Bible Dictionaries

Genesis 25:34. Small beans, common in Syria and Egypt, called 'adas , very palatable; the ingredient of the red pottage ('edom ), for which Esau sold his birthright. Dried and cooked they are still used as portable provisions for a journey; so Barzillai brought them to David's hungry followers (2 Samuel 17:28). In time of scarcity used with wheat, barley, beans, millet, and fitches, as a substitute for pure flour (Ezekiel 4:9). The Arabs make Hebron the scene of Esau's selling his birthright, and therefore daily supply the needy with lentil soup from the kitchen of a mosque there. Some derive "Lent" from the use of lentils at that season in Roman Catholic countries.