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737. Boat Cushion

From: Manners and Customs of the Bible

By: James M. Freeman

Narrator: Chris Genthree

Mark 4:38

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Mark 4:38³⁸And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? (Mark 4:38). He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow.

This “pillow” (προσκεφύλαιον) is supposed by critics to have been different from the soft pillow used for a headrest in houses. See note on Ezekiel 13:18¹⁸And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you? (Ezekiel 13:18) (#573). Such an article would hardly be in place in a fisherman’s boat. It was rather the cushion or fleece on which the rowers sat when they pulled the oars. “This use of προσκεφύλαιον for ‘cushion to sit upon,’ though rare, is found occasionally in even the purest classical writers” (Bloomfield).

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