The judge invariably sat on a special ‘seat’ or throne. Thus Jerusalem and the smaller cities alike had their ‘thrones for judgement’ (Judges 4:5, 1 Kings 7:7, Psalms 122:5, etc.). In Rome magistrate and jury were seated together on the raised tribunal, or ‘bench,’ the magistrate oh his sella curulis, or ‘chariot seat,’ specially associated with the Roman imperium. The custom extended also to the Provinces. In the NT κριτήρια (‘tribunals’) is used of law-courts generally (in 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 6:4 and James 2:6), while βῆμα, lit. [Note: literally, literature.] ‘step,’ ‘seat’ (for parties in a law-suit), is applied to the ‘judgment-seat’ not only of the Emperor (Acts 25:10), but also of the governors Pilate (Matthew 27:19, John 19:13), Gallio (Acts 18:12; Acts 18:16 f.) and Festus (Acts 25:6; Acts 25:17), and even metaphorically of God (Romans 14:10) and Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). See, further, Trial-at-Law.
A. R. Gordon.