Wafer
1
WAFER. As a translation of Heb rāqı̂q, “wafer” indicates an item that was part of the array of foodstuffs which comprised the various sacrificial offerings specified in the priestly texts of the Pentateuch. As “wafer” suggests, this type of break was a thin cake; the Hebrew term can be related to an Arabic word meaning “to be thin.” In the more detailed listings of the offerings (Exod 29:2; Lev 2:4; 7:12; Num 6:15), the wafer is said to be unleavened and to be spread with oil. It was to be made of fine wheat flour.
The wafer was used in the “wave offerings” to consecrate priests (Exod 29:2, 23; Lev 8:26); it was also included among the elaborate sacrifices made by Nazirites when they completed their vows (Num 6:14–15). The officiating priest would wave the wafers along with other forms of unleavened bread, the meat from the sacrificed animals, and sometimes its fat and kidneys.
The wafer was also used in the “cereal offerings,” when an Israelite layperson would prepare and bring the wafers to the officiating priest, who would offer part of the bread directly to God; the remainder would go to the priest (Lev 2:4, 8–10). Like other cereal offerings (see Leviticus 2), wafers could either be brought by themselves (Lev 2:4) or accompany a peace offering (Lev 7:12). The wafer also appears in the list in 1 Chr 23:29 of foodstuffs that the Levites were supposed to help prepare.
Although all these references to wafers are in cultic passages, it is to be assumed that thin cakes were eaten in everyday life. One passage in Exodus (16:31) compares manna to “wafers made with honey,” although the Hebrew word in this verse is ṣĕpı̂ḥit.
Carol Meyers
Paul V. M. Flesher
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (6:865). New York: Doubleday.
2
Wafers — thin cakes (Ex. 16:31; 29:2, 23; Lev. 2:4; 7:12; 8:26; Num. 6:15, 19) used in various offerings.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3
WAFER. Heb. rāqı̂q, ‘thin cake’, refers to homemade *bread, named from its thinness (Ex. 29:2; Nu. 6:15, etc.; cf. Arab. warak, ‘foliage’, ‘paper’). Heb. ṣappı̂ḥiṯ, ‘a cake’, appears once only (Ex. 16:31). j.d.d.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (1228). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
4
wafers, thin cakes, somewhat like tortillas, made of wheat flour (semolina), baked unleavened and spread with oil. Along with other kinds of bread, wafers had to accompany the thank-offering of the worshiper, the priests’ ordination offering, and the Nazirite’s peace offering (cf. Lev. 7:12; Num. 6:15; 8:26). They could also be offered independently as a cereal offering.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (1116). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
