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Bible Dictionaries
Pillow
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or PILLOW.—Mark 4:38 ἐπὶ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον καθεύδων, Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘the cushion.’ The Gr. word occurs in LXX Septuagint , Ezekiel 13:18-20 (probably ‘fillets’ used as amulets, A. B. Davidson, Ezekiel, 89), 1 Esdras 3:8 (pillow of Darius). Originally it meant a pillow for the head, but it came to be used for any cushion (cf. the English use of ‘kerchief,’ originally a covering for the head, as found in ‘neckerchief,’ ‘handkerchief’). Pollux (Onomast. x. 40) says that the poet Cratinus, in his Horœ, used it of the sailor’s cushion (τὸ ναυτικὸν ὑπηρέσιον); and Hesychius, s.v. ποτίκρανον, further defines it as ‘the leathern cushion (τὸ δερμάτικον ὑπηρέσιον) on which the rowers sit.’
‘To mitigate the roughness of the beams or other seats, every rower was provided with a cushion, which he carried about with him from ship to ship’ (Cecil Torr, Ancient Ships, 47). The following passage in the Stratiotai (v.) of the poet Hermippus illustrates this; ‘’Tis time now to come along with me, taking the rowlocks and a cushion, that leaping on board thou mayest ply the dashing oar.’
Little is known about fishing-boats in the time of our Lord (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible , Ext. Vol. 367b; Encyc. Bibl. iv. 4481; Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible iii. 1285). The fishermen’s belongings mentioned in the Gospels are the boat itself (Luke 5:3, John 21:3), with the accompanying small boat (John 21:8), the two kinds of nets (Matthew 4:18; Matthew 13:47), the hook (Luke 17:37), the baskets (Matthew 13:48), the fisher’s coat (John 21:7), and the cushion. It is clear that the condition of the fishermen of the Lake of Gennesaret was considerably removed from one of absolute poverty; we have other evidences of this in Mark 1:20 (‘the hired servants’), Luke 8:3, Mark 15:40 f. (Salome, one of those who ‘ministered of their substance’), John 19:27 (cf. Speaker’s Com. i. 203, ii. 276); Josephus Vita, 33, BJ iii. x. 1.
The τό before προσκεφάλαιον seems to imply that the cushion was one of the ordinary articles of the boat’s furniture, while its position ‘in the stern’ suggests that the disciples were in the habit of resting on it by turns during the night fishing (Luke 5:5, John 21:3). It is, therefore, not probable that it had been placed there specially for our Lord’s accommodation. On starting to cross the lake, He seated Himself on ‘the cushion in the stern’; and there, being wearied with prolonged teaching, He soon fell into a sleep so profound that not even the tumult of the elements was sufficient to disturb it. ‘Sleep is attributed to our Lord in this context only; but it is probably implied in Mark 1:35, and in passages which describe His vigils as if they were exceptional’ (Swete, St. Mark, 85). Bushnell compares in a striking way the sleep of Adam in Paradise with that of Jesus in the storm (Christ and His Salvation, 127). See also art. Cushion.
Literature.—Stephanus, Thesaurus Grœcœ Linguœ (ed. Hase and Dindorf); Cecil Torr, Ancient Ships, 1895; Hastings’ and other Bible Dictionaries.
James Donald.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Pillow'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/pillow.html. 1906-1918.
