Judgment-Hall
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
In ancient times justice was dispensed in the open, usually in the market-place, near the city gate. With the development of civic life, however, special courts of justice began to be built. Thus Solomon had his ‘throne-room’ or portico erected within the complex of his palace buildings ( 1 Kings 7:7), where justice continued to be administered no doubt till the latest period of the Monarchy. The Sanhedrin also convened for judgment in the ‘Hall of Hewn Stone’ on the south side of the great court of the Temple. In Rome, too, the Imperial Age saw the law-courts transferred to basibicae , or open colonnades near the Forum, and finally to closed halls, where cases were heard in secret ( in secretario ). The administration of justice in basilicae has been traced to Pompeii and other centres of Roman life, but was apparently not the custom in Palestine, the word translated ‘judgment hall’ in the Authorized Version( John 18:28; John 18:33; John 19:9, Acts 23:35) being really πραιτώριον or palace .
A. R. Gordon.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]
JUDGMENT-HALL. See Prætorium.
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature [3]
Judgment-Hall occurs;;;;;; . In all these passages except one the English version gives an explanation of the word rather than a translation: thus, , 'the common-hall,' margin, 'or governor's house:'; , 'the judgment-hall;' margin, 'or Pilate's house:' , 'the palace;' margin, 'or Caesar's court.' Originally the word signified the general's tent in a camp, but it came at length to be applied to the residence of the civil governor in provinces and cities, and was used to signify whatever appertained to the praetor or governor: for instance, his residence, either the whole or any part of it, as his dwelling-house, or the place where he administered justice, or even the large enclosed court at the entrance to the praetorian residence.
Upon comparing the instances in which the evangelists mention the praetorium, it will be seen, first, that in , it means the residence of Pilate, which seems to have been the magnificent palace built by Herod, situated in the north part of the upper city, west of the temple, and overlooking the temple. Secondly, the word is applied in the New Testament, by synecdoche, to a particular part of the praetorian residence. Thus, , and , 'And the soldiers led Jesus away into the hall called Praetorium, and gathered unto them the whole band, and they clothed him with purple,' etc.; where the word rather refers to the court or area in front of the praetorium, or some other court where the procurator's guards were stationed. In , the word seems applied, when all the circumstances are considered, to Pilate's private examination room. In like manner, when Felix 'commanded Paul to be kept in Herod's praetorium' , the words apply not only to the whole palace originally built at Caesarea by Herod, and now most likely inhabited by the praetor, but also to the keep or donjon, a prison for confining offenders, such as existed in our ancient royal palaces and grand baronial castles. Thirdly, in the remaining instance of the word, , 'So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the praetorium,' 'palace,' it is, in the opinion of the best commentators, used to signify the praetorian camp at Rome, a select body of troops constituted by Augustus to guard his person and to have charge of the city, so that the words of the apostle really mean, 'My bonds in Christ are manifest to all the praetorians, and by their means to the public at large.'
