Topic
Table
59 passages cited, from 2 classic reference works.
These works date from 1896–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Exodus 24:12ISBE · Nave 3. Of testimony — The commandments engraved upon
¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
- Judges 1:7ISBE · Nave 1. An article of furniture
And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
- 2 Kings 4:10ISBE · Nave 1. An article of furniture
Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.
- Proverbs 3:3ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
- Isaiah 30:8ISBE · Nave 4. A slab upon which inscriptions were made
¶ Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
- Jeremiah 17:1ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
- Habakkuk 2:2ISBE · Nave 4. A slab upon which inscriptions were made
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
- Malachi 1:7ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE — Of the altar
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
- Malachi 1:12ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE — Of the altar
¶ But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.
- Luke 1:63ISBE · Nave 4. A slab upon which inscriptions were made
And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
- 1 Corinthians 10:21ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE — Of the Lord' s supper
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
- 2 Corinthians 3:3ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Forasmuch 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.
Show 47 more
- Hebrews 9:4 ISBE · Nave 3. Of testimony — Were placed in the ark of the covenant
- Exodus 20:3–17 Nave 3. Of testimony — The commandments engraved upon
- Exodus 25:23–30 ISBE
- Exodus 31:18 Nave 3. Of testimony
- Exodus 32:15 Nave 3. Of testimony
- Exodus 32:15–19 Nave 3. Of testimony — Were broken
- Exodus 34:1 Nave 3. Of testimony — A second set engraved
- Exodus 34:29 Nave 3. Of testimony
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Nave 3. Of testimony — The commandments engraved upon
- Deuteronomy 5:4–22 Nave 3. Of testimony — The commandments engraved upon
- Deuteronomy 9:9–11 Nave 3. Of testimony — Were broken
- Deuteronomy 9:10 Nave 3. Of testimony — The commandments engraved upon
- Deuteronomy 9:17 Nave 3. Of testimony — Were broken
- Deuteronomy 10:1–4 Nave 3. Of testimony — A second set engraved
- Deuteronomy 10:5 Nave 3. Of testimony — Were placed in the ark of the covenant
- 1 Samuel 20:29 Nave 1. An article of furniture
- 1 Samuel 20:34 Nave 1. An article of furniture
- 2 Samuel 9:7 ISBE
- 1 Kings 8:9 Nave 3. Of testimony — Were placed in the ark of the covenant
- 1 Kings 10:5 ISBE
- 1 Kings 18:19 ISBE
- 1 Chronicles 28:16 Nave 1. An article of furniture — Made of silver
- Nehemiah 5:17 ISBE
- Psalms 69:22 ISBE
- Proverbs 7:3 ISBE
- Song of Songs 1:12 ISBE
- Ezekiel 39:20 ISBE
- Ezekiel 41:22 ISBE
- Ezekiel 44:16 ISBE
- Hosea 8:12 Nave 3. Of testimony — The commandments engraved upon
- Tobit 7:8 ISBE
- 1 Maccabees 8:22 ISBE
- 1 Maccabees 14:18 ISBE
- 1 Maccabees 14:27 ISBE
- 1 Maccabees 14:48 ISBE
- Mark 7:4 ISBE
- Mark 7:28 ISBE
- Mark 11:15 ISBE
- Luke 16:21 ISBE
- Luke 22:30 ISBE
- John 2:15 Nave 1. An article of furniture
- John 12:2 ISBE
- John 13:28 ISBE
- Acts 6:2 Nave FIGURATIVE — Of charities
- Romans 11:9 ISBE
- 1 Corinthians 8:10 ISBE
- 1 Corinthians 10:18 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 45 references
"Table" is derived from the Latin tabula, meaning primarily "a board," but with a great variety of other significances, of which "writing-tablet" is the most important for the Biblical use of "table." So in English "table" meant at first "any surface" and, in particular, "a surface for writing," and further specialization was needed before "table" became the name of the familiar article of furniture ("object with a horizontal surface"), a meaning not possessed by tabula in Latin. After this specialization "table" in the sense of "a surface for writing" was replaced in later English by the diminutive form "tablet." But "surface for writing" was still a common meaning of "table," and in this sense it represents luach (Ex 24:12, etc.), a word of uncertain origin, plax, "something flat" (2Co 3:3; Heb 9:4), deltos, "a writing tablet" (1 Macc 8:22; 14:18,27,48), or pinakidion "writing tablet" (Lu 1:63--a rather unusual word). the American Standard Revised Version has kept the word in the familiar combination "tables of stone" (Ex 24:12, etc.), but elsewhere (Pr 3:3; 7:3; Isa 30:8; Jer 17:1; Hab 2:2; Lu 1:63) has replaced "table" by "tablet," a change made by the English Revised Version only in Isa 30:8; Lu 1:63.
See TABLET.
The table as an article of furniture is shulchan, in the Hebrew and trapezal, in the Greek. The only exceptions are So 1:12, mecabh, "something round," perhaps a "round table," perhaps a "cushion," perhaps a "festal procession," and Mr 7:4, the King James Version kline, "couch" (so the Revised Version (British and American)), while Joh 13:28 and Joh 12:2, the King James Version "at the table," and Tobit 7:8, the King James Version "on the table," represent only the general sense of the original. Of the two regular words, shulchan is properly "a piece of hide," and so "a leather mat," placed on the ground at meal time, but the word came to mean any "table," however elaborate (e.g. Ex 25:23-30). Trapeza means "having four feet."
2Ki 4:10 seems to indicate that a table was a necessary article in even the simpler rooms. Curiously enough, however, apart from the table of shewbread there is no reference in the Bible to the form or construction of tables, but the simpler tables in Palestine of the present day are very much lower than ours. The modern "tables of the money changers" (Mr 11:15 and parallel's) are small square trays on stands, and they doubtless had the same form in New Testament times.
See SHEWBREAD, TABLE OF; MONEY-CHANGERS.
To eat at a king's table (2Sa 9:7, etc.) is naturally to enjoy a position of great honor, and the privilege is made by Christ typical of the highest reward (Lu 22:30). Usually "to eat at one's table" is meant quite literally, but in 1Ki 18:19; Ne 5:17 (compare 1Ki 10:5) it probably means "be fed at one's expense." On the other hand, the misery of eating the leavings of a table (Jud 1:7; Mr 7:28; Lu 16:21) needs no comment. The phrase "table of the Lord (Yahweh)" in Mal 1:7,12 the King James Version (compare Eze 41:22; 44:16; Eze 39:20 is quite different) means "the table (altar) set before the Lord," but the same phrase in 1Co 10:21 is used in a different sense and the origin of its use by Paul is obscure. Doubtless the language, if not the meaning, of Malachi had its influence and may very well have been suggested to Paul as he wrote 1Co 10:18. On the other hand, light may be thrown on the passage by such a papyrus fragment as "Chareimon invites you to dine at the table (kline) of the lord Serapis," a formal invitation to an idol-banquet (1Co 8:10; Pap. Oxyr. i.110; compare iii.523). This would explain Paul's "table of demons"--a phrase familiar to the Corinthians--and he wrote "table of the Lord" to correspond (compare, however, Pirqe 'Abhoth, iii.4). "Table at which the Lord is Host," at any rate, is the meaning of the phrase. On the whole passage see the comms., especially that of Lietzmann (fullest references). Probably Lu 22:30 has no bearing on 1Co 10:21. The meaning of Ps 69:22 (quoted in Ro 11:9), "Let their table before them become a snare," is very obscure ("let them be attacked while deadened in revelings"?), and perhaps was left intentionally vague.
Burton Scott Easton
In the topical indexes
Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 37 references, grouped by sub-topic
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.