BARREL, 1Ki_17:12; 1Ki_17:14-15; 1Ki_18:33.The large earthenware jar (so Amer. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) used for fetching water from the well, storing grain, etc., elsewhere rendered pitcher. See House, 9.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
bar?el: The word ?barrel? in the King James Version (see 1Ki_17:12, 1Ki_17:14, 1Ki_17:16; 1Ki_18:33 : ?The barrel of meal,? ?fill four barrels with water,? etc.) stands for the large earthenware jar (so the American Standard Revised Version) used in the East for carrying water from the spring or well, and for storing grain, etc., according to a custom that still persists. It is elsewhere (EV) more fitly rendered ?pitcher.? See HOUSE; PITCHER, etc.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
1Ki_17:12 (c) This represents human resources. To scrape the bottom of the barrel means that we have reached the end of our assets, our resources, our wits and our wisdom. Such are just at the point of bankruptcy. Those who walk with the Lord will always find that the Lord has blessings left for the believing and trusting soul.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Barrel
(כִּד, kad [κάδος, cadus], a pitcher or pail), a vessel used for the keeping of flour (1Ki_17:12; 1Ki_17:14; 1Ki_17:16; 1Ki_18:33). The same word is in other places rendered pitcher, as the same vessel appears to have been also used for carrying water (Gen_24:14; Jdg_7:16; Ecc_12:6). It was borne on the shoulders, as is the custom in the East in the present day. SEE PITCHER.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.