Bible Dictionary
Beam
A beam was a large piece of wood used in buildings, roofs, walls, looms, or weapons. Jesus used the image of a beam and a speck to teach against hypocritical judgment.
Definition
A beam was a substantial piece of wood used in construction, roofing, walls, looms, and weapons. Biblical terms translated “beam” can refer to a rafter, girder, plank, loom-beam, spear-staff, or timber used in a building.
Biblical Usage
Jesus contrasts a beam with a mote or splinter to teach that a person must first deal with his own greater fault before correcting another. In Habakkuk, a beam is pictured as answering the wall in protest against sin.
Historical Background
Beds and roofs could rest on beams carried by pillars, while mud-brick buildings could use timber as strengthening or bond material. A loom-beam and a spear-staff were also called beams in translation.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Occurs in the Authorized Version as the rendering of various Hebrew words. In 1 Sam. 17:7, it means a weaver’s frame or principal beam; in Hab. 2:11, a crossbeam or girder; 2 Kings 6:2, 5, a cross-piece or rafter of a house; 1 Kings 7:6, an architectural ornament as a projecting step or moulding; Ezek. 41:25, a thick plank. In the New Testament the word occurs only in Matt. 7:3, 4, 5, and Luke 6:41, 42, where it means (Gr. dokos) a large piece of wood used for building purposes, as contrasted with “mote” (Gr. karphos), a small piece or mere splinter. “Mote” and “beam” became proverbial for little and great faults.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>bem: The word is used to translate various Old Testament terms:</p><p>(1) gebh (1Ki 6:9), tsela`, "a rib" (1Ki 7:3), qurah (2Ch 3:7; 34:11; So 1:17), all refer to constructional beams used in buildings for roofing and upper floors, main beams being carried on pillars generally of wood. The last term is used in 2Ki 6:2,5 ("as one was felling a beam") of trees which were being cut into logs. A related form is qarah (used of the Creator, Ps 104:3; of building, Ne 2:8; 3:3,6). Yet another term, kaphim, is used in Hab 2:11: "The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it"--a protest against sin made by inanimate things. The Douay version, in translating, "the timber that is between the joints of the building," suggests the use of bond timbers in buildings, similar to that used at one time in English brickwork. It probably refers to its use in mud brick buildings, although bond timbers might also be used in badly built stone walls. The Arabs of the present day use steel joints to strengthen angles of buildings.</p><p>(2) Beam, in weaving, represents two words, 'eregh (Jud 16:14, the beam of a loom to which Samson's hair was fastened; used in Job 7:6 of a weaver's shuttle), and manor (1Sa 17:7; 2Sa 21:19; 1Ch 11:23; 20:5), of a spear-staff.</p><p>(3) In the New Testament Jesus uses the word dokos, "a rafter," in bidding the censorious person first cast the "beam" out of his own eye before attempting to remove the "mote" from another's eye (Mt 7:3; Lu 6:41,42).</p><p>See ARCHITECTURE; HOUSE.</p><p>Arch. C. Dickie</p>