the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Bed
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or The outer garment worn by day sufficed the poor for bedstead, bed beneath, and covering above, whence it was forbidden to keep it in pledge after sunset, lest the poor man should be without covering (Deuteronomy 24:13). The bolster was often of platted goat's hair (1 Samuel 19:13). A quilt to wrap one's self in is the bed meant in the miracle of Jesus when He said "Take up thy bed and walk" (John 5:8-11). The cushion or seat at the stern was our Lord's "pillow" on the lake of Galilee (Mark 4:38). Stones served as Jacob's "pillows" (Hebrew) and afterwards as the consecrated pillar to commemorate the divine vision granted him (Genesis 28:11). The divan or platform at the end or sides of a room often served as bedstead. In such a room the master of the house and his family lay, according to the parable (Luke 11:7), "My children are with me in bed."
The little chamber, bed, stool, table, and candlestick of Elijah (2 Kings 4:10) were and are the usual furniture of a sleeping room. Some bed frame is implied in Esther 1:6; 2 Samuel 3:31, "bier," margin bed. The giant Og had one of iron, a marvel in those days (one made of palm sticks is common in the present day), and required by his enormous weight and size (Deuteronomy 3:11). Og in some expedition of his against Ammon may have left behind him his gigantic bed, to impress his enemy with his super-human greatness, and the Ammonites may have preserved it in Rabbath, their capital; or Israel may have sent it to Ammon as a pledge of their friendly intentions (Jehovah having charged them not to disturb Ammon), and also a visible proof of their power in having conquered so mighty a prince as Og.
Royal beds (Song of Solomon 3:9-10 margin) had pillars of marble or silver, the bottom gold, the covering of purple and divers colors, hangings fastened to the pillarsupported canopy, the beds of gold upon a tesselated pavement (Esther 1:6); compare Amos 6:4, "beds of ivory." Often used as couches in the day (Ezekiel 23:41; Esther 7:8). Watchers of vineyards had hammocks slung from trees (Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 24:20). Hebrew melunah , "a lodge for the night." Arab watchers sleep in them to be secure froth wild beasts; translate "the earth shall wave to and fro like a hammock," swung about by the wind.
The "bedchamber" where Joash was hidden was a storeroom for beds, and so well fitted for concealment (2 Kings 11:2; 2 Chronicles 22:11), not the usual reclining chamber. The bedroom was usually in the most retired part of the house (1 Kings 22:25; Exodus 8:3; Ecclesiastes 10:20). In Ezekiel 13:18, "Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes" ("elbows") the allusion is to false prophetesses making their dupes rest on elbow cushions in fancied ecstasy, a symbol of the "peace" they falsely promised (Ezekiel 13:16). Beds were placed at the end of the chamber, on an ascent approached by steps: hence "I will not go up into my bed" (Psalms 132:3).
These files are public domain.
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Bed'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/b/bed.html. 1949.
