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solet

סֹלֶת

HebrewH5560fine flour, fine meal

Appears 53 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 18:6Exo 29:2Exo 29:40Lev 2:1Lev 2:2Lev 2:4Lev 2:5Lev 2:7Lev 5:11Lev 6:15(8)Lev 6:20(13)Lev 7:12Lev 14:10Lev 14:21Lev 23:13Lev 23:17Num 6:151Ch 9:29Ezk 46:14
Word studySO-letnoun

What solet means

fine flour: the finely milled, sifted top grade of wheat flour

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

Fine flour is the best, most carefully refined wheat flour, smooth and pale, with the bran and coarse grit sifted out. It is the premium product, a step above the everyday ground meal an ordinary household used, and the Bible treats it as something fit for honored guests, a king's table, and above all for God.

The word names one substance, but it shows up in two very different settings, and that is the whole interest of it. By far the most common use is in worship: fine flour is the standard material of the grain offering, measured out, mixed with oil, and brought to the altar all through Leviticus and Numbers. The rest of the time it is simply the choicest flour on hand, the kind Abraham hurries to bake into bread for his three visitors, the kind stocked daily in Solomon's kitchens, sold in the market, or listed among the luxuries God lavished on Jerusalem.

The link between the two settings is the idea of giving God the best. Israel did not offer coarse, second-rate meal; the grain offering called for the same fine flour a person would set before an important guest, which is part of what made it an offering and not just a donation of food.

Nuances

1afine flour as the prescribed material of the grain offering and other sacred food
Exo 29:2Exo 29:40Lev 2:1Lev 2:2Lev 2:4Lev 2:5Lev 2:7Lev 5:11Lev 6:15(8)Lev 6:20(13)Lev 7:12Lev 14:10
1bfine flour as a choice everyday foodstuff, for hospitality, a royal table, the market, or luxury fare
Gen 18:61Ki 4:222Ki 7:12Ki 7:162Ki 7:18Ezk 16:13Ezk 16:19

What scholars say about solet

The lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat this as a single lexeme denoting finely milled, sifted wheat flour of the highest grade (semolina or its equivalent), distinct from the coarser qemach. It is a technical term of the sacrificial system, the prescribed material of the minchah (grain offering) throughout the Priestly legislation, but it also occurs in non-cultic contexts (Gen 18:6; 1 Kgs 4:22; 2 Kgs 7; Ezek 16:13, 19) as the choicest available flour. The Septuagint consistently renders it semidalis. The word is widely regarded as a loanword, compared with Akkadian saltu/silitu, reflecting a shared regional vocabulary for processed grain. Standard treatments (TDOT, the grain-offering discussions in commentaries on Leviticus such as Milgrom) connect the requirement of fine flour to the offering's logic of presenting God the best produce.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. סֹלֶתlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. סֹלֶתlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. סֹלֶתlexicon
  • J. Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 (Anchor Bible)commentary

All attested forms of סֹלֶת

f s absolute

סֹלֶת, סֹּלֶת

Gen 18:6, Exo 29:40, Lev 2:1, Lev 2:5, Lev 2:7, Lev 5:11, Lev 6:20, Lev 7:12

f s construct

סֹלֶת, סֹּלֶת

Exo 29:2, Lev 2:4, Num 6:15, Lev 6:15

f s construct

סָּלְתָּהּ

Lev 2:2