Bible Dictionary
Bar
A bar was a wooden, bronze, or iron rod used to secure a door or strengthen a city’s defenses. Scripture also uses the word for barriers, fortifications, and a rock or shore of the sea.
Definition
A bar was a rod or beam used to bolt a door, secure a gate, or strengthen a city’s defenses. The word could also refer to a rock in the sea, the shore of the sea, strong fortifications, or powerful impediments.
Biblical Usage
Scripture uses bars as images of secured doors, fortified cities, and obstacles that must be broken or overcome. The term also appears in descriptions of a sea-rock and the boundary or shore of the sea.
Historical Background
Bars used for doors could be made of iron, brass, or wood. The same word therefore covered both ordinary household hardware and the defensive structures of cities.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Used to denote the means by which a door is bolted (Neh. 3:3); a rock in the sea (Jonah 2:6); the shore of the sea (Job 38:10); strong fortifications and powerful impediments, etc. (Isa. 45:2; Amos 1:5); defences of a city (1 Kings 4:13). A bar for a door was of iron (Isa. 45:2), brass (Ps. 107:16), or wood (Nah. 3:13).