Pulpit

Pulpit (Hebrew migdal, literally "tower") refers in Nehemiah 8:4 to the wooden platform or elevated stand that Ezra used when he read the law to the assembled people in Jerusalem after the return from exile. "And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose." Thirteen men stood with him on his right and left. The account describes the people standing to hear the reading, bowing and worshipping, and the Levites giving the sense of what was read so that the people understood (Neh. 8:4–8). This is one of the earliest descriptions of what we would recognize as synagogue-style scripture reading and exposition.