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Table

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(board). Primitive tables were merely leather or skins spread on the floor. After the captivity they were slightly raised. Beds or couches are meant (Mark 7:4⁴And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. (Mark 7:4)); writing tablet of wax (Luke 1:63⁶³And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. (Luke 1:63)). The “tables” (Matt. 21:12¹²And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, (Matthew 21:12); John 2:15¹⁵And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; (John 2:15)), were doubtless sufficiently raised to answer the purposes of a counter for money-changing purposes. The meaning of “serve tables” (Acts 6:2²Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. (Acts 6:2)), is that duty which fell to the early Christian ministry of attending to the gathering and distributing of food to the poor, or of collecting and distributing the church funds. This duty was transferred to the deacons (Acts 6:5-6⁵And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: ⁶Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. (Acts 6:5‑6)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

In a few places this term refers to a tablet which could be written on, (Hab. 2:2²And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (Habakkuk 2:2); Luke 1:63⁶³And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. (Luke 1:63); 2 Cor. 3:3³Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3)). In Mark 7:4⁴And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. (Mark 7:4) the word translated “table” is κλίνη, “a couch,” often translated “bed” in the AV.

From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Psalm 69:22²²Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. (Psalm 69:22). Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

The table of the modern Arabs is usually nothing but a piece of skin or leather, a mat, or a linen cloth spread upon the ground. The ancient Hebrews are supposed to have used a table of this sort, and this is thought to be referred to in the text. A table thus spread on the ground might easily become a trap by which the feet of the unwary would be entangled so that they should fall. For a description of the “snare” and “trap” referred to here, sea note on Psalm 91:3³Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. (Psalm 91:3) (#445).

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