Mortar
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Num. 11:8; Prov. 27:22)—a vessel in which grain, spices, or other substances are crushed with a pestle. The Israelites ground or beat manna in mortars. Proverbs observes that even if a fool were crushed in a mortar among grain, his folly would not depart from him—a forceful image of obstinate moral corruption.