Bible Dictionary
Cottage
A cottage was a temporary booth or shelter, such as the rough structure made for a watchman in a vineyard or garden. Scripture uses it as an image of frailty and impermanence.
Definition
A cottage in biblical usage may be a light, temporary booth or shelter. Such a structure could be covered with leaves or straw and supported by a few poles for a watchman in a vineyard or garden. The word may also denote a lodging place or a frail structure of boughs, and in one passage may refer to pits, caves, or wells.
Biblical Usage
Isaiah uses the cottage or booth as an image of the temporary shelter of a garden or vineyard watchman. Job compares a frail dwelling to such a structure, while Zephaniah uses a related term in a passage possibly referring to caves or wells.
Historical Background
These shelters were slight fabrics, removed when no longer needed or left to be blown down in winter. A watchman might also sleep in a hammock suspended between trees during summer.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) A booth in a vineyard (Isa. 1:8); a temporary shed covered with leaves or straw to shelter the watchman that kept the garden. These were slight fabrics, and were removed when no longer needed, or were left to be blown down in winter (Job 27:18). (2.) A lodging-place (rendered “lodge” in Isa. 1:8); a slighter structure than the “booth,” as the cucumber patch is more temporary than a vineyard (Isa. 24:20). It denotes a frail structure of boughs supported on a few poles, which is still in use in the East, or a hammock suspended between trees, in which the watchman was accustomed to sleep during summer. (3.) In Zeph. 2:6 it is the rendering of the Hebrew keroth, which some suppose to denote rather “pits” (R.V. marg., “caves”) or “wells of water,” such as shepherds would sink.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>kot'-aj.</p><p>See HOUSE.</p>