Bible Dictionary
Hinge
A biblical hinge was usually a pivot turning in a socket rather than a modern metal hinge. Such pivots were used for doors, including the doors of Solomon’s temple.
Definition
A biblical hinge was generally a pivot turning in a socket, not a modern metal hinge. Door pivots were placed in sockets above and below, allowing the door to swing. In Solomon’s temple, the pivots of the doors were described as being of gold.
Biblical Usage
The temple doors, including those of the oracle and outer temple, had pivots that were probably cased in gold. Proverbs compares the sluggard turning on his bed to a door turning on its hinges.
Historical Background
Ancient Egyptian and Oriental doors commonly used stone or wooden pivots rather than metal hinges. Stone doors with pivots carved from the same slab remain in the Hauran, and similar sockets have been found in Babylonian and Assyrian buildings.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Heb. tsir), that on which a door revolves. “Doors in the East turn rather on pivots than on what we term hinges. In Syria, and especially in the Hauran, there are many ancient doors, consisting of stone slabs with pivots carved out of the same piece inserted in sockets above and below, and fixed during the building of the house” (Prov. 26:14).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Both ancient Egyptian and modern Oriental doors were and are hung by means of pivots turning in sockets on both the upper and lower sides. (1 Kings 7:50) In Syria, and especially the Hauran, there are many ancient doors consisting of stone slabs with pivots carved out of the same piece, inserted in sockets above and below, and fixed during the building of the house. The allusion in (Proverbs 26:14) is thus clearly explained.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>hinj (poth): Hinges of Jewish sacred buildings in Scripture are mentioned only in connection with Solomon's temple. Here those for the doors, both of the oracle and of the outer temple, are said to have been of gold (1Ki 7:50). By this is probably to be understood that the pivots upon which the doors swung, and which turned in the sockets of the threshold and the lintel, were cased in gold. The proverb, "As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the sluggard upon his bed" (Pr 26:14), describes the ancient mode of ingress and egress into important edifices. In the British Museum are many examples of stone sockets taken from Babylonian and Assyrian palaces and temples, engraved with the name and titles of the royal builder; while in the Hauran doors of a single slab of stone with stone pivots are still found in situ. Hinges, as we understand the word, were unknown in the ancient world.</p><p>See HOUSE, II, 1.</p><p>W. Shaw Caldecott</p>