Charger

Charger. The silver vessels offered by the heads of the tribes for the service of the Tabernacle (Numbers 8) are thus termed in our translation, being in the original קעָרָה (keärah´, literally a deep dish), a bowl, elsewhere rendered "dish" (Ex 25:29; Ex 36:16; Nu 4:7). These are said to have been of silver, and to have weighed each 130 shekels, or 65 oz. (Hussey, Anc. Weights, chap. 9, p. 190). The "charger" upon which the Baptist's head was presented to Herodias (comp. Homer, Il. 1:141) must have been a large platter (πίναξ, strictly a broad tablet [comp. πινακίδιον a writing-tablet, Lu 1:63], hence a wooden trencher, Mt 14:8,11; Mr 6:25,28; rendered "platter" in Lu 11:39). The "chargers" of gold and silver, in Ezr 1:9 (אֲגִרטָל, agartal'), were probably, as interpreted by the Sept., Vulg., and Syriac, basins for containing the blood of sacrifices; although others make them to have been baskets for first-fruit offerings. See BASIN; see DISH.