Bible Dictionaries
Table, Tablet

　　 TABLE,TABLET (Luke 1:63 πινακίδιον, not wholly unknown in classical Greek, although it is not commonly used, occurs but once in the NT and not at all in the Septuagint. When it is used in Luke 1:63 it denotes, in all probability, a wax-covered wooden writing-tablet. The ordinary LXX Septuagintπυξίον (ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους τῆς καρδἱας), ‘breast,’ ‘surface.’ Both לוּהַ, which is the ordinary word for ‘tablet’ or ‘table,’ and is used, e.g. in Exodus 31:18, in reference to the tables of the Law. more suitably rendered ‘tablet.’ Tablets were in almost universal use in the ancient world alike for purposes of correspondence and for literary purposes in general, and were formed of various materials, such as stone, clay, and wood, the wood being sometimes whitewashed, sometimes covered with wax. Bronze also was employed for tablets, at least in some of the countries about the Mediterranean, but seemingly only for such tablets as contained inscriptions of an official nature.

　　Literature.—The Commentaries; artt. in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible