Stair
Stair (usually מִעֲלָה, or מִעֲלֶה, an ascent; once מִדַרֵגָה, Song 2:14, a precipice, "steep place," Ezekiel: 38:20; לוּל, a "winding stair" or staircase, 1Ki 6:8). The expression translated "on the top of the stairs" (2Ki 9:13) is one the clue to which is lost. The word rendered "top" is gerem, גֶּרֶם, i.e. a bone, and the meaning appears to be that they placed Jehu on the substance, i.e. the very stairs themselves, if מֲִעלוֹת be stairs, without any seat or chair below him. The stairs doubtless ran round the inside of the quadrangle of the house, as they do still, for instance, in the ruin called the house of Zacchaeus at Jericho, and Jehu sat;
where they joined the flat platform which formed the top or roof of the house. Thus he was conspicuous against the sky, while the captains were below him in the open quadrangle. The old versions throw little or no light on the passage; the Sept. simply repeats the Hebrew word, ἐπὶ τὸ γαρὲμ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν. Josephus avoids the difficulty by general terms (Ant. 9, 6, 2). See Journ. Sac. Lit. 1852, p. 424.
