BASKET băs’ kĭt (דּוּד, H1857, receptacle for carrying, a cooking pot; טֶ֫נֶא, H3244, large basket; סַל, H6130, basket; כְּלוּב֒, H3990, basket with a cover; תֵּבָה, H9310, Noah’s ark and Moses’ ark of bulrushes, LXX κανοῦν, cane basket; κόφινος, G3186, wicker basket; σπυρίς, G5083, basket; σαργάνη, G4914, rope hamper.

Vessels and containers made of intertwined and woven strips of flexible materials are called by the generic term “basket” in Eng. VSS of the Bible. The baskets of ancient times were made of many different sizes and shapes to satisfy a great variety of purposes. Specific names were used for many of these different baskets, four of which are found in OT usage. In the LXX at least seven terms are used as trs. of these four Heb. words. The NT, with fewer occasions for referring to the use of a basket, uses three terms.

Basketry and weaving, which were not separated in ancient times, were common household crafts, but the demand for containers was important enough to make basketry a widespread industry. In most parts of Pal. some kind of natural fiber was readily available. Commonly used were the fronds of palms, straw, reeds, rushes, sedges and grasses. A popular style of basketry was somewhat imitative of pottery. Starting with a woven base, horizontal coils were placed upon each other and held in position by tying them to vertical strips. These shaped baskets could be strengthened by plaiting the materials. The powerful legs of the hippopotamus are said to be plaited like the coils in a strong basket (Job 40:17). Another common type of basketry was wickerwork in which strands of material were woven in and out of a stake frame. Such a basket would be more angular and allow for larger containers.

The Heb. word dūdh can best be thought of as the generic word for a receptacle or container. In many references it is used as a cooking pot (1 Sam 2:14; 2 Chron 35:13), while in other places it serves as a container for a liquid. The term also can be tr. as “basket” (Jer 24:1, 2) where it is a container for carrying figs and for carrying bricks (Ps 81:6).

The ordinary word for basket, sal, seems to refer to a vessel that can be carried on the head. In modern Heb. סָלַל֒, H6147, means “to lift up.” Thus we have a basket built up in coils from a small base, which is conveniently carried upon the head.

The word ṭene’ is used infrequently. In all four occurrences it is seen as a large storage receptacle for products of the field. (See Deut 26:4 and 28:5, 17.)

Two references are made to a kolūḇh in the OT. In Jeremiah 5:27, a bird cage having a trap door is described and in Amos 8:1, 2 a basket with a similar kind of a cover is mentioned. The type of basketry seems to be the rectangular wickerware referred to above.

One remaining word, tēḇāh, suggests a basket. The only real case is the ark in which the baby Moses is placed. It is said to be made of (papyrus) bulrushes (Exod 2:3, 5) before being water-proofed, and might legitimately be called a basket. However, the most frequent use of this word is for the vessel (the Ark) which saved Noah during the Flood. Other usages of the same word, Genesis 50:26 (Joseph’s coffin), 2 Kings 12:9; 2 Chronicles 24:8; Esther 3:9; 4:7 (money chests at the altar), and 1 Samuel 6:8, 11, 15 (a small coffer accompanying the return of the Ark of the Covenant), could conceivably be basketlike containers of a close weave, but it may be more appropriate to think of a box or chest.

In the NT, after the feeding of the 5,000 and again after the feeding of the 4,000, the leftover fragments are placed in baskets. The authors of the gospels carefully distinguish between the kóphinos used to gather the remains in the first miracle and the spurís used the second time. The distinction may be the one suggested earlier between smaller plaited baskets and larger woven baskets with a handle. Paul was lowered from the wall of Damascus in a basket (Acts 9:25) similar to the type used after the feeding of the 4,000. Later when Paul himself speaks of this incident (2 Cor 11:33), he says he was lowered in a särgánē, which prob. is a synonym referring to a strong hamper type of basket. See [http://biblegateway/wiki/Ark of the Bulrushes (of Moses) ARK OF THE BULRUSHES].

Bibliography M. Jastrow Jr., “Baskets,” Jew. Enc. (1916), vol. II, 578f; R. J. Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology (1956), vol. IV, ch. 5.