Meaning of PRISON

The Hebrew Penal Code did not recognize prison as a legal punishment, because the Israelites did not deprive anyone of their freedom; but it was used as a police measure to keep the offender at the disposal of the authorities.

The prisons were known in neighboring towns. The mentions of prison refer precisely to the Egyptian prisons (Gen. 39:21; 40:15; 41:14; Ex. 12:29), which the Greek historian Herodotus also mentions.

During the pilgrimage through the desert, a blasphemer and a violator of the Sabbath are temporarily put in prison, awaiting sentencing, and they end up being stoned (Lev. 2:10-16; Num. 15:34).

Samson was loaded with chains and put in prison (Judg. 16:21).
In times of the monarchy, imprisonment by royal decision appears, and the texts imply that there was a permanent prison, in which the convicts were put in stocks and poorly fed (1 Kings 22:26; 2 Chron. 16:10; 18:26).

The very eventful story of the prophet Jeremiah also included this harsh test and mentions the existence of such prisons next to the Temple and near the Benjamin Gate, for which dry cisterns were usually provided (Jer. 20:2, 29:26; 32: 2; 37:16; 38:6; cf. Zech. 9:11; Is. 24:22).

The Hebrew word “bor” means precisely “cistern,” and the prison is the “house of the cistern.”
Isaiah, in a prophetic passage, mentions dungeons as a primitive element of God's judgment (Is. 24:22).

After exile it appears as a legislative penalty for transgressors of the law (Ezra 7:26).
In New Testament times it is a frequent punishment in civil life in Palestine due to the influence of Roman legislation (Mt. 11:2; Luke 7:18), and the apostles (especially Paul) know prison for Christ and the Gospel. and in it they testify to their faith (Acts 4:3; 5:18; 12:6; 16:24; 26:29; 28:30).

In prison Paul meets a runaway slave of his owner and converts him to the gospel, making him his spiritual son and sending him back to his house now free of him (Philemon). Christ commands his people to visit and help those in prison (Mt. 25:36).