Stocks in Biblical History

Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What are Stocks?
STOCKS
, the name of a machine or instrument by which the feet of prisoners are secured. Job 13:27; Ex 33:11. It is said that the jailer at Philippi, to whose custody Paul and Silas were: committed with a strict charge to keep them safely, not only put them in an inner prison or dungeon, but made their feet fast in the stocks. Acts 16:24. The upper half being removed, each leg is placed, just above the ankle, in the groove of the lower half, and then the upper part is so fastened down as to confine them inextricably. Ancient Stocks. The "stocks" used on Paul and Silas could be turned into an instrument of torture by widely separating the legs. The "stocks" used on Jeremiah, Jer 20:2, were, properly speaking, the pillory, because the neck and arms as well as the legs were confined, and so the body was bent. STO'ICS were a sect of heathen philosophers, much like the Pharisees, who took their rise from one Zeno, a Cyprian of Citium, the name coming from the stoa, or porch, in which he taught, in the third century b.c. While in some respects there is a similarity between their opinions and those of Christians, there is yet the broad difference that Stoic morality was based on pride; Christian, on humility. They generally taught that it is wisdom alone that renders men happy, that the ills of life are but fancied evils, and that a wise man ought not to be moved with either joy or grief; and in their practice they affected much patience, austerity, and insensibility. The Stoics were known for many ages, especially at Athens. where some of them encountered Paul. Acts 17:18. The most distinguished members of the school were Epictetus, who died about a.b. 115, and the emperor Marcus Aurelius, a.d. 121-180. Of all the ancient sects, the Stoics were most strict in their regard to moral virtue. They believed in the unity of the divine Being, the creation of the world by the Logos or Word, and a superintending providence administered in conformity with the will and purpose of God.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'stocks' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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