Lime

Lime (Hebrew sid) was produced by burning limestone or chalk in kilns fueled by thornbushes (Isa. 33:12) and was used as plaster and whitewash throughout ancient Palestine. Moses commanded that great plastered stones be erected and inscribed with the law after the crossing of the Jordan (Deut. 27:2–4). The prophet Amos condemned Moab for burning the bones of the king of Edom "into lime" (Amos 2:1) — a desecration of human remains that violated ancient Near Eastern norms of burial honor. The lime-whitewashed tombs that Jesus condemned as a metaphor for hypocrisy (Matt. 23:27) were plastered in this material.