Bier

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(that bears). The frame on which a dead body was carried to the grave (Luke 7:14¹⁴And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. (Luke 7:14); 2 Chron. 16:14¹⁴And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him. (2 Chronicles 16:14)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

A light frame or couch on which the dead could be carried (2 Sam. 3:31³¹And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier. (2 Samuel 3:31); Luke 7:14¹⁴And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. (Luke 7:14)). The Hebrew word mittah is often translated “bed.”

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Bier of Osiris

“269. Beds for Biers” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

2 Samuel 3:31³¹And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier. (2 Samuel 3:31). Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier.

Natal, “bier,” would be better rendered by bed. Persons of distinction were sometimes carried to the grave on their beds. Josephus describes minutely the preparations which were made by Archelaus for the funeral of his father Herod. The body was placed on a gilded bed, which was richly adorned with precious stones (Antiquities, book 17, chap. 8, § 3).

“764. The Bier” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Luke 7:14¹⁴And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. (Luke 7:14). He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still.

The bier is a wooden frame, partly resembling a coffin and partly a hand barrow. The deceased is arrayed in grave-clothes, the ankles are bound, the hands are laid on the breast, and a shawl is thrown across the face. Miss Rogers says of a bier she saw: “It was a painted wooden stand, about seven feet by two, raised slightly on four legs, with a low gallery round it, formed of uprights far apart and two cross-bars. Two strong poles projected at each end from the corners. Above it a canopy was raised, made of freshly-gathered elastic palm-branches. They were bent like half-hoops, and then interlaced and secured lengthways with straight fronds” (Domestic Life in Palestine, p. 162). The bier was lifted by four men who bore it aloft, the poles resting on their shoulders.

Bier

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

Concise Bible Dictionary:

“269. Beds for Biers” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

“764. The Bier” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

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