Gallery

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

Gallery, Galleries

I should not have paused at this word, but for the better apprehension of what the church saith of "holding the king in the galleries." ( Song of Song of Solomon 7:5) The proper idea of the gallery in the eastern buildings is necessary, in order to enter into the sense of this passage. Dr. Shaw in his Travels, page 274-5, tell us, that the court in the summer-season, among persons of rank, is sheltered from the heat, or inclemency of the weather, by a velum umbrella, or veil; which being expanded upon ropes from one side of the parapet wall to the other, may be folded or unfolded at pleasure. The Psalmist seems to have an allusion to this, when speaking of the covering above, he describes the Lord as "spreading out the heavens like a curtain." ( Psalms 104:1-35) This court is, for the most part, surrounded with a cloister or colonnade, over which there is a gallery erected of the same dimensions with the cloister, having a balustrade of carved or latticed work. From the cloister and gallery, there is a passage into large and spacious chambers. It should seem, therefore, that by the act of"holding the king in the galleries"is meant, that here the church detained Jesus for sweet communion and fellowship. And here they had frequent meetings, unnoticed and unknown to others; in which the Lord opened to his church the secrets of his love, in leading her into the chambers of his covenant mercy and grace; and the church held him fast in those galleries, not suffering him to depart until "that she had brought him whom her soul loved, as she saith elsewhere, into her mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived her." ( Song of Song of Solomon 3:4)

That this is the sense of the expression of "holding the king in the galleries" seems plain, from another consideration; namely, that the word held signifies being bound as a prisoner with chains and fetters. And this corresponds to the whole passage; yea, to the whole song. For while the church is made blessed in Christ, as her Head, which is said to be upon her "like Carmel, and the hair of her head like purple;" meaning, that Christ being the Head of his body the church, high, like the lofty mount Carmel, all the innumerable members on him beautiful as the purple coloured hair, the most lovely and valued among eastern women, the Lord praises his church with saying, "How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse! thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck." ( Song of Song of Solomon 4:9)

The reader will indulge me, I hope, with barely adding, that if such was the sweet result of Jesus being held by the church in the galleries of old, surely, believers now ought to take confidence and delight to detain the Lord in the galleries of ordinances; from whence, while they hold him fast by the lively actings of faith and prayer, like the wrestlings of their father Jacob of old, (See  Genesis 32:26) they may be led by him into the chambers of rich communion, in the high privilege of near and familiar enjoyment of all covenant blessings. It is by these gracious acts the Lord acknowledgeth the church, and, consequently, every individual of the church to be his bribe, when as the church elsewhere saith, "The king hath brought me into his chambers." ( Song of Song of Solomon 1:4) For there Jesus manifesteth himself to his people otherwise than he doeth to the world. ( John 14:21-22) And until that he brings them home to the marriage-supper of the Lamb in heaven, while upon earth, having espoused them to himself, he brings them by faith into his chambers, opens to them more and more of his unsearchable riches, gives a foretaste of the glory hereafter to be revealed, and by the gracious influences of his Holy Spirit, induceth all those blessed effects in the soul which the apostle Peter so delightfully describes: "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." ( 1 Peter 1:8)

King James Dictionary

GAL'LERY,n.

1. In architecture, a covered part of a building, commonly in the wings, used as an ambulatory or place for walking. 2. An ornamental walk or apartment in gardens, formed by trees. 3. In churches, a floor elevated on columns and furnished with pews or seats; usually ranged on three sides of the edifice. A similar structure in a play-house. 4. In fortification, a covered walk across the ditch of a town, made of beams covered with planks and loaded with earth. 5. In a mine, a narrow passage or branch of the mine carried under ground to a work designed to be blown up. 6. In a ship, a frame like a balcony projecting from the stern or quarter of a ship of war or of a large merchantman. That part at the stern, is called the stern-gallery; that at the quarters,the quarter-gallery.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Gallery 1. AV [Note: Authorized Version.] in   Song of Solomon 7:6 reads ‘The king is held in the galleries.’ The Heb. is bârehâtîm , which, there is no reasonable doubt, means ‘in the tresses’ (so RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). The king is captivated, that is to say, by the tresses of this ‘prince’s daughter.’ 2. AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of attîq , a word whose etymology and meaning are both obscure. It is found only in the description of Ezekiel’s temple (  Ezekiel 41:18;   Ezekiel 41:16;   Ezekiel 42:8;   Ezekiel 42:8 ).

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Ezekiel 41:15-16 Ezekiel 42:3 42:5 Ezekiel 41:15-16

Temple annex or columned porches (contrast  Ezekiel 42:6 ). The two buildings in  Ezekiel 42:1 were apparently constructed “stairstep” style with each floor smaller than the one beneath it. Here the gallery is perhaps the terrace formed by the flat roof of the floor below. Others have suggested the Hebrew refers to underlying rock formations that protruded into the structure.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Heb. rahit ( Song of Solomon 1:17 ), translated "rafters," marg. "galleries;" probably panel-work or fretted ceiling.

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Gallery'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/g/gallery.html. 1897.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. attiq. The signification of this word is not now definitely known: some suppose it to signify a colonnade.  Ezekiel 41:15,16;  Ezekiel 42:3,5 .

2. rahat , 'to be collected or drawn together.' It is translated 'gutters ' in  Genesis 30:38,41 , and 'troughs' in  Exodus 2:16 , in which water was collected for the cattle.  Song of Solomon 7:5 is better translated "The king is held by the tresses" of the 'hair' mentioned in the line before.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

gal´ẽr - i  :

(1) ( אתּוּק , 'attūḳ , Kethı̄bh  ; אתּיק , 'attı̄ḳ , used only in   Ezekiel 41:16;  Ezekiel 42:3 ,  Ezekiel 42:1; etymology and meaning uncertain; among the more probable suggestions are "pillar," "column," "walk with pillars," "colonnades," "passageway," "porches," "galleries" of "terraces." Cornhill suggests the substitution of ḳı̄rōth , "walls," to suit the context; others, e.g. Rothstein, would omit it as a dittography or other corruption): A long narrow balcony formed either by pillars or by the receding upper stories of a building. Both kinds are described in Ezekiel's vision of the Temple restored. They surround the three stories of side chambers around the Temple proper, and also the "building before the separate place which was at the back thereof," and the three-story structure containing rows of chambers in the outer court opposite the side-chambers of the Temple. Those around the Temple proper were apparently supported by pillars, and hence, they did not take away from the width of the 2nd-story and 3rd-story rooms (compare  Ezekiel 41:7 ). On the other hand, the galleries of the outer buildings which were not supported by pillars and therefore not on top of each other, but in terraces, did take away from the upper stories more than from the lowest and middlemost: the upper chambers were shortened or "straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground."

The lower porches of the outer court were cut off from the view of those of the inner court by a low wall, but in the 3story, gallery looked out to gallery across the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court and the pavement which belonged to the outer court." These "galleries," or 'attı̄ḳı̄m , are one of the few features that distinguish the temple of Ezekiel's vision from Solomon's temple. The idea and perhaps the word seem to have been borrowed from the more elaborate architecture of the countries of the Exile, which must have impressed the Jews of Ezekiel's time very strongly. The building Ezekiel would place in the outer court with its terraces is a perfect Babylonian ziggurat or stage-tower temple (compare Encyclopedia Brit , 11th edition, II, 374, c-d ).

(2) ( רהט , rahaṭ , probably "lock of hair,"   Song of Solomon 7:5; רהיט , rāhı̄ṭ Ḳerē , רחיט , rāḥı̄ṭ , Kethı̄bh , probably "rafters," Song 11:7; both words and also the similar word ( rehāṭı̄m ,  Genesis 30:38;  Exodus 2:16 ), translated "troughs," are probably connected with the Aramaic rehaṭ "to flow," "to run"): Although the King James Version uses "galleries" in  Song of Solomon 7:5 and   Song of Solomon 1:17 margin, the context in each place clearly points to another meaning. In the former of these passages, "the king is held captive in the tresses thereof," there follows a description of the head. In the latter passage the word in question is in parallelism with ḳōrōth bātēnū , "the beams of our house," and "rafters" the King James Version, or possibly "boards," is suggested.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

an architectural term describing the porticoes or verandas which are not uncommon in Eastern houses. (See House). It is doubtful, however, whether two of the three Hebrew words so translated have any reference to such an object. (See Architecture).

1.' אִתַּיק , Attik ( Ezekiel 41:15 [where the text has אִתּוּק , Attuk ] , 16; Sept. Ἀπόλοιπον ; 42:3, 5, Sept. Περίστυλον ; according to Gesenius, from נָתִק , to Cut Off; according to F Ü rst, from an obsolete אָתִק , to Set Off), by some thought to mean (as in 42:6) Pillars or columns (so Villalpandus, Cocceius); by others a decrement or Terrace (so Gesenius, F Ü rst, H Ä vernick, Hitzig), as the context requires (Bottcher, Proben, page 350). (See Temple). The ancient interpreters are wholly at fault; the Sept. renders ambiguously, the Talmud "corners," the Syr. "balustrade," and the Jewish interpreters confess their ignorance (Kimchi, Jarchi).

2. רָחַיט , Rachit ( Song of Solomon 1:17; either, with Farst, from an obsolete root רָחִט , to Trim, or, with Gesenius, for רָהַיט , rahit, as in the margin), prob., panel-work or fretted ceiling (so Sept.' Φατνώματα , Vulg. Laquearia, A.V. "rafters," marg. "gallery"). (See Ceiling). In consequence of the var. read. in the Masoretic text (q.d. Ambulatory or place of exercise), this term has been confounded with

3. רִהִט , Ra'Hat (from רָהִט ,' To Flow down; spoken of Watering-Troughs,  Genesis 30:38;  Genesis 30:41;  Exodus 2:16), curled locks or Ringlets of a maiden ( Song of Solomon 7:6; Sept. Παραδρομή , Vulg. Canalis). (See Hair).