Stocks
Summary
Instruments of punishment used to confine prisoners by securing their feet, hands, or neck in a wooden frame.
☩Types of Stocks
Several Hebrew words describe different forms of stocks. The mahpeketh was a form of pillory that confined the head, hands, and legs, bending the body into a painful position. The sad was a fetter specifically for confining the feet. The tsinok may have been stocks that confined both hands and feet. The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the mahpeketh, and prisons commonly had chambers designated for this purpose.
☩New Testament Usage
The Greek word xulon (literally 'wood') describes the stocks in which Paul and Silas were fastened at Philippi. The Roman stocks could be made instruments of torture by spreading the prisoner's legs apart at the jailer's will. This shameful treatment was part of the suffering Paul later referenced when writing to the Thessalonians.
Related Verses9 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Stocks," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Stocks," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 3.George Morrish, "Stocks," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).