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PIT.—Of the dozen Heb. words, besides two Gr. words in NT, rendered ‘pit’ in EV [Note: English Version.] , the following are the most important.
1. The term bôr is responsible for nearly half of all the OT occurrences. It is the usual word for the cistern with which almost every house in the towns was supplied (see Cistern). Disused cisterns in town and country are the ‘pits’ mentioned in Gen_37:20 ff. (that into which Joseph was cast [cf. art. Prison]), 1Sa_13:6 (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘cisterns’ etc.). In some passages, indeed, the context shows that ‘cistern,’ not ‘pit,’ is the proper rendering, as in Lev_11:36, Exo_21:33 f. with reference to an uncovered and unprotected cistern; cf. Luk_14:5, RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘well’ for AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘pit.’ The systematic exploration of Palestine has brought to light many series of underground caves which were used at various periods as dwelling-places (cf. 1Sa_13:6); hence by a natural figure, ‘pit’ became a synonym of Sheol, the under world (Isa_14:15, Psa_28:1, Pro_1:12, and oft.; cf. Rev_9:1 ff. and Sheol).
2. A second word rendered ‘pit’ (shachath) seems to have denoted originally a pit in which, after concealing the mouth by a covering of twigs and earth, hunters trapped their game (Eze_19:4; Eze_19:8). Like the preceding, it is frequently used in a figurative sense of the under world; so five times in Job_33:1-33 (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ).
3. A hunter’s pit, denoted by pachath, also supplied the figure of Isa_24:17 f. and its parallels Jer_48:43 f. and Lam_3:47 RV [Note: Revised Version.] —note the association with ‘snare.’ Such a pit served as a place of concealment (2Sa_17:9) and of burial (2Sa_18:17).
4. In Mar_12:1 RV [Note: Revised Version.] rightly recognizes ‘a pit for the winepress,’ where the reference is to what the Mishna calls ‘a cement-vat,’ i.e. a pit dug in the soil for a wine-vat (cf. Mat_25:18, where the same expression ‘digged’ is used), as contrasted with the usual rock-hewn vats (see Wine and Strong Drink, § 2).
A. R. S. Kennedy.