the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Couch
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or Structure on which to rest or sleep. The Hebrew term 
, meaning "divan" as well as "bed," is synonymous with 
(Amos 3:12) and 
(2 Samuel 17:28). In olden times the Jewish bed, a plain wooden frame with feet, and a slightly raised end for the head (Genesis 47:31), probably differed little from the simple Egyptian bed. The frame, covered with 
(Proverbs 7:16), served as a bed for the old and sick during the day (Genesis 47:31; 1 Samuel 19:13 et seq.), while at meals people sat on it, perhaps with crossed legs (compare Ezekiel 23:41; 1 Samuel 20:25).
Amos, who denounces the habit of reclining at table as a foreign custom (Amos 3:12, 6:4), speaks also of the luxury prevailing in the furnishing ofthese couches. The frames were made of costly cedar-wood inlaid with ivory (Amos 6:4); the feet were plated with silver, and the backs with leaf gold (Song of Solomon, 3:10). White pillows and bolsters were put on them, also costly rugs, purple embroidered covers, Egyptian linen, etc. (compare Amos 3:12; Proverbs 7:16; Song of Solomon, 3:10). Two references in the El-Amarna tablets show how early this luxury obtained in Palestine, and state that even in those ancient times couches of costly wood inlaid with gold were sent as presents from Palestine to Egypt (Schrader, "K. B." 5:27, 27:20,28). Sometimes pillows were laid on the floor. Esther 1:6 speaks of beds upon a pavement of marble, which were covered with costly materials woven of threads of gold and silver (I Esd. 3:6).
To-day the beds in the East are made by laying bolsters on the low divans which run along the walls, so that a room which serves as a parlor in the daytime is easily turned into a bedroom for eight or ten persons. In ancient Israel the wealthy often had separate bedrooms (
, 2 Samuel 4:7; compare Exodus 8:3; 2 Kings 6:17; also 
, 2 Samuel 13:10, or 
, 2 Kings 11:2; 2 Chronicles 22:11), while the poor, especially the herdsmen, frequently slept out-of-doors, covered only with the "simlah," and with a stone under their heads (compare Exodus 22:26; Genesis 28:11, 31:40). See BED.
These files are public domain.
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Couch'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/c/couch.html. 1901.
