Bank

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BANK . 1 . A mound of earth in siegecraft, see Fortification and Sieoecraft. 2 . The table of a money-changer or banker, see Money-changers.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

BANK. — 1. In the parable of the Pounds, Christ upbraids the slothful servant because he had not I given his pound to the bank ( ἐπὶ τράπεζαν), i.e. the office of the money-changers ( Luke 19:23), who would have kept it safe, and also paid interest for it. ‘Bankers’ ( τραπεζῖται) is used in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 of Matthew 25:27 for ‘money-changers’ of the Authorized Version. In Greek cities the bankers sat at their tables ( τράπεζα) in the market-place. They changed coins, but also took money on deposit, giving what would now seem very high interest (see articles ‘Money-Changers’ and ‘Usury’ in vols. iii. and iv. of Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible).

In this parable some suppose that Christ meant by ‘the bank’ to indicate the Synagogue, or the Christian Church as an organized body, which might use the gifts or powers of a disciple, when he could not, through timidity or lack of energy, exercise them himself. Others have supposed that He pointed to prayer as a substitute for good works, when the disciple was unable to do such. But all this is very precarious. (Cf. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ , p. 209 f.).

There is an apocryphal saying of Christ which may be connected with this parable. Origen ( in Joann. xix. etc.) gives it thus: γἰνεσθε τρατεζἰται δὀκιμοι, ‘Be ye tried money-changers.’ This is explained in the Clementine Homilies (iii. 61) to mean that Christians should prove the words of Christ, as the bankers lest and approve the gold and silver on their tables. But it may perhaps he looked at rather as connected with the stewardship of gifts and talents by the Lord’s disciples, finding its parallel in such sayings as Luke 16:12 ‘If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?’ The duty of a timid servant may be to use his gifts under the guidance and authority of others, but growing experience might advance him to be a τρατεζίτης himself, who is able to trade boldly with that which has been entrusted to him.

2. In Luke 19:43 ‘bank,’ Authorized Version ‘trench’ (Gr. χάραξ). probably stands for a palisade (so (Revised Version margin)) of stakes, strengthened with brandies and earth, with a ditch behind, used by besiegers as a protection against arrows or attacking parties (Lat. vallum ). Such a palisade was actually employed by the soldiers of Titus in the siege of Jerusalem, a.d. 70 (Josephus BJ v. vi. 2).

David M. W. Laird.

King James Dictionary

BANK, n. Bank and bench are radically the same word. The sense is, that which is set, laid or extended. Applied to a mass of earth, it is a collection, that which is thrown or laid together.

1. A mound, pile or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding plain, either as a defense or for other purposes. 2Sam.xx 15.

2. Any steep acclivity, whether rising from a river, a lake, or the sea, or forming the side of a ravine, or the steep side of a hillock on a plain. When we speak of the earth in general adjoining a lake or the sea, we use the word shore but a particular steep acclivity on the side of a lake, river or the sea, is called a bank.

3. A bench,or a bench of rowers, in a galley so called from their seat.

Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojans sweep.

4. By analogy, a collection or stock of money, deposited, by a number of persons, for a particular use that is, an aggregate of particulars, or a fund as, to establish a bank, that is a joint fund.

5. The place where a collection of money is deposited a common repository of the money of individuals or of companies also a house used for a bank.

6. A company of persons concerned in a bank, whether a private association, or an incorporated company the stockholders of a bank, or their representatives, the directors, acting in their corporate capacity.

7. An elevation, or rising ground, in the sea called also flats, shoals, shelves or shallows. These may rise to the surface of the water or near to it but the word bank signifies also elevated ground at the bottom of the sea, when many fathoms below the surface, as the banks of Newfoundland.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

τράπεζα. This is literally a table, and mostly so translated, and which could be used for any purpose. Luke 19:23 . In Matthew 25:27 a kindred word is translated 'exchangers:' both passages imply that there were in those days, as now, those who received and lent money on interest.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bank :

(1) ( שפה , sāphāh , "lip," "edge"): "By the bank of the Jordan" ( 2 Kings 2:13 ); "Upon the bank of the river were very many trees" ( Ezekiel 47:7 , Ezekiel 47:12 ).

(2) ( גּדה , gādhāh , "cuttings"): Always of banks overflowed ( Joshua 3:15; Joshua 4:18; Isaiah 8:7 ), as also

(3) ( גּדיה , gidhyāh , 1 Chronicles 12:15 ).

(4) ( סללה , sōlelāh , "mound," "rampart"): "Cast up a bank against the city" ( 2 Samuel 20:15 , the English Revised Version "mount," the American Standard Revised Version "mound"; compare 2 Kings 19:32; Isaiah 37:33 ). "Banks of sweet herbs" ( Song of Solomon 5:13 ); "the marginal rendering is the right one, 'towers of perfumes,' i.e. plants with fragrant leaves and flowers trained on trellis-work" ( Speaker's Commentary in the place cited.).

(5) (( χάραξ , chárax , "a stake," "entrenchment"): "Thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee" ( Luke 19:43 the King James Version "trench"). It is probably a military term and stands for a "palisade" (so the Revised Version, margin), i.e. probably an embankment of stakes strengthened with branches and earth, with a ditch behind it, used by the besiegers as a protection against arrows or attacking parties (Latin vallum ), such, no doubt, as was employed by Titus in the siege of Jerusalem, 70 ad (Josephus, BJ , V, vi, 2).

(6) Bank; Banking (which see).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

In Luke 19:23, the Greek word τράπεζα, table, is rendered "bank" in the modern sense of the term, which, by a similar appropriation, is derived from the same root as bench. In Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; and John 2:15, it is employed literally, and denotes the "table" of the money-changer (q.v.), at which he sat in the market-place, as is still the custom in the East, and also in the outer court of the Temple. In other passages it denotes an ordinary table for food.

The term "bank," סֹלְלָה, solelah', also occurs in 2 Samuel 20:15; 2 Kings 19:32; Isaiah 37:33, as the name of the mound raised against a besieged city; it is elsewhere rendered "mount" in the same sense. (See Siege).

The "bank" or shore of a river or sea is designated by the Hebrews term גָּדָה or גִּדְיָה, gadah' or gidyah', and שָׂפָה, saphah', a lip.