Bean

Beans appear in the UPDV in two practical contexts: as a foodstuff brought to feed an army on the move, and as one of several grains and pulses combined into a prophetic siege ration. The references are few but consistent — beans belong with the basic provisions of ancient Israelite kitchens, alongside wheat, barley, and lentils.

Beans Among the Provisions for David

When David crosses to Mahanaim during Absalom's revolt, friends of the king meet him with supplies. The list is a snapshot of what counted as ordinary food and gear at that moment: "brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched [grain], and beans, and lentils, and parched [pulse]," (2Sa 17:28). Beans take their place between the parched grain and the lentils — staples of an army's larder.

Beans in the Siege Bread of Ezekiel

The other appearance is symbolic. As Ezekiel acts out the siege of Jerusalem, he is told to take a sample of common foodstuffs and combine them into a single loaf: "You take also to yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make yourself bread of them; [according to] the number of the days that you will lie on your side, even three hundred and ninety days, you will eat of it" (Eze 4:9). The mixed loaf — beans included — figures the scarcity of a city under siege, where what would normally be kept apart must be ground together to last.