Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BED

The two most prominent Hebrew words for bed are miškāḇ, “place of lying, couch,” and miṭṭâ, “place of reclining” or “couch.” The NT counterparts are Gk. krábattos, more often rendered “mat” or “pallet” in modern translations, and klínē, “bed, couch.”

Most beds were portable. Archaeological excavations at Jericho found simple woven mats as the normal bedding, though one wooden bed had string lacing. In a seminomadic society, portability was required. For the very poorest, their garments or cloaks served as beds, prompting the prohibition against keeping a cloak as security for a loan (Exod. 22:26-27). Most NT occurrences are in healing narratives, where the lame are brought to Jesus lying on their beds and leave carrying them.

Wealthier people had more substantial beds. The prophet Amos criticized the ostentatious beds inlaid with ivory (Amos 6:4) owned by some in his day, and King Ahasuerus of Persia displayed his splendor in “couches of gold and silver” (Esth. 1:6). Between the extremes of wealth and poverty are beds consisting of mattresses on raised platforms, or wooden beds with short legs (cf. 1 Sam. 19:15; 28:23). Lamps could be placed under these beds (Mark 4:21 = Luke 8:16).

The bed was used not only as a place of rest, but also as a place one went to await death (Gen. 48:2; 49:33). It was thus used as a figurative expression for death (Job 17:13; Ps. 139:8). The righteous meditate (Ps. 4:4[MT 5]; 63:6[7]) and sing to God (Ps. 149:5) on beds, while the wicked plot wickedness on their beds (Ps. 36:4[5]). The sluggard stays lazily in bed (Prov. 26:14), while he should be up doing nobler things (Ps. 132:3).

The bed is also used euphemistically for sexual relations. Reuben lay with his father’s concubine, and thus defiled his father’s bed (Gen. 49:4; 1 Chr. 5:1). In the only occurrence of bed in the NT Epistles, believers are admonished to keep the marriage bed undefiled (Heb. 13:4). With similar meaning the bed is used in the context of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God (Isa. 57:7-8; Ezek. 23:17).

John S. Hammett

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BED

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)