Bible Dictionary
Purse
A purse was a bag or money-belt used to carry coins and, sometimes, weights or other small articles. Jesus instructed His disciples at different times concerning whether to carry money on their journeys.
Definition
A purse was a bag or belt used for carrying money and, in some cases, weights or other small articles. In biblical usage it could be a money-bag or a girdle serving as a purse.
Biblical Usage
Jesus instructed His disciples at different times concerning whether to carry a purse or money-belt on their journeys. The New Testament uses terms for a bag and for a girdle, while other passages mention a common money-bag carried by travelers and merchants.
Historical Background
Hebrews carried money in a bag when traveling and used similar bags for merchants’ weights. The purse could be a bag or an ornamental item worn by women. The supplied material also describes the hospitality of villages as explaining how travelers could journey without money.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) Gr. balantion, a bag (Luke 10:4; 22:35, 36). (2.) Gr. zone, properly a girdle (Matt. 10:9; Mark 6:8), a money-belt. As to our Lord’s sending forth his disciples without money in their purses, the remark has been made that in this “there was no departure from the simple manners of the country. At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive without a para in his purse; and a modern Moslem prophet of Tarshisha thus sends forth his apostles over this identical region. No traveller in the East would hestitate to throw himself on the hospitality of any village.” Thomson’s Land and the Book. (See SCRIP.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
a bag for money. The Hebrews, when on a journey, were provided with a bag, in which they carried their money, (Genesis 42:35; Proverbs 1:14; 7:20; Isaiah 46:6) and, if they were merchants, also their weights. (25:13; Micah 6:11) This bag is described in the New Testament by the terms balantion (bag) (Luke 10:4; 12:33; 22:35,38) and glossokomon (originally the bag in which musicians carried the mouth-pieces of their Instruments). (John 12:6; 13:29) The girdle also served as a purse. (Matthew 10:9; Mark 6:8) Ladies wore ornamental purses. (Isaiah 3:24)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>purs.</p><p>See BAG.</p>