LOAF

Bread loaves, generally made from barley or wheat flour (2 Ki. 4:42; John 6:9; compare Exodus 34:22 with Leviticus 23:17), were often circular. (Judg. 7:13; 1 Sam. 10:3; Jer. 37:21) In fact, one Hebrew word for “loaf” (kik·karʹ) literally means “a round,” that is, a round loaf. (1 Sam. 2:36) Of course, loaves were also formed into other shapes. An Egyptian papyrus document mentions over thirty different forms of bread.

Ancient specimens from Bible lands include relatively thin round, oval, triangular and wedge-shaped cakes or loaves and thick, long loaves. (See BREAD; CAKE.) However, the thick loaves, like those of the Western world, do not appear to have been common in the ancient Near East. Even today Oriental bread is baked in thin loaves, usually from half an inch to an inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) in thickness and about seven inches (18 centimeters) in diameter.

Being relatively thin and, if unleavened, brittle, loaves of bread were broken rather than cut. So there is nothing special about Jesus, ‘breaking’ the loaf used at the institution of the Lord’s Evening Meal (Matt. 26:26), it being the customary way to partake of bread.—Matt. 14:19; 15:36; Mark 6:41; 8:6; Luke 9:16; Acts 2:42, 46, Kingdom Interlinear Translation.