And he drave them; ἀπήλασεν, found only here in the New Testament or LXX. But it is used by Demosthenes and Plutarch in exactly the same connection: ἀπὸ τοῦ συνεδρίου ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος. It implies the ignominious dismissal of the case, without its being even tried.
The judgment seat ( βῆμα); the proconsular place of judgment. The βῆμα (here and Acts 18:12) was properly the "raised space," or "tribune," on which, in the case of a consul, proconsul, or praetor, the sella curulis was placed on which he sat and gave judgment.
It was usually a kind of apse to the basilica. In Matthew 27:19; John 19:13, and, indeed, here and elsewhere, it seems to be used, generally, for the judgment-seat itself (see Acts 25:10).