bank:

(1) (saphah, "lip," "edge"): "By the bank of the Jordan" (2 Kings 2:13); "Upon the bank of the river were very many trees" (Ezekiel 47:7, 12).

(2) (gadhah, "cuttings"): Always of banks overflowed (Joshua 3:15; Joshua 4:18 Isaiah 8:7), as also

(3) (gidhyah, 1 Chronicles 12:15). (4) (solelah, "mound," "rampart"): "Cast up a bank against the city" (2 Samuel 20:15, the English Revised Version "mount," the American Standard Revised Version "mound"; compare 2 Kings 19:32 Isaiah 37:33). "Banks of sweet herbs" (Songs 5:13); "the marginal rendering is the right one, `towers of perfumes,' i.e. plants with fragrant leaves and flowers trained on trellis-work" (Speaker's Commentary in the place cited.).

(5) (charax, "a stake," "entrenchment"): "Thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee" (Luke 19:43 the King James Version "trench"). It is probably a military term and stands for a "palisade" (so the Revised Version, margin), i.e. probably an embankment of stakes strengthened with branches and earth, with a ditch behind it, used by the besiegers as a protection against arrows or attacking parties (Latin vallum), such, no doubt, as was employed by Titus in the siege of Jerusalem, 70 A.D. (Josephus, BJ, V, vi, 2).

(6) BANK; BANKING (which see).

M. O. Evans

BANK; BANKING

1. Introductory:

"Banking" in the full modern sense, of taking money on deposit and lending it out on interest, is of comparatively recent origin. A few "banks of deposit" were founded in Italy in the Middle Ages, but the earliest "banks of issue," of the modern sort, were those of Amsterdam (1609) and Hamburg (1619), beginning in the 17th century. The law of Moses forbade Israelites to charge each other interest (Exodus 22:25 Leviticus 25:35, 37 Deuteronomy 23:19), but let them lend on interest to Gentiles (Deuteronomy 23:20), though this law was often evaded or disregarded (Nehemiah 5:10, 12). Banks and banking, however, are found in operation in the Greek cities; "moneychangers," sitting at their tables (trapezai) in the market place, both changed coins and took money on deposit, giving high interest; and banking of a sort, in its incipient stages, existed among the ancient Hebrews. But the Phoenicians are now thought to have been the inventors of the money-changing, money-lending system which is found in more or less modified and developed forms among ancient peoples and in full development and operation in the palmy days of the Roman Empire. In the Greek-Roman period, without doubt, bankers both received money on deposit, paying interest, and let it out at a higher rate, or employed it in trade, as the publicani at Rome did, in farming the revenues of a province (Plumptre).

2. Banking among the Ancient Hebrews:

(1) The Hebrew money-changer, like his modern Syrian counterpart, the saraf (see PEFS, 1904, 49, where the complexity of exchange in Palestine today is graphically described), changed the large coins current into those of smaller denominations, e.g. giving denarii for tetradrachms, or silver for gold, or copper for silver.

(2) But no mean part of his business was the exchanging of foreign money, and even the money of the country of a non-Phoenician standard, for shekels and half-shekels on this standard, the latter being accepted only in payment of the temple dues (see MONEY). The "money-changers" of Matthew 21:12, as the Greek signifies, were men who made small change. Such men may be seen in Jerusalem now with various coins pried in slender pillars on a table (compare epi trapezan, Luke 19:23), ready to be used in changing money for a premium into such forms, or denominations, as would be more current or more convenient for immediate use.

(3) "Usury" in English Versions of the Bible is simply Old English for what we today call "interest," i.e. the sum paid for the use of money, Latin usura; and "interest" should take the place of it in all passages in the Old Testament and New Testament, where it has such significance.

3. Banking in New Testament Times:

The Greek word rendered (tokos), "usury" in the New Testament (see Luke 19:23) means literally, "what is born of money," "what money brings forth or produces." "Usury" has come to mean "exorbitant interest," but did not mean this at the time of the King James Version, 1611.

(1) In Christ's time, and immediately following, there was great need for money-changers and money-changing, especially on the part of foreign Jews whom custom forbade to put any but Jewish coins into the temple treasury (see Mark 12:41). It was mainly for the convenience of these Jews of the Dispersion, and because it was in order to a sacred use, that the people thought it proper to allow the money-changers to set up their tables in the outer court of the temple (see Matthew 21:12).

(2) The language of Matthew 25:27, `Thou oughtest to have put my money to the bankers,' etc., would seem to indicate the recognition by Christ of the custom and propriety of lending out money on interest (compare 19:23). The "exchangers" here are "bankers" (compare Matthew 25:27). The Greek (trapezitai) is from a word for "bank" or "bench" (trapeza), i.e. the "table" or "counter" on which the money used to be received and paid out. These "bankers" were clearly of a higher class than the "small-change men" of Matthew 21:12, etc. (compare "changers of money," John 2:14, and "changers," John 2:15, English Versions). Christ upbraids the "slothful servant" because he had not given his pound to "the bank" (or "banker," epi trapezan, literally, "on a banker's table"), who, it is implied, would have kept it safe and paid interest for it (Luke 19:23 f). It is noteworthy that the "tenminae" of Luke 19:24 are those acquired by "the good servant" from the "one" which was first lent him. So these wealthier bankers even then in a way received money on deposit for investment and paid interest on it, after the fashion of the Greeks.

4. Interpretations, Figurative Uses, etc.:

(1) In Christ's parable (Luke 19:23) "the bank" (literally, "a bank," "table") is taken by some to mean "the synagogue," by others to mean "the church" (Lange, LJ, II, 1, 414); i.e. it is thought that Christ meant to teach that the organized body, "synagogue" or "church," might use the gifts or powers of an adherent or disciple, when he himself could not exercise them (compare DCG, article "Bank").

(2) Then some have thought that Christ was here pointing to prayer as a substitute for good works, when the disciple was unable to do such. Such views seem far-fetched and unnecessary (compare Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ, 209).

(3) The "money-changers," then as now, had ever to be on guard against false money, which gives point to the oft-quoted extra-scriptural saying (agraphon) of Jesus to His disciples: "Be ye expert money-changers" (Greek ginesthai trapezitai dokimoi; see Origen, in Joam, XIX), which was taken (Clem., Hom.,. III, 61) to mean, "Be skillful in distinguishing true doctrine from false" (HDB, 1-vol).

George B. Eager

2. (n.) A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level; hence, anything shaped like a mound or ridge of earth; as, a bank of clouds; a bank of snow.

3. (n.) A steep acclivity, as the slope of a hill, or the side of a ravine.

4. (n.) The margin of a watercourse; the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea, or forming the edge of a cutting, or other hollow.

5. (n.) An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.

6. (n.) The face of the coal at which miners are working.

7. (n.) A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level.

8. (n.) The ground at the top of a shaft; as, ores are brought to bank.

9. (v. t.) To raise a mound or dike about; to enclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank.

10. (v. t.) To heap or pile up; as, to bank sand.

11. (v. t.) To pass by the banks of.

12. (n.) A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars.

13. (n.) The bench or seat upon which the judges sit.

14. (n.) The regular term of a court of law, or the full court sitting to hear arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at Nisi Prius, or a court held for jury trials. See Banc.

15. (n.) A sort of table used by printers.

16. (n.) A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ.

17. (n.) An establishment for the custody, loan, exchange, or issue, of money, and for facilitating the transmission of funds by drafts or bills of exchange; an institution incorporated for performing one or more of such functions, or the stockholders (or their representatives, the directors), acting in their corporate capacity.

18. (n.) The building or office used for banking purposes.

19. (n.) A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital.

20. (n.) The sum of money or the checks which the dealer or banker has as a fund, from which to draw his stakes and pay his losses.

21. (n.) In certain games, as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw.

22. (v. t.) To deposit in a bank.

23. (v. i.) To keep a bank; to carry on the business of a banker.

24. (v. i.) To deposit money in a bank; to have an account with a banker.

1415. gadah -- bank (of a river)
... << 1414, 1415. gadah. 1416 >>. bank (of a river). Transliteration: gadah
Phonetic Spelling: (gaw-daw') Short Definition: banks. ... bank. ...
/hebrew/1415.htm - 5k

6829. Tsaphon -- "north," a place on the E. bank of the Jordan
... << 6828, 6829. Tsaphon. 6830 >>. "north," a place on the E. bank of the Jordan.
Transliteration: Tsaphon Phonetic Spelling: (tsaw-fone') Short Definition: Zaphon ...
/hebrew/6829.htm - 6k

8193. saphah -- lip, speech, edge
... Word Origin from an unused word Definition lip, speech, edge NASB Word Usage babbling
(2), bank (10), binding (2), brim (9), edge (17), empty (2), gossip* (1 ...
/hebrew/8193.htm - 6k

5550. solelah -- a mound
... bank, mount. Or cowllah {so-lel-aw'}; active participle feminine of calal, but used
passively; a military mound, ie Rampart of besiegers -- bank, mount. ...
/hebrew/5550.htm - 6k

8525. telem -- a furrow
... furrow, ridge. From an unused root meaning to accumulate; a bank or terrace --
furrow, ridge. << 8524, 8525. telem. 8526 >>. Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/8525.htm - 5k

3027. yad -- hand
... 1), allegiance* (1), along (1), alongside* (1), armpits* (1), arms (5), around
(2), assist (1), assuredly (2), authority (9), axles (2), bank (1), banks (1 ...
/hebrew/3027.htm - 8k