Meaning
Bed (Heb. mittah), for rest at night (Ex 8:3; 1Sam 19:13, 15, 16, etc.); during sickness (Gen 47:31; 48:2; 49:33, etc.); as a sofa for rest (1Sam 28:23; Amos 3:12). Another Hebrew word (er'es) so rendered denotes a canopied bed, or a bed with curtains (Deut 3:11; Ps 132:3), for sickness (Ps 6:6; 41:3).
In the New Testament it denotes sometimes a litter with a coverlet (Matt 9:2, 6; Luke 5:18; Acts 5:15).
The Jewish bedstead was frequently merely the divan or platform along the sides of the house, sometimes a very slight portable frame, sometimes only a mat or one or more quilts. The only material for bed-clothes is mentioned in 1Sam 19:13. Sleeping in the open air was not uncommon, the sleeper wrapping himself in his outer garment (Ex 22:26, 27; Deut 24:12, 13).
