chains Summary and Overview

CHAINS . A distinction must be made between fetters, which were for the feet, and chains, which were for any part of the body. Chains were worn for ornament, dignity, or restraint. They were made of gold for the first two purposes, and of iron for the last. In the ancient Orient both sexes wore them ostentatiously. They were put on Joseph and Daniel as a symbol of sovereignty. Gen 41:42; Dan 6:29. So to-day kings wear the chain of the order of the Golden Fleece. Chains were put by the Midianites upon their camels. Jud 8:21. They were also worn by women as a fastening between the anklets. Isa 3:19. The chains used on prisoners, Jud 16:21;2 Sam 3:34; 2 Kgs 25:7; Jer 39:7; Jer 52:11, were fetters. Handcuffs were also used. The Roman practice was to bind the prisoner's hand to the hand of a soldier, or to a soldier by either hand. Acts 12:6-7; Job 21:33; Acts 28:16, Ruth 4:20; 2 Tim 1:16. The "chains" which bound the madman of Gadara, Mark 5:3-4, were probably not of iron, but were ropes. The iron "fetters" he shivered. "Chain" is used in Lam 3:7 in a metaphorical sense to denote tribulation.