Pillow
Pillow
is the rendering in the A.V. of three very different Hebrew and one Greek word. The proper term is in the plur. , meraashth (Gen 28:11; Gen 28:18, elsewhere bolster), which denotes simply a place for laying the head. In that passage we read that Jacob took of the stones of that place [Haran], and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. The Hebrew word would be more properly rendered towards the head. Similarly our Lord employed either the bench or possibly some cushion or rug upon it, when asleep upon the boat (, Mar 4:38). SEE BED. The , ke’seth (also in the plur.), of Eze 13:18; Eze 13:20, however, designates a cushion or soft pad used in some way for magical enticement, perhaps one of the meretricious luxuries of the females alluded to. SEE ARMHOLE. In 1Sa 19:13; 1Sa 19:16, the Heb. word is , kebir, something braided or plaited, hence usually thought to be a quilt or mattress. SEE BOLSTER.
What kind of pillows the Hebrews used we have no means of knowing, but the ancient Egyptians had pillows of wood formed to receive the head when resting on their couches, and these no doubt had a cushion stuffed with feathers, or other soft material. Specimens of these wooden pillows may be seen in the British Museum (Wilkinson, Anc. Egyptians, 1, 71). Hardy travelers, like Jacob (Gen 28:11; Gen 28:18) and Elijah (1Ki 19:6), sleeping on the bare ground, would make use of a stone for this purpose; and soldiers on the march had probably no softer resting-place (1Sa 26:7; 1Sa 26:11-12; 1Sa 26:16). Possibly both Saul and Elijah may have used the water-bottle which they carried as a bolster, and if this were the case, David’s midnight adventure becomes more conspicuously daring. The pillow’ of goats’ hair which Michal’s cunning put in the place of the bolster in her husband’s bed (19:13, 16) was probably, as Ewald suggests, a net or curtain of goats’ hair, to protect the sleeper from the mosquitoes (Gesch. 3, 101, note), like the canopy’ of Holofernes. SEE SLEEP.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Pillow
PILLOW.Mar 4:38 , Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 the cushion. The Gr. word occurs in LXX Septuagint , Eze 13:18-20 (probably fillets used as amulets, A. B. Davidson, Ezekiel, 89), 1Es 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 Hor, used it of the sailors cushion ( ); and Hesychius, s.v. , further defines it as the leathern cushion ( ) 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; Smiths Dictionary of the Bible iii. 1285). The fishermens belongings mentioned in the Gospels are the boat itself (Luk 5:3, Joh 21:3), with the accompanying small boat (Joh 21:8), the two kinds of nets (Mat 4:18; Mat 13:47), the hook (Luk 17:37), the baskets (Mat 13:48), the fishers coat (Joh 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 Mar 1:20 (the hired servants), Luk 8:3, Mar 15:40 f. (Salome, one of those who ministered of their substance), Joh 19:27 (cf. Speakers Com. i. 203, ii. 276); Josephus Vita, 33, BJ iii. x. 1.
The before seems to imply that the cushion was one of the ordinary articles of the boats 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 (Luk 5:5, Joh 21:3). It is, therefore, not probable that it had been placed there specially for our Lords 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 Mar 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 Grc Lingu (ed. Hase and Dindorf); Cecil Torr, Ancient Ships, 1895; Hastings and other Bible Dictionaries.
James Donald.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Pillow
PILLOW.The pillow of Mar 4:38 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) is the cushion (so RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) used by rowers. See also Bolster and House, 8.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Pillow
pilo. See BOLSTER; CUSHION.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Pillow
1. A cushion
Gen 28:11; Gen 28:18; 1Sa 26:7; 1Sa 26:11; 1Sa 26:16
2. A support for the head:
– Stones used for
Gen 28:11; Gen 28:18
– Called Bolster
1Sa 26:7; 1Sa 26:11-12; 1Sa 26:16
– Made of goats’ hair
1Sa 19:13; 1Sa 19:16
– Jesus sleeps on
Mar 4:38
Figurative, of false teachers
Eze 13:18; Eze 13:20
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Pillow
denotes “a pillow, a cushion for the head” (pros, “to,” kephale, “a head”), Mar 4:38 (RV, “cushion”). In the Sept., Eze 13:18.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Pillow
Eze 13:18 (b) This figure describes the path of ease which some people make for the people of GOD to keep them comfortable and at rest when they should be active in the service of the King, as soldiers of JESUS CHRIST.