Carpet

CARPET (גֶּ֫נֶז, H1710, Ezek 27:24, KJV “CHEST”; alternately “treasury,” Esth 3:9; 4:7; מִדִּ֛ין, Judg 5:10, RSV “rich carpet,” KJV “judgment”).

In Ezekiel 27:24 RSV the term tr. “carpet” is listed among wares which traders sold to Tyre. Since this item is said to be “of colored stuff” some have thought it may be carpet or tapestry. But since it is “bound with cords and made secure” (RSV) or “bound with cords and made of cedar” (KJV), it is equally possible that chests covered with rich brocade are meant. This would correspond better to the king’s treasuries (treasury chests) of Esther 3:9; 4:7.

The context of Judges 5:10 shows that מִדִּ֛ין refers to something on which people sit as they travel. Hence rich saddle blankets or caparisons (Jerusalem Bible) are suggested. Jael covered the exhausted Sisera with a rug (q.v.) or blanket or mantle of some type when he sought to rest in her tent (Judg 4:18).

Tent dwellers used only straw mats or a piece of leather on the floor. Assyrian and Persian palaces (Esth 1:6, RSV) and wealthy villas in Hel. and Rom. times had mosaic patterns in paved floors.