Judgment-Seat The judge invariably sat on a special ‘seat’ or throne. Thus Jerusalem and the smaller cities alike had their ‘thrones for judgement’ (Judges 4:5, Judges 4:1 K 7:7, Psalms 122:5, etc.). In Rome magistrate and jury were seated together on the raised tribunal, or ‘bench,’ the magistrate oh his sella curulis, or ‘chariot seat,’ specially associated with the Roman imperium . The custom extended also to the Provinces. In the NT κριτήρια (‘tribunals’) is used of law-courts generally (in 1 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 6:4 and James 2:6), while β ῆ μα, lit. [Note: it. literally, literature.] ‘step,’ ‘seat’ (for parties in a law-suit), is applied to the ‘judgment-seat’ not only of the Emperor (Acts 25:10), but also of the governors Pilate (Matthew 27:19, John 19:13), Gallio (Acts 18:12, Acts 18:16 f.) and Festus (25:6, 17), and even metaphorically of God (Romans 14:10) and Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). See, further, Trial-at-Law.
A. R. Gordon.