Bed
BED
In the East, is, and was anciently, a divan, or broad low step around the sides of a room, like a sofa, which answered to purpose of a sofa by day for reclining, and of a bed by night for sleeping, Exo 8:3 2Sa 4:5-7 . Sometimes it was raised several steps above the floor, 2Ki 1:4 Psa 132:4 . It was covered very differently, and with more or less ornament, according to the rank of owner of the house. The poor had but a simple mattress or sheepskin; or a cloak or blanked, which also answered to wrap themselves in by day, Exo 22:2 Deu 24:13 . Hence it was easy for the persons whom Jesus healed, to take up their beads and walk, Mar 4:21 . Bedsteads, however, were not unknown, though unlike those of modern times. See Deu 3:11 1Sa 19:15 1Sa 6:4 . The Jews only laid off their sandals and outer garments at night.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Bed
properly , mittah’, , either for rest at night, Exo 8:3; 1Sa 19:13; 1Sa 19:15-16; 1Ki 17:19; 2Ki 4:10; 2Ki 4:21; 2Ki 11:2; 2Ch 22:11; Psa 6:6; Pro 26:14; Mar 4:21; Luk 8:16; Luk 17:34; or during illness, Gen 47:31; Gen 48:2; Gen 49:33; 1Sa 28:23; 2Ki 1:4; 2Ki 1:6; 2Ki 1:16; 2Ki 4:32; Mar 7:30; Rev 2:22; often simply a sofa for ease and quiet, 1Sa 28:23; Est 7:8; Amo 3:12; Amo 6:4; once a sedan for pleasure, Son 3:7; in the New Test. frequently a mere couch, consisting of a litter and coverlet, Mat 9:2; Mat 9:6; Luk 5:18; Act 5:15 (for which more properly the diminutive , couch,, Luk 5:19; Luk 5:24; or , frequently occurring, usually bed, once couch, Act 5:15; and once in the sense of a more permanent sick-bed, Act 9:33); used also for bier for dead bodies, 2Sa 3:31; and specially of the triclinium, or dinner-bed, Est 1:6; Eze 23:41; table, Mar 7:4. Another term of frequent occurrence is , mishkab’, , which almost always has the signification of marriage-bed, or some analogous idea (except in the Chaldee equivalent, of Dan.), and is often translated by terms expressive of that sense. To these may be added the poetic , yatsu’a, Job 17:13; Psa 63:6; Psa 132:3; signifying the same as the preceding in Gen 49:4; 1Ch 5:1; and chamber in prose, 1Ki 6:5-6; 1Ki 6:10; also , matstsa’, Isa 28:20; and, finally, , er’es, signifying, as the derivation shows, a canopied bed of more imposing style, for whatever purpose, Job 7:13; Psa 41:3; Psa 132:3 (in the original); Pro 7:16; Son 1:16; couch in Psa 6:6; Amo 3:12; Amo 6:4; and properly rendered bedstead in Deu 3:11. In this last-named passage a coffin is thought by some to be meant. SEE GIANT.
We may distinguish in the Jewish bed the following principal parts:
1. The bedstead was not always necessary, the divan, or platform along the side or end of an Oriental room, sufficing as a support for the bedding. SEE BEDCHAMBER. Yet some slight and portable frame seems implied among the senses of the word , mittah’, which is used for a bier (2Sa 3:31), and for the ordinary bed (2Ki 4:10), for the litter on which a sick person might be carried (1Sa 19:15), for Jacob’s bed of sickness (Gen 47:31), and for the couch on which guests reclined at a banquet (Est 1:6). SEE COUCH. Thus it seems the comprehensive and generic term. The proper word for a bedstead appears to be , e’res, used Deu 3:11, to describe that on which lay the giant Og, whose vast bulk and weight required one of iron. SEE BEDSTEAD.
2. The substratum or bottom portion of the bed itself was limited to a mere mat, or one or more quilts.
3. Over this a quilt finer than those used for the under part of the bed. In summer, a thin blanket, or the outer garment worn by day (1Sa 19:13), sufficed. This latter, in the case of a poor person, often formed the entire bedding, and that without a bedstead. Hence the law provided that it should not be kept in pledge after sunset, that the poor man might not lack his needful covering (Deu 24:13). 4. The bed-clothes. The only material mentioned for this is that which occurs 1Sa 19:13, and the word used is of doubtful meaning, but seems to signify some fabric woven or plaited of goat’s hair. It is clear, however, that it was something hastily adopted to serve as a pillow, and is not decisive of the ordinary use.
5. In Ezra 13:18, occurs the word , ke’seth (Sept. ), which seems to be the proper term. Such pillows are common to this day in the East, formed of sheep’s fleece or goat’s skin, with a stuffing of cotton, etc. We read of a pillow, also, in the boat in which our Lord lay asleep (Mar 4:38) as he crossed the lake. The block of stone, such as Jacob used, covered, perhaps, with a garment, was not unusual among the poorer folk, shepherds, etc. SEE PILLOW.
6. The ornamental portions, and those which luxury added, were pillars and a canopy (Jdt 13:9); ivory carvings, gold and silver (Joseph. Ant. 12, 21, 14), and probably mosaic work, purple and fine linen, are also mentioned as constituting parts of beds (Est 1:6; Son 3:9-10), where the word , appiryon’ (Sept. ), seems to mean a litter (Pro 7:16-17; Amos 11:4). So also are perfumes. SEE SLEEP.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Bed
(Heb. mittah), for rest at night (Ex. 8:3; 1 Sam. 19:13, 15, 16, etc.); during sickness (Gen. 47:31; 48:2; 49:33, etc.); as a sofa for rest (1 Sam. 28:23; Amos 3:12). Another Hebrew word (er’es) so rendered denotes a canopied bed, or a bed with curtains (Deut. 3:11; Ps. 132:3), for sickness (Ps. 6:6; 41:3).
In the New Testament it denotes sometimes a litter with a coverlet (Matt. 9:2, 6; Luke 5:18; Acts 5:15).
The Jewish bedstead was frequently merely the divan or platform along the sides of the house, sometimes a very slight portable frame, sometimes only a mat or one or more quilts. The only material for bed-clothes is mentioned in 1 Sam. 19:13. Sleeping in the open air was not uncommon, the sleeper wrapping himself in his outer garment (Ex. 22:26, 27; Deut. 24:12, 13).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Bed
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 (Deu 24:13). The bolster was often of platted goat’s hair (1Sa 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” (Joh 5:8-11). The cushion or seat at the stern was our Lord’s “pillow” on the lake of Galilee (Mar 4:38). Stones served as Jacob’s “pillows” (Hebrew) and afterwards as the consecrated pillar to commemorate the divine vision granted him (Gen 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 (Luk 11:7), “My children are with me in bed.”
The little chamber, bed, stool, table, and candlestick of Elijah (2Ki 4:10) were and are the usual furniture of a sleeping room. Some bed frame is implied in Est 1:6; 2Sa 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 (Deu 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 (Son 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 (Est 1:6); compare Amo 6:4, “beds of ivory.” Often used as couches in the day (Eze 23:41; Est 7:8). Watchers of vineyards had hammocks slung from trees (Isa 1:8; Isa 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 (2Ki 11:2; 2Ch 22:11), not the usual reclining chamber. The bedroom was usually in the most retired part of the house (1Ki 22:25; Exo 8:3; Ecc 10:20). In Eze 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 (Eze 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” (Psa 132:3).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Bed
BED.The word bed (, , ) is found in the Gospels only in Mat 9:2; Mat 9:6, Mar 2:4-12; Mar 4:21; Mar 7:30, Luk 5:18; Luk 8:16; Luk 11:7; Luk 17:34, Joh 5:8-12. There is little here to indicate the kind of bed, or beds, that were in use among the Hebrews in the time of Christ. Among the ancient Hebrews, however, as among other Oriental peoples of that day, the bed usually consisted of a wadded quilt, or thin mattress, to be used, according to the season, or the condition of the owner, with or without covering (cf. Exo 22:27 For that [the outer garment worn in the daytime] is his only covering: it is his garment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?). The very poor often made their bed of the skins of animals, old cloaks or rugs, or slept in their ordinary clothing on the bare ground floor, as they do to-day in the East.
The bedding ordinarily in use among Orientals now is, doubtless, much the same as it was in Christs day: a mat made of rushes or straw to be laid down first; sheep or goat skins, or a quilt stuffed with hair or vegetable fibre, or both, to lie upon; and a covering consisting often only of the cloak, or outer garment, of the poor man, but sometimes in summer of some light stuff in addition, or in winter of skins, or some heavier quilted stuff.
Various allusions are made in the Gospels to beds that could be carried: Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house (Mat 9:6); Rise, take up thy bed, and walk; And immediately the man took up his bed, and walked (Joh 5:8-9); Behold men bringing on a bed a man that was palsied (Luk 5:18 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ). St. Luke and St. Mark tell us that on this occasion, when, because of the crowd in the house, the four men could not reach Jesus with the paralytic, they took him up on the house-top, broke through the roof, and let him down through the tiling with the couch (; in Luk 5:18, however, the word , bed, is used) into the midst before Jesus (Luk 5:19), or, as St. Mark puts it, let down the bed () wherein the sick of the palsy lay (Luk 2:4).
For ordinary use at night the bed was laid on the floor, generally on the mat, which served to keep it off the ground, frequently on a light portable frame of wood which served a like purpose; but sometimes on a more elevated bedstead (under the bed, Mar 4:21 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ). In the morning the bedding was all rolled up, and, after being aired and sunned, was put aside on the raised platform, or packed away for the day in a chest or closet. A bedstead of any pretensions was rare among the Hebrews, and was looked upon as a luxury; the nearest approach to it being in general the raised platform on the side of the room. The richness of beds and of bedsteads among some of the Asiatic peoples, however, was at least equal to that of the Greeks and Romans (cf. Pro 7:18; Pro 7:17, 1Sa 28:23). The degree of richness would depend, of course, upon the wealth of the family and the style of the house or tent, as it does to-day among the Bedawn.
Usually a room was set apart as a bedroom, where the whole family slept. My children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give thee (Luk 11:5-8). Among the poorest a portion of the single room occupied by the family was set apart for sleeping, and, generally, this was raised above the level of the floor. When the house was of two storeys, the beds were laid in one of the rooms of the upper storey, or, during the summer, preferably, on the flat roof. See, further, art. Couch.
Geo. B. Eager.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Bed
Made of wood
Son 3:7-9
Made of iron
Deu 3:11
Made of ivory
Amo 6:4
Made of gold and silver
Est 1:6
Used at meals
Amo 6:4
Exempt from execution for debt
Pro 22:27
Perfumed
Pro 7:17
Figurative
Psa 139:8
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Bed
Bed. Among the ancient Egyptians, the bed was a kind of low sofa or divan, ornamented with ivory, and of such a length as to answer for a sofa by day and a bed by night. Psa 41:3; Psa 132:3; Amo 6:4; 2Ki 1:4; 2Ki 1:6; 2Ki 1:16; Pro 7:16. The poorer people slept upon thick, coarse mattresses, or skins, which were thrown down at night upon the divan, or upon the floor. Sometimes they had but a simple cloak, or a blanket, which also answered to wrap themselves in by day. Exo 22:26-27; Deu 24:12-13. Hence it was easy for the persons whom Jesus healed “to take up their beds and walk.” Mat 9:6; Mar 2:9; Joh 5:8. In the East, most people only take off the outer garment, and often use it for a covering on retiring to bed.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Bed
Bed. The Jewish bed consisted of the mattress, a mere mat, or one or more quilts; the covering, a finer quilt, or sometimes, the outer garment worn by day, 1Sa 19:13, which, the law provided, should not be kept in pledge after sunset, that the poor man might not lack his needful covering, Deu 24:13, the pillow, 1Sa 19:13, probably formed of sheep’s fleece or goat’s skin with a stuffing of cotton, etc.; the bedstead, a divan or bench along the side or end of the room, sufficing as a support for the bedding.
Besides, we have bedsteads made of ivory, wood, etc. Referred to in Deu 3:11; Amo 6:4. The ornamental portions were pillars and a canopy, Jdt 13:9, ivory carvings, gold and silver, and probably mosaic work, purple and fine linen. Est 1:6; Son 3:9-10. The ordinary furniture of a bedchamber, in private life, is given in 2Ki 4:10.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
BED
When a person is cast into it by way of punishment, it is a bed of languishing, and therefore a symbol of great tribulation, and anguish of body and mind; for to be tormented in bed, where men seek rest, is the highest of griefs. See Psa 41:3; Psa 5:6; Job 33:19; Isa 28:20; Rev 2:22.
Fuente: A Symbolical Dictionary
Bed
akin to klino, “to lean” (Eng., “recline, incline” etc.), “a bed,” e.g., Mar 7:30, also denotes a “couch” for reclining at meals, Mar 4:21, or a “couch” for carrying the sick, Mat 9:2, Mat 9:6. The metaphorical phrase “to cast into a bed,” Rev 2:22, signifies to afflict with disease (or possibly, to lay on a bier). In Mar 7:4 the AV curiously translates the word “tables” (marg., “beds”), RV, marg. only, “couches.” See COUCH.
a diminutive of No. 1, “a small bed,” is used in Act 5:15. Some mss. have klinon. See also No. 4. See COUCH.
primarily “a place for lying down” (connected with keimai, “to lie”), denotes a “bed,” Luk 11:7; the marriage “bed,” Heb 13:4; in Rom 13:13, it is used of sexual intercourse. By metonymy, the cause standing for the effect, it denotes conception, Rom 9:10.
a Macedonian word (Lat. grabatus), is “a somewhat mean bed, pallet, or mattress for the poor,” Mar 2:4, Mar 2:9, Mar 2:11-12; Mar 6:55; Joh 5:8-11; Act 5:15; Act 9:33. See also No. 2. See COUCH.
Note: The verb stronnuo or stronnumi, “to spread,” signifies, in Act 9:34, “to make a bed;” elsewhere it has its usual meaning. See FURNISH, SPREAD.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Bed
Mattresses, or thick cotton quilts folded, were used for sleeping upon. These were laid upon the duan, or divan, a part of the room elevated above the level of the rest, covered with a carpet in winter, a fine mat in summer. (See Accubation and Banquets.) A divan cushion serves for a pillow and bolster. They do not keep their beds made; the mattresses are rolled up, carried away, and placed in a cupboard till they are wanted at night. And hence the propriety of our Lord’s address to the paralytic, Arise, take up thy bed, or mattress, and walk, Mat 9:6. The duan on which these mattresses are placed, is at the end of the chamber, and has an ascent of several steps. Hence Hezekiah is said to turn his face to the wall when he prayed, that is, from his attendants. In the day the duan was used as a seat, and the place of honour was the corner, Amo 3:12.
Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary
Bed
Psa 41:3 (b) This is a figure of the Lord bringing comfort, peace and blessing to those who care for the sorrows of others. Someone has rendered this passage, “Thou wilt smooth out the wrinkles of his bed in his sickness.”
Isa 28:20 (b) Here is a type of man-made religious programs and humanly devised schemes of salvation on which men rest their souls for eternity. They will find in the great judgment day that this bed was too short, and insufficient.
Isa 57:2 (a) The prophet is telling us that GOD’s people who are the righteous ones will enter into perfect rest and peace throughout eternity.
Isa 57:7 (b) The Lord seems to be telling us that there are those who will be at ease and comfort while they are exalted by their sins, their pride and their rebellion. (See also Psa 73:46).
Eze 23:17 (b) This reveals that Israel accepts all the offers and proffers of lust and profit offered by the Babylonians.
Hos 7:14 (c) This is a picture of the rebellion of Israel even in affliction and trouble. Though forced to their beds by illness they still rebelled against the GOD who could heal them.
Amo 3:12 (b) This interesting passage indicates that Israel will be at ease in comfort and asleep in the midst of sin and trouble. The expression “corner of a bed” indicates that he is sleeping on the side of the bed to make room for a companion who will share his indifference to the evils that surround him.
Mar 4:21 (b) The teaching is that we should not hide our testimony under indolence and laziness. We should be active and zealous for GOD even in our business and in our social life. (See also Luk 8:16).
Rev 2:22 (a) The indication is that GOD will “rub their nose in it.” He will bind these to their sins and will fulfill Rev 22:11. They will receive all the consequences of their sin.