Judgement-seat,
bema. A place attached to the judgement-hall, where judgement was pronounced, speeches delivered, etc. It was on the bema that Herod sat, when he made his oration. Matthew 27:19; John 19:13; Acts 12:21; Acts 1:18-17; Acts 1:25-17. The floor of this place was doubtless of tesselated stones, which accounts for its being called the PAVEMENT in John 19:13. In the Hebrew it was called GABBATHA, which signifies elevated or raised platform. In James 2:6 the word is kriterion. (For the judgement-seat of Christ, see JUDGEMENT, No. 3.)