Dungeon
Dungeon
(, bor, Gen 40:15; Gen 41:14, etc., a pit, as often rendered; fully , house of the pit, Exo 12:29; Jer 37:16), is properly distinguished from the ordinary prison ( or , also or ) as being more severe, and usually consisting of a deep cell or cistern (Jer 38:6; hence the propriety of the Hebrews word which indicates a hole), like the Roman inner prison ( , Act 16:24). Incarceration, a punishment so common in Egypt (Gen 39:20 sq.; Gen 40:3 sq.; Gen 41:10; Gen 42:19), was also in use among the later Israelites (comp. Ezr 7:26). But it is nowhere mentioned in the law, perhaps because among a people, every man of whom was a landed proprietor, it was easily dispensed with, a fine being always easy to inflict; partly, too, because it seemed improper to take cultivators of the earth from their land for any length of time. (Other reasons are suggested by Michaelis, Mos. Recht, 5:45 so.) Arrest is mentioned, indeed (Lev 24:12), but not as a punishment. The guilty was simply kept in ward to await sentence (comp. 2Ch 18:26; Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterth. II, 1:186). So it was a legal principle in Rome that a prison was to be used only to keep men, not to punish them. Under the later kings imprisonment was used as a penalty, yet, as it seems, not by judicial sentence, but at the will of the sovereign, especially in the case of too plain spoken prophets (2Ch 16:10; Jer 20:2; Jer 32:2 sq.; Jer 33:1 sq.; Jer 37:15). After the exile it became very customary (Mat 11:2; Luk 3:20; Joh 3:24), and was sometimes used to punish religious offenses (Act 4:18; Act 4:21; Act 8:3; Act 12:4; Act 22:4; Act 26:10), and in cases of debt (Mat 18:30; comp. Arvieux, 1:411).
The most ancient prisons were simply water cisterns, out of which, since the sides came together above, one could not easily escape without aid (Gen 37:20; Gen 37:22). Imprisonment in these was often made the more unpleasant by deep mud (Jer 38:6). There were at the gates, or in the watch houses at the palaces of kings, or the houses of the commanders of the body guard, who were the executors of criminal sentences, especial state prisons (Jer 20:2; Jer 32:2; Gen 39:20 sq.; Gen 40:4; comp. Jer 37:15; Jer 37:20; Harmer, Obs. 3:250 sq.). A prison of the kind last named is called prison house ( , 2Ch 16:10). The prisoners were kept in chains (Jdg 16:21; 2Sa 3:34; Jer 40:1). Under the Roman empire they were chained, by one or both hands, to the soldiers who watched them (Act 12:4; Act 21:33; Pliny, Ep. 10:65; Seneca, Ephesians 5, and De tranquil. An. 10; Athen. 5. 213; Joseph. Ant. 18:6, 7), as is still the custom in Abyssinia (Rippell, Abys. 1:218). Sometimes the Israelites chained them by the feet to a wooden block (Job 13:27; Job 33:11; Act 16:24; comp. Wetstein in loc.; Jacob, ad Lucian. Toxar. page 104), or by the neck (comp. Aristophanes, Clouds, 592), or by the hands and feet at once. Such severe imprisonment is to be understood in Jer 20:2; Jer 29:26, where our version has “in the stocks” (comp. Symmach. , and the Greek , Schol. in Aristoph. Plut. page 476). Poor and meagre fare seems to have added to the severity of the penalty (2Ch 18:26). An example of lax state imprisonment appears in 1Ki 2:37. Visits to prisoners are allowed with comparative freedom in the East (Mat 25:36; Jer 32:8; see Rosenmuller, Morgenland, 5:101). Roman prison discipline appears especially in the Acts of the Apostles. The keeper of the prison is called in Greek (Act 16:23; Act 27:36), but once (Luk 12:58), and was armed (Act 16:27). SEE PRAETORIUM. See in general A. Bombardini. De carcere et antiquo ejus usu (Padua, 1713). SEE PRISON.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Dungeon
different from the ordinary prison in being more severe as a place of punishment. Like the Roman inner prison (Acts 16:24), it consisted of a deep cell or cistern (Jer. 38:6). To be shut up in, a punishment common in Egypt (Gen. 39:20; 40:3; 41:10; 42:19). It is not mentioned, however, in the law of Moses as a mode of punishment. Under the later kings imprisonment was frequently used as a punishment (2 Chron. 16:10; Jer. 20:2; 32:2; 33:1; 37:15), and it was customary after the Exile (Matt. 11:2; Luke 3:20; Acts 5:18, 21; Matt. 18:30).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Dungeon
dunjun. See PRISON.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Dungeon
Pit used for water, but sometimes dry and used as a prison. Joseph called his prison a dungeon, though perhaps it was not a pit. Gen 40:15; Gen 41:14. Jeremiah was put into a pit, and he sank in the mire. Jer 38:6-13; Lam 3:53; Lam 3:55.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Dungeon
In prisons
Jer 38:6; Lam 3:53 Prison
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Dungeon
Dungeon. See Prison.