COOK (טָבַח, H3180). The Heb. word signifies butcher, cook, executioner, guardsman. The semantic connection of the last term with the first is prob. the reason that the immediate attendants of the king killed and prepared the animals for his table. The cook may have been a male professional (1 Sam 9:23, 24). Cooks were commonly women servants (1 Sam 8:13), though the women of the household generally exercised this function; e.g. Sarah (Gen 18:6) and Rebecca (27:9). In both instances, however, men prepared the meat (Gen 18:7; 25:29; 27:31). Jael presented to Sisera the “butter in a lordly dish” (Judg 5:25 KJV), which was prob. the rich dressing of boiled lamb. T. E. Lawrence describes such a meal in The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Gideon was both cook and baker (Judg 6:19). A male cook is implied in Luke 17:8. The account of cooking meat in the Temple does not specify whether the priests boiled the carcass themselves, or whether servants cooked it for them. See Food.