BEDS
Beds
Fig. 89Bed
The manner of sleeping in warm Eastern climates was, and is, necessarily very different from that which is followed in our colder regions. The present usages appear to be the same as those of the ancient Jews, and sufficiently explain the passages of Scripture which bear on the subject. Beds of feathers are altogether unknown, and the Orientals lie exceedingly hard. Poor people who have no certain home, or when on a journey, or employed distant from their homes, sleep on mats or wrapped in their outer garment, which from its importance in this respect was forbidden to be retained in pledge over night from the owner (Gen 9:21; Gen 9:23; Exo 22:27; Deu 24:13). Under such circumstances a stone covered with some folded cloth or piece of dress is often used for a pillow (Gen 28:11). The more wealthy classes sleep on mattresses stuffed with wool or cotton, and which are often no other than a quilt thickly padded, either used singly or one or more placed upon each other. A similar quilt of finer materials forms the coverlet in winter, and in summer a thin blanket suffices; but sometimes the convenient outer garment is used for the latter purpose, and was so among the Jews, as we see from 1Sa 19:13. The difference of use here is, that the poor wrap themselves up in it, and it forms all their bed; whereas when used by the rich it is as a covering only. A pillow is placed upon the mattress, and over both, in good houses, is laid a sheet. The bolsters are more valuable than the mattresses, both for their coverings and material: they are usually stuffed with cotton or other soft substance (Eze 13:20); but instead of these, skins of goats or sheep appear to have been formerly used by the poorer classes and in the hardier ages. These skins were probably sewed up in the natural shape, like water-skins, and stuffed with chaff or wool (1Sa 19:13).
It has been doubted whether different Hebrew words translated ‘couch,’ and ‘bed,’ and ‘bedstead’ in the Authorized Version were actually bedsteads of different sorts, or simply the standing and fixed divans, such as those on which the Western Asiatics commonly make their beds at night. It has been usually thought that the choice lay between these alternatives, because it has not been understood that in the East there is, in fact, a varied arrangement in this matter: and there is reason to think that the different Hebrew words answer to and describe similarly different arrangements, although we may be unable now to give to the several Hebrew words the distinctive applications to still subsisting things.
The divan, or dais, is a slightly elevated platform at the upper end, and often along the sides of the room. On this are laid the mattresses on which the Western Asiatics sit cross-legged in the day-time, with large cushions against the wall to support the back. At night the light bedding is usually laid out upon this divan, and beds for many persons are easily formed. The bedding is removed in the morning, and deposited in recesses in the room, made for the purpose. This is, however, a sort of general sleeping-room for the males of the family and for guests, none but the master having access to the inner parts of the house, where alone there are proper and distinct bed-chambers, where the bedding is either laid on the carpeted floor or placed on a low frame or bedstead.
Fig. 90Bedstead
The most common bedstead in Egypt and Arabia is of this shape, framed rudely of palm sticks. It was used in ancient Egypt, and is figured in the mural paintings. In Palestine, Syria, Persia, where the palm-tree is not common, and where timber is more plentiful, a bed-frame of similar shape is made of boards. This kind of bedstead is also used upon the house-tops during the season in which people sleep there, it is more than likely that Og’s bedstead was of this description (Deu 3:11). In the times in which he lived the palm-tree was more common in Palestine than at present, and those in ordinary use were probably formed of palm-sticks. Thus formed, they are incapable of sustaining any undue weight without being disjointed and bent awry; and this would dictate the necessity of making the bedstead destined to sustain the vast bulk of Og rather with rods of iron than with the mid-ribs of the palm-fronds. These bedsteads are also of a length seldom more than a few inches beyond the average human stature (commonly 6 feet 3 inches), and hence the propriety with which the length of Og’s bedstead is stated to convey an idea of his stature.
It is not necessary to suppose that the bedsteads were all of this sort. There are traces of a sort of portable couch (1Sa 19:15), which appears to have served as a sofa for sitting on in the day-time (1Sa 28:23; Eze 23:41; Amo 6:4); and there is now the less reason to doubt that the ancient Hebrews had a convenience of this sort, as we find such couches in use among the neighboring nations, and figured on their monuments. The subjoined example is from ancient Egypt.
A bed with a tester is mentioned in Jdt 13:9, which, with other indications and the frequent mention of rich tapestries hung upon and about a bed for luxuriousness and ornament, proves that such beds as are still used by royal and distinguished personages were not unknown under the Hebrew monarchies (comp. Est 1:6; Pro 7:16, sq.; Eze 23:41).
It is evident that the ancient Jews, like the modern inhabitants of their land, seldom or never changed their dress on going to bed. Most people only divest themselves of their outer garment, and loosen the ligature of the waist, excepting during the hottest part of the summer, when they sleep almost entirely unclad.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
BEDS
Deu 3:11; Est 1:6; Pro 7:17; Pro 22:27; Son 3:7; Amo 6:4