Objects — C

cakes

Unleavened cakes mixed with oil, of fine wheat flour, placed in the basket with unleavened bread and wafers for the priests' consecration. A cake of bread made with oil is waved with the ram of investiture.

calf

Abraham prepared a tender calf as part of his hospitality at the Oak of Mamre.

camel

Camels carry Abraham's servant to Nahor's city, bear Jacob's household in flight from Paddan-Aram, and mark his wealth.

carved-image

The Decalogue forbids making a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven, on earth, or in the waters under the earth, or bowing down to such images.

cassia

Cassia, five hundred shekels by the sanctuary shekel, is blended with myrrh, cinnamon, scented reed and a hin of olive oil into the holy anointing oil.

cattle

Livestock of the patriarchal households; at Sinai sheep and cattle are named for burnt offerings and communion sacrifices on an altar of earth.

cave

Natural hollow used for shelter or burial; in Genesis 50 Jacob is buried in the cave at Machpelah.

cereal-offering

A cereal offering may not be offered on the incense altar, nor any unauthorised incense, burnt offering, or libation poured over it.

chariot

Royal vehicle of honor in Genesis; the Song of the Sea celebrates that Pharaoh's chariots were hurled into the Sea of Reeds.

chisel

A tool forbidden on a stone altar at Sinai: dressed stones worked with a chisel would profane the altar.

cinnamon

Fragrant cinnamon, two hundred and fifty shekels, is blended with myrrh, scented reed, cassia and olive oil into the holy anointing oil.

circumcision

Circumcision is the sign of God's covenant with Abraham; in Exodus 4 Zipporah circumcises her son, and in Exodus 12 only the circumcised may eat the Passover.

clasps

Fifty gold clasps join the linen sheets of the Dwelling into a unified whole; fifty bronze clasps join the goats' hair tent over it. The dividing curtain hangs below the clasps.

clay

Earthen material dug for brick-making; in Exodus 1 digging clay is part of the forced labour Egypt imposes on Israel.

cloak

A cloak covers Noah's nakedness; if taken in pledge it must be returned at sunset, for it is the covering a poor person sleeps in.

clothes

Clothes appear as gifts and as disputed property: in every case of law-breaking involving clothing or lost property, both parties lay their case before God.

cloud

Yahweh comes to Moses in a dense cloud on Sinai; when Moses goes up with the new tablets, Yahweh descends in a cloud and pronounces his name.

coffin

Burial container; in Genesis 50 Joseph is embalmed and laid in a coffin in Egypt.

communion-sacrifice

Sacrifices offered with burnt offerings; at Sinai young Israelites sacrifice bullocks as communion sacrifices when Moses seals the covenant. By perpetual decree, Aaron and his sons receive the portion set aside from the ram of investiture — the portion the Israelites set aside for Yahweh from their communion sacrifices. At the golden calf the people bring communion sacrifices with their burnt offerings.

copper

Copper is listed among metals worked by Tubal-Cain in Genesis 4.

cord

Judah's cord is one of the personal items Tamar keeps as a pledge when he sleeps with her at Enaim in Genesis 38.

cornelian

A precious stone. Two cornelians engraved with the names of the sons of Israel sit on the ephod's shoulder-straps; a cornelian is also in the fourth row of the breastplate of judgement, with beryl and jasper.

court

The enclosure around the Dwelling, a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and five cubits high. Finely woven linen hangings run on bronze poles and sockets, joined by silver rods; a twenty-cubit embroidered screen closes the east gateway.

crossbars

Bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold: five for each side of the Dwelling and five for the west. The middle bar joins the frames from end to end, halfway up; gold rings hold the bars.

cubit

The ark's dimensions are given in cubits in Noah's construction instructions.

cultic-stones

Israel must smash the cultic stones of the nations whose land they enter, along with tearing down their altars and cutting down their sacred poles.

cup

Pharaoh's cup appears in the chief cup-bearer's prison dream in Genesis 40; in Genesis 44 Joseph plants his own silver cup in Benjamin's sack to test his brothers.

curds

Curds were served with milk and calf in Abraham's meal for the visitors.

curtain

A curtain of finely woven linen, dyed and embroidered with winged creatures, hung on four gold-overlaid acacia poles in silver sockets. It divides the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Aaron tends the lamp outside this curtain, in front of the Testimony.