Bible Dictionary
Tables
“Tables” in Mark 7:4 refers to couches or benches used for reclining at meals. This style of dining became common among the Jews after the exile, alongside other table customs.
Definition
“Tables” in Mark 7:4 refers to banqueting couches or benches used for reclining during meals. The word can also be associated with raised tables used in later Jewish dining customs.
Biblical Usage
The term occurs in the description of Jewish washing practices connected with meals.
Historical Background
Reclining at meals and using raised tables became customary among the Jews after the Captivity. Earlier, a skin or piece of leather spread on the carpeted floor served the purpose of a table, sometimes with a stool in the middle.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Mark 7:4) means banqueting-couches or benches, on which the Jews reclined when at meals. This custom, along with the use of raised tables like ours, was introduced among the Jews after the Captivity. Before this they had, properly speaking, no table. That which served the purpose was a skin or piece of leather spread out on the carpeted floor. Sometimes a stool was placed in the middle of this skin. (See ABRAHAM’S BOSOM; BANQUET; MEALS.)