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 7:4); writing tablet of wax (Luke 1:63). The “tables” (Matt. 21:12; John 2:15), were doubtless sufficiently raised to answer the purposes of a counter for money-changing purposes. The meaning of “serve tables” (Acts 6:2), 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 6:5-6).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
In a few places this term refers to a tablet which could be written on, (Hab. 2:2; Luke 1:63; 2 Cor. 3:3). In 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 69:22. 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 91:3 (#445).
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