The four kinds of bread and the three cooking utensils which are mentioned in this section were probably such as were in common use in the daily life of the Israelites; and there appears no reason to doubt that they were such as are still used in the East. The variety of the offerings was most likely permitted to suit the different circumstances of the worshippers.
Oven - This was probably a portable vessel of earthenware; in shape a cone about 3 ft. 6 in. high, and 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter. Similar jars are now used for the same purpose by the Arabs. After the vessel has been thoroughly heated by a fire lighted in the inside, the cakes are placed within it, and the top is covered up until they are sufficiently baked. Meantime the outside of the vessel is turned to account. Dough rolled out very thin is spread over it, and a sort of wafer is produced considerably thinner than a Scotch oat-cake.
A pan - Rather, as in the margin, a flat plate. It was probably of earthenware, like the oven.
Part it in pieces - Break, not cut. The Bedouins are in the habit of breaking up their cakes when warm and mixing the fragments with butter when that luxury can be obtained.
Fryingpan - Rather, pan, commonly used for boiling. It is possible that the cakes here spoken of were boiled in oil. The “pan” and the “frying pan” Leviticus 2:5, Leviticus 2:7 may have been the common cooking implements of the poorest of the people.