets are described under three different terms.