Bible Dictionary
Bench
A bench was a deck or seating structure on a ship. Ezekiel uses the benches of Tyre’s merchant ship in a poetic description of the city’s wealth and maritime trade.
Definition
A bench was a seating or deck structure on a ship. In Ezekiel’s description of Tyre, the benches of the merchant ship were made or overlaid with valuable wood and ivory.
Biblical Usage
The benches form part of Ezekiel’s vivid figure in which Tyre is portrayed as a richly furnished merchant ship, complete with mast, oars, and pilots.
Historical Background
The term refers to the benches of a boat rather than an ordinary household seat. The imagery emphasizes Tyre’s maritime wealth and commercial activity.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Deck of a Tyrian ship, described by Ezekiel (27:6) as overlaid with box-wood.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>(qeresh): Found only in English Versions of the Bible in Eze 27:6, in the prophet's "lamentation over Tyre": "They have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of Kittim," where the word evidently stands for the "benches" of the boat whose "mast" (verse 5) and "oars" (verse 6) have just been described, in the vivid figs. of speech in which the city itself is pictured as a merchantship. Compare verse 8, "Thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy pilots."</p><p>See SEAT.</p>