Dictionaries :: Beans

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Beans:

mentioned in 2Sa 17:28 as having been brought to David when flying from Absalom. They formed a constituent in the bread Ezekiel (Eze 4:9) was commanded to make, as they were in general much used as an article of diet. They are extensively cultivated in Egypt and Arabia and Syria.

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Beans:

benz (pol; Arabic ful): A very common product of Palestine; a valuable and very ancient article of diet. The Bible references are probably to the Faba vulgaris (N. D. Leguminosae) or horsebean. This is sown in the autumn; is in full flower-filling the air with sweet perfume-in the early spring; and is harvested just after the barley and wheat. The bundles of black bean stalks, plucked up by the roots and piled up beside the newly winnowed barley, form a characteristic feature on many village threshing-floors. Beans are threshed and winnowed like the cereals. Beans are eaten entire, with the pod, in the unripe state, but to a greater extent the hard beans are cooked with oil and meat.

In Eze 4:9, beans are mentioned with other articles as an unusual source of bread and in 2Sa 17:28 David receives from certain staunch friends of his at Mahanaim a present, which included "beans, and lentils, and parched pulse."

Written by E. W. G. Masterman

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Beans:

(2 Samuel 17:28; Ezekiel 4:9). Beans are cultivated in Palestine, which produces many of the leguminous order of plants, such, as lentils, kidney‐beans, vetches, etc.