Table

Table, is the rendering in the A.V. usually of שֻׁלחָן, shulchân (New Test. τράπεζα, likewise invariably so translated, except Lu 19:23 ["bank"]'; Ac 16:34 ["meat"]), so called from being extended (שָׁלִח; comp. Homer, Od. 10:37; and see Ps 69:23), and denoting especially a table spread with food (Jg 1:7; 1Sa 20:29,34; 1Ki 5:7; 1Ki 10:5; Job 36:16; Ne 5:17); but spoken likewise of the table of shew-bread (see below), and likewise of the lectisternia prepared before idols (Isa 45:11; see. Schumann, De Lectisferniis in Sacro Cod. [Lips. 1739]). For the "tables" of stone on which the Decalogue was engraved, see below. The word. מֵסֵב, mesâb, a divan (q.v.), is once rendered "at table" (Song of Solomon 1, 12). See SITTING.

Little is known as to the form of tables among the Hebrews; but, as in other Oriental nations, they were probably not high. In Ex 25:23, indeed, the table for the shew-bread is described as a cubit and a half in height; but the table of Herod's temple, as depicted on the arch of Titus at Rome, is only half a cubit high. Probably the table of the ancient Hebrews differed little from that of the modern Arabs, namely, a piece of skin or leather spread upon the ground (hence the figure of entanglement in it, Ps 69:23). In Palestine, at the present day, the general custom, even of the better classes, is to bring a polygonal stool (kursi), about fourteen inches high, into the common sitting-room for meals. Upon this is placed a tray (seniyeh) of basketwork or of metal, generally copper, on which the food is arranged. 'These two pieces of furniture together compose the table (sûfrah). The bread lies upon the mat beneath the tray, and a cruse of water stands near by, from which all drink as they have need. On formal occasions, this is held in the hand by a servant, who waits upon the guests. Around this stool and tray the guests gather, sitting on the floor (Thomson, Land and Book, 1, 180). See EATING.