In the law of the communion sacrifice to be presented to Jehovah, provision was also made for offering ring-shaped cakes of leavened bread.—Lev. 7:13.

After the ark of the covenant had been brought to Jerusalem, David “apportioned to all the people, to the whole crowd of Israel, man as well as woman, to each one a ring-shaped cake of bread and a date cake and a raisin cake, after which all the people went each to his own house.” (2 Sam. 6:19) The raisin cake consisted of compressed dried grapes or raisins. However, it is possible that at least some of the raisin cakes prepared in ancient times were made from raisins and flour.

In Jeremiah’s day the people of Judah and Jerusalem engaged in false worship and the women among them were “kneading flour dough in order to make sacrificial cakes to the ‘queen of the heavens.’” (Jer. 7:18) Reference is also made to this false deity and “sacrificial cakes” made for her in Jeremiah 44:19. Just what these sacrificial cakes consisted of is uncertain, but they were evidently put on the altar as an offering. It has been suggested that this “queen of the heavens” was a moon goddess. Jeremiah 44:19 mentions making sacrificial cakes “in order to make an image of her.” It is possible that these cakes had the form of a crescent or that of the full moon, like offerings made in Athens during the full moon to the goddess Artemis.

CALAH

(Caʹlah) [vigor].

A city founded by Nimrod in Assyria and originally part of “the great city” composed of Nineveh, Calah, Resen and Rehoboth-Ir, the latter three places apparently being “suburbs” of Nineveh. (Gen. 10:9-12) Calah appears as Kalhu on Assyrian cuneiform texts, and during the period of the Assyrian Empire it became one of the three principal cities of the realm, along with Nineveh and Asshur. Calah was situated at the NE angle of the junction of the Great Zab River with the Tigris, about twenty miles (32.2 kilometers) S-SE of Nineveh. The present modern town now found on the site is called Nimrud, thereby preserving the name of the ancient founder of the city.

Assyrian texts state that Calah was rebuilt by Emperor Shalmaneser I of the latter half of the second millennium B.C.E. Then, in the ninth century, Ashurnasirpal II claims to have restored the city from a decayed condition and made it his capital, building massive walls fortified with scores of towers, a royal palace and temples, including a ziggurat tower some 126 feet (38.4 meters) high. Research indicates that the city covered an area of 884 acres (358 hectares) and contained, not only palaces, temples and houses, but also gardens and orchards, watered by a canal dug from the Zab River. The banquet provided by Ashurnasirpal at the completion of his new capital is stated to have included all the city’s residents plus visiting dignitaries, to a total of 69,574 persons.

When excavated, the ruins of Calah produced some of the finest examples of Assyrian art, including colossal winged man-headed lions and winged bulls, many huge bas-reliefs that lined the palace walls, and also a rich find of beautifully carved ivory objects. An excellently preserved statue of Ashurnasirpal was uncovered, as well as the so-called “Black Obelisk” of Shalmaneser III, which names King Jehu of Israel as paying tribute to Assyria.—See SHALMANESER No. 1.

Calah enjoyed great prominence for about 150 years during the peak of the Assyrian power but suffered desolation along with the other royal cities of the realm with the downfall of the empire. Xenophon, in the fifth century B.C.E., found the city deserted.—Compare Isaiah 30:30-33; 31:8, 9.

CALAMUS, CANE

[Heb., qa·nehʹ].

The Hebrew qa·neh’ is the original source of the English word “cane” (as well as of the word “canon”) and qa·nehʹ is often translated as “stalk” (Gen. 41:5, 22), ‘branch’ (Ex. 25:31, 32), or “reed” (1 Ki. 14:15). In certain texts, however, either the context or a modifying word indicates that an aromatic plant is referred to and qa·nehʹ is thus translated “calamus,” “cane,” “sweet cane” (Heb., q^eneh voʹsem), or “good cane” (qa·nehʹ hat-tohvʹ).

Among the ingredients used in preparing the holy anointing oil was “sweet calamus,” the sweetness referring to its odor, not its taste. (Ex. 30:22-25) The Song of Solomon (4:14) includes “cane” among other odoriferous spices. Jehovah through his prophet Isaiah (43:24) reproved the spiritually weary Israelites for ‘having bought’ (Heb., qa·niʹtha) for his temple service no “sweet cane” (qa·nehʹ), thereby making a play on words in Hebrew. Jeremiah (6:20) refers to “good cane” received from a “land far away,” while Ezekiel (27:3, 19) includes cane among the products for which wealthy Tyre traded.

The English word “calamus” is derived from the Greek kaʹla·mos, used by the translators of the Septuagint Version to render the Hebrew qa·nehʹ. Like the Hebrew word, kaʹla·mos also has the basic meaning of reed or cane, whereas the English word calamus today is used principally to refer to the sweet flag (Acorus calamus) or its aromatic root. The sweet flag grows in wet places and along streams. Both the plant’s flat, sword-shaped leaves and its root have a sweet scent. Not all scholars or lexicographers, however, are agreed that the sweet flag is the plant referred to in the Bible. It is pointed out that sweet calamus (Acorus calamus) is not found in the Palestinian region nor in Syria at the present time. Nevertheless, the ancient Roman writer Pliny stated that “scented calamus, also, which grows in Arabia, is common both in India and Syria, that which grows in the last country being superior to all the rest.”

Many authorities prefer an identification of the calamus or sweet cane with an aromatic reed grass of India, such as Cymbopogon martini, a perennial grass whose leaves when crushed produce a fragrant oil known as ginger-grass oil. Other varieties of these Indian grasses produce citronella oil and lemon-grass oil. The view that one or more of such sweet-scented grasses is represented by the sweet cane or calamus of the Hebrew Scriptures is based mainly on Jeremiah’s reference to the product as coming from a “land far away,” which in this case would be India. Other areas, however, may have been producers of the aromatic “cane” or “calamus,” as indicated by Ezekiel’s prophecy. (27:19) Thus, while some kind of aromatic reed or cane is meant, the plant’s precise identification remains uncertain.

CALCOL

(Calʹcol) [possibly, short and nimble].

One whose wisdom, though great, was exceeded by King Solomon’s (1 Ki. 4:31); possibly the same as the descendant of Judah through Zerah.—1 Chron. 2:4, 6.

CALEB

(Caʹleb) [dog, or, snappish].

1. Son of Hezron, brother of Jerahmeel and greatgrandson of Judah and Tamar (1 Chron. 2:3-5, 18); also called Chelubai (vs. 9). One of his descendants was Bezalel, the skilled craftsman assigned to oversee building the tabernacle. (1 Chron. 2:19, 20; Ex. 35:30) It appears that No. 2 below was his descendant.

2. Son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite of the tribe of Judah, uncle of Othniel, and likely a descendant of No. 1 above. (Num. 32:12; Josh. 15:17; 1 Chron. 4:13, 15; see OTHNIEL.) When forty years old, Caleb was one of the twelve spies sent out by Moses on a forty-day preview of the land of Canaan, and, upon returning, Caleb together with Joshua stood up against the opposition of all the others to give a favorable report, saying: “Let us go up directly, and we are bound to take possession of it.” (Num. 13:6, 30; 14:6-9) Because he had ‘followed Jehovah his God fully’ he was the only one of that adult generation besides Joshua and some Levites to enter the Promised