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TABLE, TABLET.—1. Writing tablet is indicated by the Heb. lûach, which is also applied to wooden boards or planks (Exo_27:8; Exo_38:7 in the altar of the Tabernacle, Eze_27:5 in a ship, Son_8:9 in a door) and to metal plates (in the bases of the lavers in Solomon’s Temple. 1Ki_7:36). It is, however, most frequently applied to tables of stone on which the Decalogue was engraven (Exo_24:12; Exo_31:18 etc.). It is used of a tablet on which a prophecy may be written (Isa_30:8, Hab_2:2), and in Pro_3:3; Pro_7:3 and Jer_17:1 figuratively of the ‘tables of the heart.’ In all these passages, when used of stone, both AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] translate ‘table’ except in Isa_30:8 where RV [Note: Revised Version.] has ‘tablet.’ lûach generally appears in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and NT as plax (2Co_3:3, Heb_9:4). The ‘writing table’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘tablet’) of Luk_1:63 was probably of wax.
2. A female ornament is indicated by Heb. kûmâz, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘tablets,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘armlets,’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘necklaces,’ Exo_35:22, Num_31:50—probably a pendant worn on the neck.
The word ‘tablets’ is also the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of bottç hannephesh in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] Isa_3:20 (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘perfume boxes,’ lit. ‘houses of the soul’). It is doubtful if nephesh actually means ‘odour,’ but from meaning ‘breath’ it may have come to mean scent or smell. On the other hand, the idea of life may suggest that some life-giving elixir, scent, or ointment was contained in the vessels; but the meaning is doubtful.
The ‘tablet’ (gillâyôn) inscribed with a stylus to Maher-shalal-hash-baz, Isa_8:1 (‘AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ’ roll’), signifies a polished surface. The word occurs again in Isa_3:23 where it probably refers to ‘tablets of polished metal’ used as mirrors (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘glasses’).
W. F. Boyd.