Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
PIT. This term is used to render several Hebrew words. It denotes a cistern or a reservoir, which the Eastern people are in the habit of preparing in those regions where there are few or no springs for the purpose of preserving rain-water for travellers and cattle. These cisterns and trenches are often without water, there being no supply for them except from the rain. It was into such a dry cistern that Joseph was cast. In old decayed cisterns
the water leaks out or becomes slimy, and such a pit becomes the image of dreariness and misery. Jer 2:13; Ps 40:2; Zech 9:11. Next, the word is used for the grave and as an image of the realm of death, Ps 28:1; Isa 30:3, Ps 30:9; Ps 88:4, and finally it is employed as the name of the game-trap. Eze 19:8. The pit here spoken of is used at this day in all wild countries. A deep hole in the earth is covered very slightly with boughs or shrubs, upon
which is placed a living lamb, which by its cries allures the lion or wolf; and when the beast makes a sudden spring upon his prey, he is caught in the pit below. This affords a significant figure of the devices of crafty men and devils. Ps 119:85; Prov 26:27; Eze 19:4.