PRISON, PRISONER (priz'n, perener). As, according to the Mosaic Law, trial followed im mediately after apprehension, and imprisonment was not used as a punishment, we hear very little of prisons among the Hebrews until the times of the kings.
During the passage through the wilderness two persons were put "in ward" (Lev. xxiv:12; Num. xv :34), and from Gen. xxxvii:24 and Jer. xxxviii it appears that the dry well or pit was used as a place of confinement or detention. Under the kings the prison formed a part of the palace (I Kings xxii:27; 2 Chron. xvi:to; Jer. xxxii:2), and the same was the case under the Herods, (Luke iii:2o; Acts xii:4). The Romans used the tower of Antonia, in Jerusalem, and the prwtorium, in Ctesarea, as prisons (Acts xxiii: to, 35). Also the sacerdotal authorities had a prison in Jerusalem (Acts v:18-23; xxvi: 10). (See PUNISHMENTS.) Figurative. To a prison is compared what ever tends to restrict liberty, and render one dis graced and wretched, as (I) A low, obscure, and afflicted condition (Eccles. iv:14). (2) The state
of restraint wherein God keeps Satan from se ducing 41/4 mankind (Rev. xx :7). (3) The state ofspiritual thraldom in which sinners are placed (Is. xlii :7). (4) The grave, out of which men cannot move, and in which they are shut up as evil-doers (Is. Iiii :8). Perhaps, in allusion to this, David calls the cave in which he was as if one buried alive, "a prison" (Ps. exlii :7). (5) Hell, where sinners are confined (I Pet. iii:19).
Such as are shut up in any of these, or are in a captive condition, are called iii: 18; Ps. lxix :33; Is. xlix :9). (6) Paul was a "prisoner of Christ," in bonds and imprisonment for his adherence to Christ's truths (Eph.
i). (7) The Jews in Babylon and those sinners invited to Jesus Christ, are "prisoners of hope;" the promise secured deliverance to the former; it offers deliverance to the latter (Zech. ix:12).