BAT

clerks’ (see

S

CRIBE

).

connection, cp C

OUNCIL O

F

J

ERUSALEM

,

I

O

.

For bastardy,

in its religious

BAT

Lev.

Dt.

Is.

also Bar.

621).

The bats form

a

well-defined and very numerous order

of

termed by naturalists the

The position of the name at the end of the list of

un-

clean birds, and immediately before the list of reptiles,
accords with the universal opinion of antiquity that the
bat, in Aristotle’s words, ‘belonged both

to birds and

to beasts, and shared the nature of both and of
neither’

nor is it in any way surprising to find

them included, apparently, amongst birds, for bats
alone amongst mammals have developed the faculty
of true

and have become

so modified by their

aerial habits that their power of progressing

the

ground

is markedly inferior to that of most birds and

insects.

They show, in fact,

a

strong aversion to

being on the ground, and, as

a rule, at once try to

it,

crawling up some wall or tree from which

they can take their flight.

The nature of their food (either insects or fruit)

makes it necessary for those bats which inhabit tem-
perate climates either to migrate a t the approach of
winter or to spend the cold months in

a long winter

sleep, for which purpose they often collect in large
colonies in caves, ruins, or disused buildings.

As

a

rule the bats of the

World choose the latter alter-

native, and this seems to be the case with many of
those found in Palestine.

When food again becomes

abundant, they as

a rule sleep during the day sus-

pended head downwards by their feet, and leave their
homes only to search for food a t the approach of twi-
light. The majority of the

of Palestine (and they

are very numerous) inhabit caves, caverns, tombs,
and disused buildings

of

all kinds, where they can avoid

the light, a fact referred to in Is.

As

many

as

seventeen

distinct

species

of hats, belonging to

four

and

eleven

different

genera, have been

described

by

Canon Tristram. Two or three

of

these may

he

by

name.

The

only

representative

of the

fruit-eating

bats

is

a

species which is elsewhere arboreal in its habits,

but

in

Palestine is found living in large colonies in caves and

A further peculiarity of this species

that

individual specimens

from different

localities

vary markedly in

size

those

Kurn

in

the plain

of

Acre being much smaller than

the

hills

near Tyre,

which

in

the

variety found in

and Egypt. This species is very commonly found inside the

Pyramids

of

Egypt

and

is believed

to

be the one

so

often figured

in

Egyptian frescoes.

The horse-shoe bat

is the

commonest

hat

in Palestine swarming in immense nunibers in

the caverns

along

the

the

Red Sea. It has a wide dis-

tribution, extending from England to Japan and all over Africa.

It collects in large colonies

(180

have been found together) in

caves and ruins for

its winter sleep,

and these colonies are

peculiar

are exclusively of

one

sex.

Another British bat

very

common

in

the hill

about

Bethlehem,

Jerusalem,

and the Sea

of

Galilee,

the

bat,

found in

caverns.

It

is always

very

late

in

leaving its resting-place, not appearing till twilight

has changed to night; but

it

continues to

for

insects

on

which it feeds the whole night through.

N

.

E

.

s.

BATH

deriv. uncertain

cp BDB.

Is.

BATH-RABBIM

daughter of multi-

tudes,’

Cant.

7

4

The eyes of the bride are

likened to the ’pools in Heshbon by the gate of
Bath-rabbim.’

With

insight,

in

1871

recognised the impossibility

of

the reading Bath-

;

he suggested

Certainly

this is possible; and NW. of Heshbon, in

a lateral

valley of the Wady

old reservoirs have been

found.

We cannot, however, suppose that these reser-

voirs were

so

famous

as

to be celebrated

in

a

popular

song

beside Carmel and the Tower of Lebanon.

Heshbon

as

well as Bath-rabbim must be wrong.

Winckler’s

suggestion ‘Helbon’ ( A O F

fits in with the

mention of Lebanon, but has

no

other recommendation.

Considering that there is deep-seated corruption in the
next verse (see H

AIR

, G

ALLERY

,

we are justified in

making

an

emendation which might otherwise seem

too

bold.

The most famous pools in Palestine, outside

of

Jerusalem, were

no doubt those known as the

Pools

of

Solomon (see C

ONDUITS

, 3). In the long green vale

of

unusually green among the rocky knolls

of

Solomon, according to post-exilic belief,

‘planted him vineyards, and made him gardens and

paradises

. .

and made him pools of water, to water

therefrom the forest where trees were reared (Eccles.

Probably it

is

this scenery that has suggested

several

passages in Canticles (Stanley; Del.

)

it was worthy to be mentioned beside Carmel and

Lebanon.

Read

for

and (with Wi.)

for

and render

I

O

.

WEIGHTS

AND

M

EASURES

.

Thine eyes

are

like Solomon’s

pools

By the wood

of

Beth-cerem.

Beth-cerem, place of

a

vineyard,’ was probably the

name of some part

of

the garden-land referred. to

in

Eccles.

See

April

1899.

Cp

BATHSHEBA

daughter of the oath

48

in

I

Ch. 35

where the pointing should

be corrected to

in

by

a

strange con-

fuson,

=

Beersheba), wife of Uriah the

Hittite, afterwards wife of David and mother of Solo-
mon
in

Some think that she was

a granddaughter

of

.

).

When David first saw Bathsheba, Joab was engaged

in the siege of Rabbath Ammon.

The king himself was

reposing, after his years

of

hardship, a t Jerusalem.

The

story (which is omitted in

is that, walking

one evening

on the

flat

roof of his palace, David saw

a

beautiful woman bathing in the court of

a

neighbouring

house.

H e asked who she was, and, learning that her

husband Uriah was

the army, ‘sent messengers

and took her

S. 11

4).

T o avert the shock which

open act of adultery would have caused to the ancient

Israelitish sense of right, he devised the woful expedient

related in S.

116-25.

First he had Uriah sent to him.

ostensibly with

a message from the camp.

He dismissed

him to his house with

a

portion from the royal table

but Uriah remained with the guard of the palace

:

he

scrupled, if Robertson Smith maybe followed
455,

to violate the taboo

on

sexual intercourse

applied

to

warriors in ancient Israel.

The next night the

king plied him with wine but still Uriah was obstinate.

Driven desperate, his master sent the brave soldier back
to Joab, bearing

a

letter ordering his

destruction.

Uriah was

to

be set in the place of danger and then

abandoned to the foe. The cruel and treacherous plan
was carried out, and, when Bathsheba’s mourning for
her husband was over, David made her his wife.

The story of the rebuke of Nathan, of the revival of

the king’s better self, and of the sickness and death of

T. IC. C.

According

to

the root

i n

Ar.

I t must, however,

be said that

rare

in

Hebrew; and the modification

of

form involved

in this

case

is

It might

be thought, from

the

absence

of

the word

in

the cognate languages (in the language. of the

it

is

simply borrowed from Hebrew), that it

is a

loan-word

which came in from a

source’

hut

there

is

much

to

be said

for

the view

that

it is

connectdd with Aram.

the character

of

a

hat’s wings), assuggested

(see Ges.

or with the root

which in

Hebrew has the sense

of

being covered or darkened.

The Peshitta has

in

Leviticus and Deuteronomy the curious

rendering ‘peacock,‘

hut

in Is.

Bar.

employs

the

proper

Syriac word for

.

the Arabic version has ‘bat in Leviticus

and Deuteronomy,

(like the

goes astray in a mis-

taken paraphrase of

Is. 2

De Part.

4

13.

For other references see Bochart,

‘to

be dark’ (of night) and

to fly.

BATHSHUA

BDELLIUM

the child of Bathsheba. is well known.

It is

a

RV,

a

tree

in its native soil.' The word

'native

however (see Schwally,

T

W

12

whether, in the original form of the narrative,

S.

did not follow

on

1 1 2 7 ,

which means treating the

most edifying

of the story

as a later amplification

(see D

AVID

,

Considering what we know of the

gradual idealisation of the life

of

David (which culminates

in Chronicles and the titles of the Psalms), this appears
far from impossible. The story

in clearness by the

omission. At any rate,

is right in regarding

12

as an interpolation in the narrative of the colloquy

between David and Nathan.

It was suggested by an

intelligent reading of the subsequent history. David's
evil examplewas imitated in exaggerated form

and Amnon's

sin was fruitful

in

troubles, which cul-

minated in Absalom's rebellion, and darkened all David's
remaining years.

W e meet Bathsheba for the last time, just as David's

end was at hand, in the full glory of

a queen-mother.

Solomon rises to meet her, bows down before her, and

her

on a

seat at his right hand.

She gained her

object, and it is interesting (if Nathan really took the
part assigned to him in

S.

12

1-15)

to notice that Nathan

I.

See B

ATHSHEHA

.

was one

of

her chief supporters.

W.

E. A.

BATHSHUA

48).

The words

rendered 'daughter of

in Gen.

omitting

[ADEL]) are treated in RV of

I

Ch.

Buy.

8.

;

as

a proper

name, Bath-shua.

See

BATHZACHARIAS

[A]),

Macc.

See B

ETHZACHARIAS

.

BATTERING RAM

[plur.]), Ez.

21

See W

AR

.

BATTLE AXE.

The rendering is not very happy,

as will at once be seen.

I

.

or

(Prov. 25

I

S

A]

rendering 'maul introduces an arbitrary distinction. Better,

'battle hammer,' or

(cp

In

9

should possiblybe corrected into

'his

(Che.); 'battle axe'

'slaughter weapon'

(EV), 'a weapon of his breaking. in pieces'

are all

cult to justify.

The

rendering (Del.,

accepting

vocalisation

[lip]

and Verss.) is stop the way'

This involves a double ellipsis-<shut up [the

against my pursuers.'

It

is improbable, however,

that

means 'battle axe'

.

may mean the battle axe

used in upper Asia but

does not justify the inference of

critics(

Grot.,

Kenn., Ew.,

We., etc). The text needs

emendation (see

7).

Ps.

35

3

BATTLEMEBT.

For

see

For

Ch. 26

Zeph.

1

3

6

It

is better

to

read

4.

(cp

Ps. 84

see

F

ORTRESS

,

5.

Dan. 9 27

is rendered 'battlement.

knnno

(see

ad

See W

EIGHTS

A N D

M

EASURES

.

Is.

SBOT,

RV pinnacles

1 6 6

B

ATH

.

BAVAI

Neh.

RV

Bavvai.

BAY

Zech.

See

17.

I

S

.

RV

AV

BAY TREE

or, more plausibly,

as

destruction,' we know;

but

'breaking in

pieces,' is unattested elsewhere. Co. recognises that theclosing

words of Ezek. 9

I

are no part of

true text,

represent a

variant to the equivalent words in

in this passage, since for

it reads

Aq. Symm. and Editio Sexta all render in the sense of

digdnous

and neither Pesh. nor Targ. supports the

rendering of AV or that

of RV.

See

has no rendering of

T .

however (from the root

to

arise,' ' spring

srth'

152

cannot be applied to

a tree,

Celsius

supposed the phrase

o

mean

As Hi., Gr.. Che., Ba., We., Dr. agree, the right

eading is

'cedar.'

On the (probably) corrupt

(Dr. ' putting forth his strength and

Dr. spreading'), see Che.

BAZLUTH

'stripping'?;

The b'ne

a

family of

in the

post-exilic list (see E

ZRA

,

[B],

=

Neh.

754

Bazlith

[B],

I

Esd.

B

ASALOTH

[B],

[A],

[L]).

BDELLIUM

Gen.

[BAFL]), appears in Gen.

along with gold and onyx or beryl (see
O

NYX

)

as a characteristic product of the

land of Havilah

whilst in Nu.

1 1 7

its

'appearance'

(so

RV, lit. 'eye,' not C

OLOUR

AV) is likened to that of manna-a comparison the

of which is obvious if,

as

is in

all

prob-

the case, the

is the resinous sub-

stance known to the Greeks

as

(Dioscor.

1

Eo)

or

Mar.

39

identifies

with

Bab.

a spice obtained in

Babylonia, and often mentioned in contract-tablets

( Z A

17

347

this is important in connection with the

(see

P

ARADISE

).

As Glaser has shown

2

bdellium was distinct from storax (against Hommel,

n.

I

)

.

Bochart identifying Havilah with the Arabian coast

posite

in the Persian Gulf, naturally explained

This view, however,

lacks the support of any ancient version, and, though upheld
by several Jewish authorities (cp Lag.

Or. 2

no

The renderinw of

and

as

meaning pearl

ii. 6

. . -

.

to

some kind of precious stone; but,

as

Di. remarks,

'stone,'

is prefixed to

the word following, and not to

The

Pesh.

(in both places) seems

to

be due to a mere

error

:

for

d.

It

cannot be supposed to he a genuine

Aramaic word.

Bdellium is described by Dioscorides

as

the best sort being bitter in taste,

,

transparent, gelatinous
lit. like

hide

oily through-

out and easily softened, unmixed with

chips or dirt, fragrant when burnt

as

incense, resembling

onyx'

he speaks also of

a

black sort found in large

lumps, which is exported from India, and of

a

third

kind, brought from Petra.

Pliny

gives

some further details

:

the best sort

grows in

(N. Afghanistan),

on a

black' tree of the size of an

olive, with

a

leaf like the oak and fruit like the wild fig'

it also grows in Arabia, India, Media, and Babylon,
that of India being softer and more gummy, while that
brought through Media is more brittle, crusted, and
bitter.

The author of the

mar.

speaks

of it as growing largely in Gedrosia (Beluchistan) and
Barygaza

and

as

exported westwards from

the month of the Indns.

In the older classical literature

bdellium appears to be mentioned only in

in

a list of

Two of the kinds of bdellium described by Dioscorides

are generally identified by the authorities

with the two substances described

as

follows,

which are still met with in commerce

:-

I n both places

i e

Aq Symm and Th., have

so

iii.

The exact form of these two words is uncertain.

Pliny

(129)

has

On the connection

this group

of names with

see Del.

Par.

Pott

in

reading of this word

is

uncertain.

4

Perhaps a

'

nail or 'hoof.'

5

' T u

tu

cinnamon,

rosa,

T u

et

tu

bdellium.'

BEACON

I

.

Ordinary

(African).-‘The drug is exported from

the whole Somali coast to Mokha, Jidda Aden

the

Persian Gulf, India and even China’

Handury

Hanbury

he had it sent him

sale in London from China. hut in matters of this kind the
immediate port of origin is bften substituted for the ultimate
source.

Dymock

1

y o )

says :

Berhera

Farther on he explains that

a

certain extent’

‘resembles myrrh,’ but

it is darker

. . .

less oily

. . .

strongly hitter and has hardly

aroma’

According to Mohammedan writers

‘Good

bdellium should

bright, sticky, soft, sweet

yellowish, and bitter.

Its

botanical source is

(see

1896,

p.

Indian

310)

‘describes this as

somewhat

the African drug ;

‘hut the colour is lighter,

often greenish.

Dioscorides, therefore, must have had a very

dirty

not infrequent experience still.

Its

is

a plant the botanical distribution of

which-NW. India Beluchistan, and possibly Arabia-exactly
agrees with the

of the old authors.

The only

difficulty is the description of Pliny, which it does not fit very
well, a s it is a small tree; hut Pliny’s statements cannot be
pressed from the botanical point of view: Lemaire

calls Dioscorides

As to the third kind of bdellium spoken of by

Dioscorides, Dymock (310) conjectures that it was

.

also comes

probably a kind of myrrh.

N.

T. T.-D.

BEACON

perhaps for

from

see

A

SH

or rather,

as in

M

AST

(cp

Is.

3323

Ez.

employed in

Is. 3017 as

a

simile of

nakedness and desolation. The reference is to the
poles,

erected

prominent places for signalling

cp

E

NSIGNS

BEALIAH

is Lord

’),

a

jamite, one of David‘s warriors,

D

AVID

,

a iii.

Josh.

See

BEER.

BEAN,

or rather

The

of

Ant. xii.

8

I

),

an otherwise unknown tribe or community,

who in the

period were a ‘snare and

offence to the Jews in that they lay in wait for them
in the ways.’ Their robber castles or towers lay,
apparently, somewhere between

and Ammon-

ite territory. This would suit the

of Nu.

(see

BAAL-MEON). In one of his warlike expeditions against
the unfriendly surrounding peoples after the reconsecra-
tion

the temple, Judas the Maccabee utterly de-

stroyed the children of Bean and

their towers

cp

BEANS

[BAL]

Ez.49)

are twice mentioned as

for food, along with

wheat, barley, and lentils; in the second passage
Ezekiel is instructed to make bread of

mixture of

wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. The

Hebrew name is found also in post-biblical Hebrew,

Jewish Aramaic, Arabic, and Ethiopic.

Beans are

seeds of

(Linn.), the cultivated

plant-not certainly known in the wild state, but
in all probability a domesticated form of

is a native of the whole Mediterranean

region and extends eastward to N. India.

It was the

of the Greeks, which is mentioned

as far back as

the Iliad

1 3

589).

Virchow found

the seeds in the excavations at Troy, and the plant was
cultivated in Switzerland and Italy in

age of bronze.

Beans are, without

one

of

the earliest articles of

vegetable food among the European races of mankind.

F

OOD

,

4, COOKING,

7.

N. M.-W.

T.

Fliickiger and Hanhury say

146)

that it is regarded

both in London and in India ‘as a very inferior dark sort of
myrrh.’

On this point see Sir Joseph Hooker in the

Magazine,

7220.

BEAR

BEAR,

I

.

The name, common to Heb.,

and Eth., is from

a

root signify-

ing to move slowly and

and thus

the bear, which has a stealthy tread.

The Heb. word is generally

even when the she-bear is

thus ‘ a bear

of her

On the other hand, the pl.

takes a fem.

in

and the sing. is apparently

in Is. 117.

[BAL],

but in Prov.

wrongly

connecting prohably with

‘to be anxious’); Theod. has

I n Prov.

has

twice], easily

when we remember that the Aram. form of

wolf, is

The animal is frequently mentioned in O T (in the

in Wisd.

11

17

Ecclus. 25

17

but

and

and once

No difficulty arises in

with any of the O T passages

;

the attacks

the lion and the bear on David’s flock

(

I

S.

34

of

the she-bears on the’ children who mocked

accord with the ravenous habits of

the

‘ a

bear robbed of her whelps’

S. 1 7 8

Prov.

1 7

Hos. 13

8)

or a ranging hear (Prov. 28

is naturally regarded as the most dangerous possible

to encounter one of the signs of profound peace

in the Messiahs kingdom is that the cow feeds side by

with the bear, its natural enemy

(Is.

11

7).

The

or rather

moaning, of the bear is well expressed by

the verb

which is

ap-

plied also to the howling of a dog, the cooing of a
turtle-dove, the sighing of a man, and the moaning of
the sea. The stealthiness of a bear’s attack is men-
tioned in Lam. 310. By the likening of the second
(probably the ‘Median) kingdom in Dan.

to

a

which was raised up on one side, and three ribs
were in his mouth between his teeth and they said thus
unto it, Arise, devour much flesh,’-the extreme

of the Median conquests is probably in-

dicated (see further

in

In Am.

5

as

if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met

him,’

have, as Bochart remarks, a Hebrew equivalent

in NT.

to

the classical

in

cupiens

In the combination of the feet of

a bear

ith the

body of a leopard and the

of a

lion in

we have an instance of the characteristic re-combination
of elements borrowed from

apocalyptic. The hyper-

treatment of old history in later Jewish literature

is illustrated by the mention in Wisd.

of wild

beasts, such

as

lions and bears, among the plagues sent

upon the Egyptians, and by the statement about David
in Ecclns. 473 that he played (Heb.

. .

.

he

at

. . .

among lions as among

kids, and among bears as among lambs of the flock.’

Finally, we notice the interesting reading of

in

25

17

:

A

woman’s wickedness altereth her visage

And darkeneth her face as doth a bear

If this reading be correct, the verse will allude to
the

or

moroseness often attributed to the bear,

which several ancient writers speak of as expressed in
its countenance. On the whole, however, it’ is more
probable that

(supported by the Syr. and Ar. ver-

sions) is right in reading

And maketh her face dark like sackcloth

The Syrian bear, sometimes called

is

not specifically distinct from the brown bear,

although somewhat lighter in

colour and smaller than the typical
varieties.

It has a

distribution,

The other

of the

‘to have a bristly skin,’

is probably, a s Ges.

secondary,

derived from the

noun

I t was a common opinion in antiquity that she-bears were

fiercer than the males

thus Pliny (11

Mares in

fortiores

pantheris et

3

Cp also Is. 24 18 Jer. 48 44.

BEARD

being found in several parts of Europe, -formerly all
over that continent,-and throughout Asia

N. of the

Himalayas.

It is unsociable in its habits, though some-

times male and female

seen together, and the cubs

accompany their mother.

Bears are omnivorous, kill-

ing and eating other animals

;

but they have

a vegetable

dirt also.

They are particularly fond of fruit and

In cold climates they hibernate during the

months, and during the period

of

hibernation

they subsist on the stored-up fats. The young are
generally born towards the end of this period. They
are now practically extinct in

S. Palestine, but are

still to be met with in the Lebanon and Hermon
districts.

and

The importance attached by the Hebrews

to the beard is fully borne out by the many references

to

it found in the

OT.

Twoworus are thus rendered : (a)

used of the heard proper cp

S.

10

=

I

Ch.

Is.

7

15

Jer. 48

37)

etc., and

of the

(in Lev. 13

14

of both man and woman).

(6)

(from

‘

lip

rendered ‘.beard’ in

is more roperly the mous-

tache or ‘upper lip’ (so

E V

and AV

mg. Ez. 24

Mic. 3 7 where E V ‘lip’).

The beard was, and still is, in the East, the mark of

manly dignity. A well-bearded man is looked upon as
honourable, and as one who in his life ‘has never
hungered (Doughty,

Des.

1250).

By touching the

beard,

or by swearing by it,

a

man’s good faith was

assured

fact which may possibly throw

light upon

treachery towards Amasa

cp

and to cut it ceremonially was strictly forbidden see
C

UTTINGS O

F THE

F

LESH

,

3. T o shave it was an

sign

of

mourning (Is.

4837; cp

Ep.

[Bar.

:

see

M

OURNING

CUSTOMS,

Although barbers are mentioned only in

a

late pass-

age

(Ez.

I

,

:

‘

to shave,’ on

the

other hand, is

frequent, Gen.

104 Judg.

etc.), they

were doubtless in great

In Egypt the barber

is described

industriously journeying from place

to place seeking employment, carrying in an open-
mouthed bag the tools of his craft-a small short hatchet
or recurved knife (cp

The razor is fre-

quently mentioned in the OT, where it is called

(Nu.

6 5

87 Is.

Ps. 523

[4]

sheath’

or

‘scabbard’ in

I

S.

S .

Ez.

or

(Judg.

I

S.

see

In Egypt, apart from priests (and high officials, Gen.

41

the practice of shaving the hair does not seem to have been
very general (cp

E

G

YP

T

39).

On

the other hand the heard

was regularly shorn

only

the

foreigners

let

it grow,

t o

the disgust of the cleanly Egyptians.

Hence the negligent Rameses

YII.

is caricatured in his tomb

a t Thebes wearing an unshorn beard of two or three days’
growth. Nevertheless the beard was looked upon a s a
of dignity and on

occasions the want was supplied

by an artificial one. Such beards were made of a piece of
hair tightly plaited and fastened by two straps behind the ear.

The king wore a longer beard, square a t the bottom; one
even longer and curled a t the end was the distinguishing mark

RV rendering of

BEARD.

AV

N.

M.-A. E. S.

BECHORATH

of a

T h e people of Punt followed the Egyptians in all

such customs. Canaanites, Assyrians, and

on the

other hand, wore long hair and plaited

and in strong

contrast

t o

these are the monumental representations of the

desert nomad with pointed moustache (cp

WMM, As.

For

(I)

and

‘living creature’-including

and

Gen.

(P),

but more

wild beasts Gen.7

372033

see

C

ATTLE

,

For

‘wild bea, of the reeds’

see

C

ROCODILE

,

D

RAGON

.

For (3)

‘beast

of

burden,’ see

C

ATTLE

,

(3).

For (4)

Is.

‘wild

beasts of

islands’

see

J

ACKAL

W

OLF

.

For

(5)

3414 Jer. 5039

‘wild beasts

of

the desert’

see

C

AT

(end).

(6)

‘wild beasts’

Ps.

50

is more

scrupulously rendered ‘that which moves (or roams)’ by Dr.,

We.

BDB

recognises

move.

‘Small creatures‘ would also be possible: cp Talm.
‘a

worm,’ Ass.

an animal like a locust. The probability

of such

a

Heb., however, is not great. The two

passages have to be considered separately.

gives

readings

: Ps.

Is.

I

Ps.

80

2.

2.

The Targ.

(in

passages) finds a reference to the

H

OOPO

E

.

See further,

BDB

and (on the text which is corrupt) Che.

NT.

Rev.

7

etc. (the two mystical

see

A

POCALYPSE

,

40

A

NTICHRIST

,

and cp B

EHE

-

M O T H

AND

L

EVIATHAN

,

;

D

RAGON

,

2.

For

4 6

the four

creatures’) see

C

HERUB

,

3.

For

BEAST.

CATTLE,

(3).

BEATING (with rods),

etc. See

L

AW

BEAUTIFUL GATE

(

H

[Ti. WH]),

Acts

3

IO

see

T

EMPLE

.

BEBAI

57 Hilprecht has found the

name

on a tablet from

I

.

The h‘ne Bebai, a family in the great post-exilic list (see

E

ZRA

,

(reckoned a t

623)

Neh.

7

(reckoned a t

I

Esd. 5

of whom twenty-eight are included in Ezra’s caravan (see

E

ZRA

,

Ezra811

once])

= I

[once]

[A

once]

[L once]) and four in list of those with foreign wives

E

ZR

A

,

represented among the signatories

t o

the covenant (see

E

ZR

A

,

i.

An unidentified place mentioned with

and C

OLA

[A],

perhaps a

of the following name

and Vg.

if

the reading of

he considered trustworthy,

a locality

otherwise improbable, may he intended.

BECHER

‘first-born’

;

61, or

perhaps,

Ass.

Ar.

‘camel’

[so

BDB

L e x . ] ) .

A

Benjamite clan, Gen.

[A],

[L],

and

I

Ch. 76

8

[A],

[L]

[B

6 ,

omitting all mention of Bela] and

v.

The name is wanting in

Nu.

it is possible that the name B

ECHER

tilic

B

ACHRITE

, RV Becherite) in the Ephraimite

list,

35

om.) was originally

a marginal

addition to the Benjamite clans, which after being
misplaced has crept into the text (cp

T o

the clan Becher (gentilic B

ICHRI

belonged the

rebellious

ii.

(

I

)], and, if we adopt

probable emendations

(see

also

Saul. A descendant of the latter bears, according to
the MT, the cognate name Bocheru (but see B

OCHERU

).

It is possible that the name recurs under the form

See also B

EN

JAMIN

,

BECHORATH, RV Becorath

apparently

AND

J

USTICE

,

See Erman,

226

n. 4 Wilkinson, 2 333.

The

represent, however, not only eunuchs, but

also what seem to he people of the lowest rank-peasants,
labourers and slaves-without heard. In the oldest Babylonian

on the other hand, the head is completely bare.

The ancient custom was perhaps given u p through the beard
becoming a sign of the military caste (see

and Chipiez,

A r t

2

3

Illustration, Benz.

Arch.

Unless ‘chin is the primary meaning of

T h e word

‘old man,’ is perhaps a derivative lit. ‘gray-beard.’

S.

Meribha‘al

show

his

grief leaves his

beard untrimmed.

3

Herod, according to Jos.

( A n t . xvi. 11 6), was nearly as-

sassinated by his barber, Trypho. I n

M H

the barber is

cp

4

For

(We.

:

hence both names are from the

.

.

same root,

‘to

lay bare.’

A Phcenician inscription, fifth-fourth century

from

Larnaka in Cyprus, mentions the

in a list of charges in

connection with a

of

Ashtoreth.

thev were there

to attend to

tonsures it is possible that Renan is

right in taking them to he

whose business it was

to

heal the self-inflicted wounds of the worshippers

I

K .

and see

cp

95).

BECTILETH

the son

of A

PHIAH

an ancestor of Saul,

I

S.

The name

I

S

really to be read

as

B

E

'

CHER

the name of

Saul's clan. C p

Klo. on

I

9

I

and Marq. Fund.

'house of slaughter

[Syr.]),

P

LAIN

OF,

three days' journey from Nmeveh, near

the mountain which is at the left hand of upper

Grotius has suggested Ptolemy's

in Syria

v.

15

16

cp the

of

the

Tub.

21

R.

m. from Antioch) but this does

not agree with the situation

as

defined in the text.

The name of

the

mountain is given

as Ange, Agge

by It. Vg. and as

by the

Syr. (so Lag.).

For the latter

gives

'mountain of

pots,' which suggests that the name may have arisen
from reading

'potsherd,' for an original

or

which actually occurs

as a place-name. See

T

EL

-H

ARSHA

.

BED.

Oriental beds in the olden time cannot always

have been so simple

as we are led to suppose that they

generally are to-day.

Both the frame-

work and the trappings of the bed were
sometimes richly ornamented. Of course,

manners changed and luxury grew. Egypt was perhaps
in advance of other nations; but even in Egypt the
priests were wont to use beds of a very simple kind.

If

they had any frames at all, they were wicker-

work of palm-branches, resembling the

of the

modern Egyptian (cp Wilkinson,

early Israelites were naturally slow

their material progress.

Shepherds, for example,

sleeping in

the

open air (cp

would wrap

themselves in their

or

(Ex.

and,

if need were, used stones for their head-rests (Gen.

Tent-dwellers too would be content with that

useful article-the

and this was probably what

Sisera was wrapped

when he lay down to

(Judg.

Those who dwelt in the house were

protected from the weather,

knew no luxury.

Great persons had special sleeping-chambers. Ishbaal
for

was murdered in such

a

room

I

K.

Ps.

(corr. text), and in the highly

civilised period represented by Ecclesiastes it was per-
haps the usual arrangement (Eccles.

Considering,

however,

special bedrooms are in Eastern houses

now, and also the poor construction

of

the houses in

ancient Palestine, we can hardly ventnre

suppose that

a 'chamber of beds,'

2

K.

Ch. 2211)

was common among the Israelites. Guests, however,
enjoyed privacy in the so-called upper-story
in

and N T ) , which was on a part of the flat roof,

where coolness could be enjoyed

2

K.

Klo.

I

K.

And in such rude houses

as may still be seen in parts

of Palestine, and were

doubtless common in antiquity, the upper chamber would
necessarily be the sleeping-room of the family, as long as
the weather permitted (see

H

O

U

S

E

,

During the

might point to

but

is not unfrequently read

cp

and

Porphyry calls them by the name

from the Coptic

palm- branch.' Cp

Macc. 13

the form of the

Greek is

and Symm. Cant. 79.

So

the modern Arab sleeps,

on the roof of the mosque

(Doughty); a

is still the chief article of

wardrobe-an oblong piece of thick woollen stuff, used for a n
outer garment hy day and for a coverlet

night. See Dozy,

des

des

39.

For the unintelligible

read with Che.

a

more technical term than

(Gratz) is required.

Moore (ad

frankly states that the main exegetical tradition

points to a coarse

or

wrap.

a

BED

summer, in the absence of a latticed upper chamber, huts
of boughs on the flat roof could be used (for

a descrip-

tion

of

such see Schumacher, Across

89).

(from

' t o stretch.'

CD

from

Gen.

The bed itself is called generally

482 etc.);

( b )

(properly 'place

for lying,'

etc.) and

(c)

(properly bedstead, Prov.

7

16).

(once L

ITTER

(

I

)],

Cant.37 RV)

used in

of a bier.

is used collectively of the bedding, etc. in

S.

(where read

There seems to be no

between these three words : and c occur together in parallelism

a

and c similarly

The variant render-

ing 'couch' is employed arbitrarily, for the sake of differentia-
tion, by E V in

AV in

by

RV

and by

EV

in Am. 64

Other words rendered 'bed' are

(d)

(properly

out,'

Ps.

636

used also of the bed of

wedlock in Gen. 494 (cp

I

an extension of

similar to' that

by

in Heb. 13 4 (but cp

11

7 etc.)

cp Ar.

From the same root is derived also (e)

Is. 23

(see

K.

3

(cp above),

(Lk. 5

24,

couch '), and

Lat.

Mk.

2

4

etc.).

T h e

Book

of Judith adds

which

may

For

Cant.

see

P

ALANQUIN

,

and

for

5

13,

cp G

ARDEN

.

To-day the divan, or platform, which goes along the

side or end of an Oriental room serves as

a

rest for the

bedding. This arrangement may have been

known in N. Israel

as early as the time of

Amos (see below

5) but, if

so,

it was con-

fined to the rich. What we know for certain is that the
beds were movable

( I

S. 19

:

Saul wishes to have David

brought to him in the bed), and this characterises all
periods (see Lk. 5r3 and cp

in

Mk.

Acts

9

34).

Thus (cp helqw,

5) they

used by day

as seats or couches (Ezek.

In some cases the bed

was fitted with

a head (cp Gen.

such perhaps as

we find represented on Egyptian monuments (cp Wilk.

1 4 1 6

fig. 191). That Og, king

of

had an iron

according to Dt.

is a state-

ment of EV which most scholars would question. The
wide application of Semitic words for bed' justifies
the rendering couch

of

Basaltic sarcophagi abound in the E. of Jordan, and

a giant could well be enclosed

in 'Hiram's tomb,' as

the Bedouins still designate one of

which is said

to measure twelve feet by six.

The cloths or rugs spread over

a bedstead were

called

(Prov.

and very possibly the singular

of this word is to be substituted for the obscure
and

found

I

S.

19

16

and

2

K. 8

15

respectively

(see above,

on Judith

Neither of the latter

words was understood in

and the revisers

Cp Ass.

bed, couch,' Aram.

'couch,

cradle, bier,' new Heb.

' a bower in

vineyard';

Bu. illustrates by

I n

4

the word does

appear in

best texts (so RV).

3

For

however, '€3 Pesh. Gei. read

'staff'; cp Heb.

11

21.

4

can hardly say with Driver

53)

that 'the

supposed meaning of

is little more than conjectural.'

T h e

evidence from a comparison of usages is overwhelming. If

use

for his death-couch, the Deuteronomic

'writer may of course use

for that of Og.

indeed,

occurs in a Palmyrene bilingual from

in this

sense. C p also

in

and the Syr. use of

I

above). I t must be remembered too that the

assumes an

H e ought not to be required

to

use the technical Hebrew term for sarcophagus,

(Gen.

Cp

1398,

p.

127,

n. 3 (who would

render

bed or

Aram.

bier ').

The huge size of the

indicates

the importance of the man whose body is placed in it. There

a

vast sarcophagus of a saint near Samarcand.
I t should he mentioned, however, that in

K.

8

whilst

the Hebrew word

Aq. and Symm. (and

through them perhaps

give

wooden frame.

S

O

Rohinson.

BEE

have shown their perplexity in the former passage- by
giving three alternative renderings.

In Mk. 438 we

Of pillows we hear nothing in

OT.

have

(cp Ezek.

‘

pillow

but it was

an

extemporised

pillow RV better, cushion.’

AV-even sometimes RV-does indeed assume the use of

pillows.

Thus (a)

(with

is rendered ‘holster’

by AV in

I

S.

16

16

and by

in

I

K.

1 9 6 ’

and

AV in Gen.

28

1

1

however denote;

properly ‘the parts about one’s head and

by

RV everywhere

I

the head thereof’),

once even by AV in

I

K.

196.

The Heb. word finds

exact

parallel in the

(withsuffix),

(6) For

in

I

E V

has ‘pillow,.

while

offers ‘quilt’ or ‘network’ (so Ew.,

a

sieve);

see

3.

The ‘pillows’ of the prophetesses (so

;

cp Vg. Pesh. Targ.) in

13

18

are purely

appears to mean some kind of magical

amulet carried

the prophetesses cp Ass.

to bind,’

in Baer,

It is impossible to separate the subiect of beds from

that of

or divans. Amos,

a

dweller in the

country, directs his scorn against the luxury
of the rich grandees that sit in Samaria in

the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of
a bed’ (Am.

RV).

The rendering of RV is

indefensible Damascus and damask

no connec-

tion (see D

AMASCUS

,

6 n.).

The passage has

been cleared up with an approach to certainty by
critical conjecture

:

it should run thus, ‘that sit in

Samaria on the carpet

of

a

couch, and on the

cushion

of

a divan.’

From another passage,

which also

be restored very nearly to its original

clearness (see D

AVID

,

we learn that the conches

of

the great were richly adorned.

The selfish grandees

are described as those that lie upon conches (or beds,

of ivory,’ Am. 64). Such couches were sent as

by Hezekiah to Nineveh

2 97, 1.

and the

Amarna Tablets

(5

cp

27

speak of ‘beds

of

ivory, gold, and wood sent to the king of Egypt.

So too

in Esther

(1

6 cp

I

Esd. 36) we read of couches adorned

with gold and silver, and covered with rich tapestry and
deckings from Egypt (cp Prov. 716). Some of these
couches would

of

course be used as beds. Such, at any

rate, was the gorgeous bed

in the tent of Holo-

phernes. The description of it contains the first mention
o f a canopy’

a

fly-net)-one of ,the results of Greek influence

H

ELLENISM

,

15.

;

thefather of Hadad

king of

Gen.

I

Ch.

[L]).

The name is seemingly

a corruption of

probably,

is Dadda (two names of the storm-god

best known as

:

cp with this Bir-zur

from

I

,

3).

the king

of Arabia’ conquered

had for his

father Bir-dadda

a name which answers

to the Assyrian name

(the eponym for

848

Hommel

Ass., 1897,

270)

derives from Be-

by Hadad

-

cp

;

or [Cod. Am.]

I

.

In an address ascribed to

we find

mentioned between Jerubbaal and Jephthah as one of
the chief deliverers of Israel

(

I

S. 12 MT). No such

name occurs in the Book of Judges, however, and the
form

of

the name is suspicious.

Ew. supposed that the initial letter had been dropped, and

that we should read Abdon

Judg. 1 2

13).

Abdon, how-

ever,

is one of the six ‘minor Judges’ introduced into the

BE-ESHTERAH,

T. K.

C.

Cp

n.

;

Che.

vi.

366,

Is.

For

and Nowack give

‘on

the covering of.’ But

is non-existent

;

in

it is corrupt (see above).

historical scheme of Judges a t a later time.

Targ. fanci-

understands

name as

Samson.

,

,

.The mention of Sisera in

9 entitles

to expect

Barak, which name is actually read by

[BAL]),

Pesh.

So We., Dr.,

Bu., Moore, H. P. Smith.

Manassite,

I

Ch.

7

17

;

perhaps a

corruption of Abdon

M

A

CHI

R

.

BEDEIAH

more probably

a

textual corruption

for

I

Ch.

[so Gray,

285, n.

who

cites

and Pesh.], than an abbreviation for

[so

Olsh.

4, followed by BDB], a Levitical name

in the list of those with

wives

5 end)

P

ELIAS

, RV

as above, we gain

a

second name

which

creation

is referred to by the distinctive

and post-exilic term.

BEE

Dt.

Judg. 148

Pr. 68

Is. 718 Ecclus. 57

1 1 3

has for its Hebrew name

a

word derived

from

a root meaning to lead (or to be led) in order.

Thus it means properly

a

member of

a

swarm (cp

from

Besides the

incident of

Samson finding a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcase

(recalling Vergil’s story of

and other classical

allusions, see below), we have in the O T two references
to the

of bees on those who meddle with

their hives (Dt.144

Ps.

and a likening of the Assyrian power to

a

bee summoned

the sound

of a

hiss to settle on the land of

(Is. 718). In Prov. 6, at the close of the exhortation

to

the sluggard to learn from the ant and her ways,

has the following addition to the Hebrew text

:-

See C

REATION

,

30.

Or go thou to the bee
And learn how diligent she is
And how noble

is thk work that she doeth

;

Whose labours kings and private men

for health,

And she is desired and honourable in the eyes of

:

Though she be weak in strength,

By

honouring wisdom she is advanced.

is little among

as

fly,

But her

is the chief of sweet things.

We may compare the words

of the son of Sirach

(11

3).

The common bee of Palestine is

Latr.

some authorities regard it as

a distinct species, others as a

sub-species of the cosmopolitan honey-bee

In favour of the latter view it is stated that when crossed
with races of the same species it breeds freely but, on
the other hand, it differs in size and colour from the
English bee, being smaller and lighter, and beautifully
striped. The colonies are large and very many, Pales-
tine being

a

country well adapted for the needs’ of

insects which flourish in the sun and feed on flowers.

Bees

found wild, making their hives in crevices

of

the rocks and hollow trees, etc. and, even at the present
day, many of the Arabs make

a

living by collecting wild

honey and bringing it into the towns for sale.

Bee-

keeping is much practised in the East (where honey
is largely used in cooking), the hives, according

to Canon Tristram, being tubular structures 3 or 4 ft.
long, and some 8 in. in diameter, roughly made of
sun-dried mud. The ends of the tube are closed with

a

tile perforated with a hole for the access of the bees.

Many of the hives are piled up together and covered
with boughs for the sake of shade. When the combs

This

word

is

a

the collective appears

in

as

or

a

swarm of

also

probably in

text of

I

S .

14 26,

its bees (for

; so

We.,

Dr., Bu.,

H. P.

Smith.

comes from

a

rival reading to

(Che.

has ‘as bees about wax,’ which

adopt

;

but

In

cod.

Ecclos. 57 a corrector has added

3

The ancients believed that it was possible to summon bees

by

such as the beating of metal : see Verg.

and the other passages cited by Bochart

4

IO

).

BEELIADA

BEELZEBUL

are stored with honey the end is removed and the comb
pulled out with

a

hook.

,

It

is

possible .that this method

of apiculture is of considerable antiquity-the art was
well known in classical times, and the bee has been,

as

Darwin points out, semi-domesticated from

an

ex-

tremely remote period,'-but there is no reference to
it

in

the O T or the

NT.

The temper of this race of bees is very irritable, and

they are very revengeful; indeed, it seems that the
farther East one travels, the more the bee is to be
avoided. This eagerness to attack may explain such

passages as

144

Ps.

which, if they referred

to the English bee, would seem exaggerated. A few
years ago some hives of this Eastern race were introduced
into the South of England, but proved

so aggressive that

they had to be destroyed. They are very active

on

the

wing and fly great distances.

The passage in Judg.

which describes Samson

finding

swarm of bees and honey

in the carcase of

the

lion,'

reads strangely. It is, however, by

no

means

improbable that in the hot dry climate of Palestine the

of

a

lion might dry up quickly, and it is possible

that the flesh of the animal might have been removed
by ants. The skeleton might then form

an attractive

shelter for a hive. On the other hand, Baron Osten

has recently drawn attention to the

spread myth called Bugonia, which is that bees are
generated in the bodies of dead animals, more especially
in the carcases of 'oxen. This myth frequently occurs
in ancient and

and was believed

and quoted by distinguished naturalists as late as the
middle of the seventeenth century. Its explanation,
according to our author, lies

in the fact that

a true

one of the Diptera), which mimics

a

bee so closely

as

to deceive those who are not entomo-

logists, lays its eggs in decaying meat.

This provides

food for the maggots. After the pupa stages emerges
the mature insect. As it flies away, it would be almost
certainly taken for a bee.

The theory is ingenious but

it does not account for the honey in the lion's carcase,
and at present, although the

undoubtedly lays

its eggs in filth, the evidence that it does

so

in dead

is somewhat scanty.

A story parallel to Samson's

is to the effect that

recently, when the tomb of Petrarchat

opened,

it was found that

a

swarm of bees had made their

honeycomb on the remains of the poet.

The Palestine

which is found S. of Mount

Carmel, differs from the Syrian bee found in Asiatic
Turkey

N. of that district. The latter is of a deeper

gray. Both races are larger than the

bee,

which is slender and wasp-like. The Egyptian bee
resembles the Syrian

in size, but is yellow and of an

unusually fierce temperament. See

also

H

ONEY

.

E.

S.

,

42,

'Baal knows,' or

whom B. deposits [for safe custody cp Ar.
deposuit

see Kerber,

the Massoretic

vocalisation intentionally disguises the word

one

of the

sons

of

D

AVI

D

,

1

1

(

I

Ch.

[BX],

[A],

[L];

This,

the original form of the name, was later altered by the
scrupulous copyists to

E

LIADA

in

5

(but

[L] and

in B's secondary [see D

AVID

,

( d )

list) and

I

Ch.

38,

when Baal had become objectionable

as a name of God (WRS,

68).

Cp B

AAL

,

BEELSARUS

[BA]),

I

Esd.

5

8

=Ezra

5

22,

BEELTETHMUS

(

Esd.

2

16.

See

5.

tom. 25

See the references in Bochart,

4

I

O

.

33

as in

EV Beelzebub:

a

of the ruler of the demons

Mt.

Mk.

3

Lk.

11

follows Text.

which has

(so

Pesh.); but

is better, attested

;

so

Ti.

T r e g )

W H , following

B

and partly

read

1.

Form

which Weiss insists, must

name.

be original; but this

as

to the

in

is paradoxical.

The word

is in-

and hardly pronounceable and

famous passage

n Mt.

where the

is said to he insultingly

implies the speaker's consciousness that

is one element in the title.

The name differs in two respects from the traditional

name of the god of Ekron

:

(

I

) its first part is Aramaic,

and

its last letter is not 6 but

Still, we cannot doubt that

is

identical with

This heathen god seemed

at one moment to be the rival of

K.

and

his name naturally rose to Jewish lips when demoniacal
possession was spoken of, because of the demoniacal

assumed for heathen oracles. The title occurs

nowhere in Jewish

and must, therefore, have

lost its popularity after the time of Christ. There were,
in fact,

so

many names of demons that we cannot he

that some once popular names passed out of

If we ask how the name

or rather

to be popular, the answer is-first, that

the title Baa-zebu1 was probably not confined to the god
of Ekron, but was once known in Palestine pretty widely,

that a traditional knowledge of it, as well as of the

synonymous title B

AAL

-Z

EPHON

can be presumed

among the Jews and their neighbours even apart from

K.

1 and next, that Lk. 9

54

shows that special interest

was felt by the Jews of the time of Christ in the strange
narrative in which the name Baal-zebub occurs. That
the form Baal-zebiil was generally preferred may be
presumed from the best accredited Greek text of the
Gospels-the knowledge of this form must have come
to the Jews by tradition and by intercourse with their
neighbours-but it is probable enough that
also was current, and from Mt.

we are obliged to

assume that some teachers pronounced the name

with the view of interpreting it

lord of the house

and being easily

(An

analogy for this can be found in

the Elohist's play upon

as if

in

Gen.

The interpretation was correct (see B

AAL

-

ZEBUB,

§

3), though the 'house' of which Jesus and

his contemporaries thought was, not

on

the mountain

of God (cp B

AAL

-

ZEPHON

, 'lord of the [mansion of

the] north), but

in the recesses of the pit' (Is.

Though the demons might be allowed to pervade
the upper world (cp Eph.

the place from which

they proceeded was the 'abyss' (the Abaddou of Rev.

As things now stand, therefore, it is best

to

suppose

B

AAL

-

ZEBUB

to be a modification in the direc-

tion of cacophony for religious reasons (cp Gog, Magog)
which did not hold its ground.

is probably

the original form,

it meant lord of the mansion '-

to the Jews of

N T times, ' lord of the nether world.'

The reading of the received Greek text is assimilated to
the reading of the traditional Hebrew text.

Over against this view stands that of the old scholar

Lightfoot (still defended by

Meyer,

Mutter-

which connects

with

dung,'

dung-making,' in

new Hebrew

cp

to offer to idols.'

The idea is that lord of flies was changed into lord

of dung,' to show abhorrence of henthenism.

Such

transformations are, no doubt, in the later Jewish spirit

Cp

for

on this theory, is ironically described as the

the

'palace' or 'mansion' of the demons, as in Ps.

(according to

one possible view, see

P

S

A

LMS

,

SBOT

where We. reads

of

the wicked rich.

BEER

but this particular one is

Lord of flies

(could we assume that this was the original meaning) was
itself, as

a title, bad enough; nor would the people, who

feared the demons

so

much, have ventured

to speak too

disrespectfully of the archdemon (cp Ashmedai

which to

a

Hebrew

ear meant the destroyer'

-not

a disrespectful title)

lastly, on Lightfoot's

theory the name ought

to

be

:

it is shown

elsewhere that

a

late editor detected the new Hebrew

word

'dung,' in the name I-zebel (J

BZEBEL

).

Lightfoot's theory, then, must be abandoned,

as

sin holds.

But Baudissin's own theory (adopted from

Hitzig) is not really more satisfactory. H e thinks that

is simply

a

euphonic modification of

zebub, the consonant which closed

first syllable

being repeated at the close of the second part of the

This, however, leaves Baal-zebub unexplained, for

Baudissin's theory of the

is scarcely admissible.

See Selden,

De

2

6

Lightfoot,

on

12

24

Lk.

11

Movers,

Die

1

Riehm's article in

The latter

revives an old theory

of Storr

and Doderlein that

in Aramaic might mean either lord of flies or

' a n enemy,'

This is doubtless plausible. W e must

at

least admit

that the common people cannot without instruction have
attached

a

meaning to

But how has

(half Hebrew, half Aramaic) fixed itself in the Gospel

tradition

Pesh. too retains Beelzebub. Baudissin's

article in

(learned and thorough) adopts

the ordinary view,

as far as Baal-zebub is concerned.

T.

C.

BEER

'well,'

I

.

[BAFL]).

A station of the Israelites, apparently between Heshbon
and the

(Nu.

21

16

See N

AHALIEL

W

ANDERING

,

8

and

below, B

EER

-E

LIM

.

The

interest of Beer is not geographical but literary.

The

discovery of the well was commemorated (the narrator
gives us

to

understand) by a song. The song with its

context

thus, according

to

And from there to Beer: that is the well whereof

said unto Moses : Assemble the people, and

I

will give them

water. Then sang Israel this song :

Spring up,

0 well ; greet ye it with a song.

Well, that the princes have du
The nobles of the people have

With the sceptre-with their staves.

And from

the wilderness] to Mattanah; and from

Mattanah to Nahaliel and from Nahaliel

t o

Bamoth.

The historical character of this statement has generally

been assumed. Ewald, however, is on the road to

a

very different theory when he remarks that such

a

well-

song would become

a

source of joy

to

the labourers who

thenceforward used it

(Hist.

H e sees, in fact,

that it is essentially a popular song. Robertson Smith,
too, finely speaks

of

the exquisite song in which the

Hebrew women

as

they-stand round the fountain,

waiting their turn to draw, coax forth the water which
wells up all too slowly for their

W e

should not expect the origin of such

a

song to be

remembered

nor is there anything in the words to

suggest the occasion ascribed

to

it in JE. More prob-

ably

it

arose in the dry country of the south of Judah,

where springs were the most valued possession (cp Judg.

Josh. 15 Gen.

26

The princes,' nobles,'

and ' captains' (for

we read

cp Judg.

59-14)

referred

to

are the sheikhs of the clan.

the present writer thinks, has no connection with

'dung.'

I t is pointed in imitation of

'abomina-

tions,' and should really he read

'heaps of stones,'

altars of stone.

Hitzig

by

(Habakkuk)

adds

for

el-Mandeh.

3

Poetry of the

OT,'

Brit.

Rev. Jan.

cp

The expression 'coax forth' was suggested by

Herder. The fountain is credited

primitive races with per-

sonality.

Cp however,

a fresh well has been found, the sheikhs go through the
symbolic form of digging for it with staves, and the poets
of the clan greet the well with a

song.

Does MT give us the whole of the song?

Can

be used

as a proper name?, Surely not. And,

when we examine the MSS of

we find some justifi-

cation for the hypothesis of Budde, that the text of the
itinerary originally ran, And from there

to

Beer

;

and

from Beer

to

Nahaliel and from Nahaliel

to

Bamoth,'

and that an editor who knew the song of the well, and
desired

to

do it honour, inserted it between the first and

the second items in the list, with the additional line,

Out of the wilderness

a

gift (see M

ATTANAH

). See

Budde,

New

March 1895

1895,

p.

Franz Del.

1882,

A place

to

which

[I]

fled from his brother

Abimelech, Judg.

[B],

[A],

[L]).

In OS

(238

73

106

it is identified with

a

village

called Bera, 8

m. N. of Eleutheropolis.

The context,

however, gives us no data for determining the site of
the well in question.

B

EEROTH

and even Beersheba have been suggested.

Kh. el-Bireh,

of 'Ain Shems,

is considerably more than

8 m.

N.

of

Beit Jibrin.

T. K. C .

'well'

om.

b. Zophah, in genealogy of

( I

Ch.

'well'),

a Reubenite prince,

of Baal, carried off by

I

Ch. 56

(

[A],

[L]). He is identified by the

rabbins with Beeri, the father of the prophet Hosea.

BEER-ELIM

Gi.], 'well

of tere-

binths' (?) or 'of sacred trees'

T

O

Y

a

place apparently on the northern border

of Moab, answering

to

E

GLAIM

the south

(Is.

158).

It is generally identified with the

of Nu.

21

Some identify it

also

with the

of

I

Macc.

526

but see

to the well or ' B

EER

,'

76 cp above).

I

.

A

Hittite, the father of

J

UDITH

I

)

,

Esau's

wife, Gen.

2634

[E],

It

is impossible to

reconcile this description with that of

in

the genealogy

Gen. 362, for which see B

ASHEMATH

,

I

.

The fatlier of

H

OSEA

,

Hos. 1

I

BEER-LAHAI-ROI

a well

the

Negeb, famous in Hebrew tradition as the scene of

theophany (Gen. 16

and no doubt connected

with

a sanctuary

1

349

Beside this

sacred well

the abode

of

Isaac

2511).

The name is mentioned only by J

E, who

gives nearlythe same account

of

the theophany

(21

speaks simply of a well.' According to RV,

Beer-lahai-roi means 'well of the living one who sees
me.'

So

the Versions

14

:

24

:

[ADEL] Pesh. in all three

This rendering, however, is inconsistent with that given

El

Roi in

'4

God that seeth'; we should expect, not

but

and,

apart from this,

cannot be

to

'God (the phrase

is late). Probably, there-

fore, we should

with We.

3 3 0 ;

E T 326) 'living

is he who sees me, and

this by the

of

words

in

v.

which, as they stand, are

hut may,

by the correction of

into

and

the insertion of

between

and

(the resemblance of these

words

accounts for the omission of one), be interpreted thus :

I

seen God and remained aliveafter my vision (of God)'?'

El Roi

(lit. God of vision

')

will

mean the God who is

seen

(cp

Gen. 22 14).

These explanations of

and

are too plainly not original. According

to

analogy,

(wrongly

ought to be

a

noun in the

construct state.

Instead of

we should doubtless

Cp

in M T of

I

S.

3

:

read

with

737).

BEEROTH..

vocalise

jaw-bone'

(?) is some animal's name,

not known in the later Hebrew, and perhaps of Arabic
origin.

,

name misread

should; therefore,

be rendered' Antelope's (?) jaw-bone.'

Another explanation

is proposed by Hommel

209).

Adhering to the points as regards the syllable

he compares

the

S.

Ar.

name

does not account for

Should

be

R

E

U

)?

Samson's Lehi, however, supplies

a more obvious clue.

jaw-bone,' was

a

name given

to

any prominent

crag, from a fancied resemblance to

a

jaw-bone. See

L

EHI

and

Onugnathos

a promontory

on the coast of Laconia,

Camel's jaw-bone' (an

Arabic name,

;

cp We.

298,

n.

According

to

E, the well was in the 'wilderness of

Beersheba (Gen. 2114)

more precisely, states that it

was

'on

the way to Shur'

'between

Jerome knew of

a well of Hagar'

does he mean the tra-

ditional well in the

This strangely

formed wady is at the foot of mountains of the same
name, and Palmer thinks that there was once a large
city here

perhaps one of the

cities of the south

One of the wells has special sanctity, and

is connected

by the Bedouin with Hagar. Two caves appear to be
ancient. The smaller, .at the upper end of the
on the right hand, was apparently

a

Christian chapel

the other,

on

side, seems

to

have served

as the hermitage (Palmer,

Desert of

the Exodus,

2

354).

As

to

the jaw-bone'

no

positive state-

ment can be ventured.

On the geographical state-

ment in

v.

see

T o

suggestions there

made it may be added that the way to

S

HUR

would be one of the regions called by the Assyrians

According to the original tradition Hagar

seems to have fled, not

but to a N. Arabian

district called by

a

name which was confounded with

Mizraim (Egypt). This, and not Egypt, was really her
native country this too was the country from which,
according to

E, she took a

for her

son

Ishmael

(2121).

See

I

I

SAAC

,

BEEROTH

[BKAL]),

a city of

Benjamin.

I n Josh.

[E],

[L],

S. 4 [A omits]

;

gentilic

Beerothite

[BAL], Sam.

59

;

[EA],

Sam. 23 37

EV

I

Ch. 11

39

;

According

to

Josh.

9

17

it belonged originally

to the

confederation

according to

2

S. 43, there was at

time

a

migration of its inhabitants

to

Gittaim (see I

SHBAAL

,

I

).

Men of Beeroth are mentioned in the great post-exilic
list (see

E

ZRA

,

9,

8 c)

It

named by

Eus. (cp Reland,

and

now

represented by the modern

(which still owes

its name

to

its abundant supply of water), a village of

about

inhabitants, in a poor district, about 9 m.

N. from Jerusalem,

on

the Shechem road. Tradition

assigns it as the place where Joseph and Mary missed
Jesus from the company of returning pilgrims

Kadesh and Bered'

14).

So

M

IZRAIM

,

;

M

ORIAH

.

T. K. C.

=

5

43

45).

O

F TEE CHILDREN OF

JAAKAN

,

RV Beeroth Bene-Jaakan

wells

of the b'ne

'),

a

halting-place in the desert, Dt.

[BAL]), where it is men-

tioned before M

OSEROTH

.

%

This notice is

nomic, and belongs to a fragment of E's list of stations

So

first We.

.

cp Moore,

347.

I t seems a

natural inference that

originally referred to an

god

(so

Ball Genesis

SBOT).

text'has for this verse

:

'And the children of

Israel joprneyed from Moseroth and encamped among the b'ne

BEERSHEBA

which has been inserted hy the editor (Bacon,

cp Meyer,

T

1

Dr.

120).

In

Nu.

the same name occurs (shortened

into B

ENE

-J

AAKAN

,

[B]

[A]

[F]

[L])

Moseroth

;

but the list

of stations in

Nu. 33 is of late editorial origin (cp

Hex.

98,

The spot probably lay somewhere

on

the edge of

Cp J

AKAN

, and

W

ANDER

-

INGS,

§ 8.

BEERSHEBA

e.,

rather than 'seven wells'-see below,

3

[ADL], 2633

[ADEL],

well of the oath

One of the Simeonite towns

in the southern territory of Judah (Josh.

on the

border of the cultivated land, came to be regarded,
for the greater part of history, as the

point

of Canaan in that direction; whence the phrase

'from Dan to Beersheba'

( 2

S.

which, after

the fall of the N. kingdom, became from 'Geba

to

Beersheba'

or 'from Reersheba to Mt.

Ephraim'

( 2

Ch.

[B]), and

in the post-

exilic period ' from Beersheba to the valley of

'

[A]). Yet Beersheba, though the practical, was

not the ideal, border of the Holy Land. This ran
along the 'river of Egypt,' the present WBdy
nearly 60 m.

SE. of Beersheba.

An account of the origin of the name and the planting

of the sacred tamarisk of Beersheba is given in the story
of Abraham (Gen.

21

E) but another story belong-

ing

to

another

(J) assigns the origin of the

well and its name

to

Isaac

(Gen.

It was the

scene of more than one theophany in patriarchal times.
It was an important sanctuary frequented even by

N.

Israel

the time of Amos ( 5 5

[BAQ]),

refers with disapproval to those who swear by the

life of the divine patron

2

of Beersheba (814).

It

in Beersheba that the two sons of Samuel are said to
have exercised their judgeship

(

I

S.

and

a

journey thence into the wilderness is placed the incident

of the 'juniper' tree in the life of Elijah

(

I

K.

[A]).

Beersheba was the birthplace of the

mother of King, Joash

( 2

K. 121

2

Ch.

In

post-exilic times it was inhabited by men of Judah.

The ruins

belong apparently to early Christian

days.

The

describe it as a large lace with a

Roman garrison

the time

the

place was of some importance later, it became an episcopal
but by the fourteenth century it had become deserted

ruined:

I t is represented by the modern

on the

W. es-Seba',

m. SW. from Hebron (Rob.

1300

Whilst the arable land

of Palestine

virtually comes

to

an

end with Beersheba,

and the country to the south of it is usually

barren, there are, for nearly 30

m.

S. of Beersheba,

ruins of old villages gathered round wells; they
evidently date from Roman times.

On Josh.

Beersheba and Sheba,' see

(i.).

1 8 1 )

remarks The sanctuary

of

Beersheba

consisted of the

Seven Wells

30

which gave the place its name.' Among
the Arabs a

called Seven Wells

is mentioned by Strabo

Robertson Smith ha5

also given abundant evidence of the sanctity attaching
to the groups of seven wells among the Semites. Even
to-day seven wells or cisterns seem to have the power of
undoing witchcraft

This view is due

to

Stade

(Gesch.

who thinks that the postposition

of the numeral was Canaanitish but, as in the case of

(see H

EBRON

,

the theory is doubtful.

'Well of Seven' is

not inexplicable 'Well of (the) Seven

The Hebrew verb to swear

literally 'to come under

M T

gives way (cultus)

:

see

no.

the influence of seven things.' See WRS,

BE-ESHTERAH

gods is intrinsically

a

probable meaning. Few persons,

it is to be hoped, go

to

Beersheba looking for seven

wells.

affirms that there are now only three,

though there may once have been more

(Souvenirs

de

147 but cp his letter in

Erp.

Times,

(Apr. ‘99).

Times,

889

[Nov.

also states that he

three wells, but adds that

at some distance he saw the remains of

a fourth and

a

fifth.

H e admits that there may once have been more

than five.

Cp

also

Dr.

T i m e s ,

7567

(Sep.

’96).

For descriptions of Beersheba

as

it is to-day,

see Rob.

1204

2

278 283

BE-ESHTERAH

in Josh.

[A]), perhaps an abbreviation

for

‘house of Astarte’ (cp Ges., Nestle,

114, etc.).

however

explains by Ashtar’ cp the

Ar.

by

Athtar

Ashtar).’ Gray

127)

also

is against

the supposed abbreviation of

See

1895, p. 265.1

G.

A.

TAROTH.

BEETLE,

RV

[BAFL] : Lev.

By the word so rendered is

almost certainly intended

a

species of locust or grass-

hopper

;

the name is one of four used in the verse to

denote winged creeping things that go upon

all

fours,

which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon
the earth.’ The Hebrew name has passed into Aramaic,
post-biblical Hebrew, and Armenian in Arabic
means

‘ a

troop of horses’ or

troop of locusts’ (cp

and the connected verb means

to

proceed in

a

long

train,’ as do locusts.

Beetle’ is at all events

a

wrong rendering for the

have,

as a rule, legs

ill adapted for leaping upon the earth,’ and are seldom
or never eaten whereas certain kinds of crickets, as of
locusts, are fried and eaten by Eastern nations.

It is

impossible, however,

to

identify the species

(if any)

referred

to.

Cp also

L

OCUST

,

2.

BEGGAR, BEGGING.
BEHEADING.

See

L

AW

AND

J

USTICE

,

12.

BEHEMOTH

and

LEVIATHAN.

two real or sup-

posed animals grouped together in Job

but

See A

LMS

,

4.

nowhere else in the canonical books
(see however
is no doubt an intensive

plural

and

means

a colossal beast.’ It occurs

in

probably

in Is. 306, but hardly

(c)

in

Ps.

73

In ( a ) the animal so called is described at length. This

description is followed by a sketch of

and most

critics have thought, specially on the ground of the ‘hyper-

expressions, that the two pictures are later insertions in

the speeches of

(see

Whether the expressions

are fitly called hyperholical,’ we

see presently. Almost

all modern critics, whether they separate Job 40

from the

main body of the speeches of Yahwi: or not have thought that

is a Hebraised form of an

word for the

hippopotamus

water-ox ’), hut there is

no philo-

logical basis for this

I n

(6) Is. 306

is probably to be rendered ‘Oracle of the monster

according

to

the order in

men-

tioned in

MSS

as a

rendering by

‘

It will be seen that on one strongly supported theory there

are parallels to this combination.

3

The versions render

as

follows :-in

( a )

[LXX],

[Aq. Theod.], in

(6)

[LXX],

in

So

independently W M M

(E

G

YPT

,

The objections are

as

follows

The final

in Behemoth is unaccounted for

(Lepsius).

‘ a

beast that rolls itself in the mud’)‘

the texts nowhere mention

The form, ’if it

existed, would be

(P.

C.

It is strange that

who died in

and could know only Coptic, and

that imperfectly should he consulted in preference to Birch,
who, after sup bsing himself to have found the old Egyptian
original of

in

discovered afterwards that

the name was really

(Renonf,

1897).

Cp

R

EMPH

A

N

. On

an analogous attempt to

the interpreta-

tion of Leviathan as a crocodile, see col.

n. 3.

The Egyptians had several names for the hip

o

5

of the south

This is the headine of a short fraementarv

passage of prophecy

refers to

of

the end of v. 7 as

the quelled one (see

I

).

‘The south-land’ (Negeb) is here, as

in

a

designation of the second of the two empires which endangered
Palestine

Egypt -the other being

‘the northland’

(Jer. 16

2 6

in a large sense, Babylonia.

So

Delitzsch finds

also

in

(c)

Ps.

7322,

‘As for me,

was senseless and ignorant

I

was a

toward thee

(Del., Nowack). This

is correct, if the

is sound

and if the speaker is an individual. If, however, the
is to he understood collectively, we may perhaps render,

I

was

(like) the beasts toward

So

but the absence of the

particle of comparison is a difficulty. If we compare

I O

it becomes plausible to read, with Gratz,
I was devoid of understanding toward thee.’

‘wreathed

e . ,

‘gather-

ing itself in folds’

;

or perhaps of Bab. origin) is

a

The heading in

6

may be very late.

designation of

a

mythic serpent in

all the passages in which it occurs,

unless Job

4 1

I

be an

See

also

LEVIATHAN.

I t is found

in

(4025)

draw up3

Leviathan with a hook, (and) press ’down his tongue with a
cord ?

.

(e)

Job 3 Let those who lay a ban upon the

4

curse

it,

who are appointed to rouse up Leviathan

Is.

27

I

In

that

day shall Yahwi: punish Leviathan the

and Leviathan the coiled serpent, and he shall slay the

dragon in the

sea’.

(g)

‘Thou didst shatter the heads

of Leviathan, and

his [carcase] to be food for the jackals

(h)

Ps.

104

‘There do the dragons

,along, (there is)

Leviathan whom thou didst form to be its ruler.

To these refer-

ences, two supplied by apocryphal writers may be added :
En. 607-9, cp

4

Esd.

cp Apoc. Bar.

4.

In the present article we shall desert the zoological

explanation of

and

leaving the

field open to another writer

to

represent the

more generally received opinion (see

H

IPPO

-

P

OTAMUS,

C

ROCODILE

).

Strong reason

will have to be shown for not interpreting

these strange forms with some regard to mythology.
No one would assert that the author of Job had an
altogether distinct mythological conception but modern
commentators who disregard the mythic basis of the
descriptions make

a serious mistake.

It was natural in 1887 to

look

for illustrations of the

Jnb passages,

( d )

and

( e ) ,

to Egypt,’ though reference

should have been made, not

to

the fantastic griffins on

certain wall-paintings, but to the idealisation of the
ordinary monsters

of

the Nile in the mythic narratives

of

and

There are supernatural

as

well

as

natural hippopotamuses and “crocodiles, and it is

a

specimen of these which the poet has given

us.

The

descriptions are hyperbolical and unpleasing, if referred
to the real monsters of the Nile; they are not

so if

explained

of

the

children of defeat,” with the dragon

Apopi at their

which the poet, by

a

The alternative explanation ‘Oracle of the beasts of the

south

of the desert which’adjoins the south of Judah-is

less natural. Why ‘the south’ instead of the desert’? And why
are serpents called

‘beasts’?

would have been

more in place.

on Is. 30

6.

renders

as

follows :-in

Sym.

in

(e)

(Aq.

Sym.

Th.

(Aq.

Th.

[twice], in

(Aq.

in

The final letter of v.

24

(now

and the first letter of v.

25

became effaced.

Ewald

makes an elaborate attempt to

account for the absence of the interroeative

in MT.

for M T

based on the theory that the Arabic word for
existed

in the Hebrew vocabulary of Job.

Similarly Budde ;

Duhm leaves the point undecided. Against this, see Che.

Ex-

positor,

July

4

Read

for

with Gunkel, to restore parallelism cp

Ps.

Reading

Cp

Fox.

Reading

for the scarcely possible

‘ships’; and

correcting

into

See Che.

Che.

and Sol. 56,

where the first recent critical protest

was made against

dominant theory. Cp

fantastic forms

described in Maspero,

Nations, 84.

See Maspero,

BEHEMOTH

historically most

identifies with the monsters

of

origin called elsewhere Rahab and his

helpers

And even in the uncorrected but

still more in the corrected text there are expressions and
statements which are hardly explicable except

on

the

mythological theory.’ How, for example, can the hippo-
potamus and the crocodile be said to be, not merely
dangerous to approach, but beyond the range of hunters?
There is evidence that even in early times the Egyptians
were skilled in attacking and killing them.

How, too,

can the ordinary hippopotamus be called the firstling
of the ways of God’

and the ordinary

crocodile be said to be feared by all that is lofty, and to
be king over all the sons of pride (Job

41

34

?

The Babylonian elements in

and

however, are more important than the Egyptian.

They

have been pointed out, though with some exaggeration,
by Gunkel, who also noticed how much the text of the
accounts of

and Leviathan has suffered

in

transmission. It may be hoped that by the light of the
mythological interpretation the corruptions may be
partly removed.

For example, Job

41

may be

plausibly emended thus (see

April,

1897) :-

Surely thy self-confidence proves itself vain
Even divine

the fear of him lays low.

An angel shudders when he would arouse
Who then (among mortals) would dare to

as a foe?

Who ever confronted him and came off
Under the whole heaven, not one

I

The un-emended form of this passage, it is true, does not
favour

a

mythological interpretation; but it is very

difficult to give it any plausible meaning, whereas the
emended text is in perfect harmony with all that we
hear of Leviathan elsewhere. One more proof of the
helpfulness of tlie new theory may be given.

No

passage has puzzled interpreters more than 40
The

RV renders thus, ‘ H e (only) that made him can

make his sword toapproach (unto him).’

however,

should be

(Giesebrecht). The real meaning is, ‘that

was

to be ruler of his fellows

is the king

of all land animals. Take this in

connection with Job

and

Ps.

and it

would seem that

was regarded

as

lord of the

ocean, and

of the dry land.

The former

notion was borrowed from the Babylonians the latter
perhaps from the

the

and

passages in Job

represent a fusion, from every point of view most
natural, of Babylonian and Egyptian elements. The
dragon is primarily Babylonian

:

it is

(

see C

RE

A

TION

,

may be ultimately

identified with

consort Kingu.

Being ignorant

of

the mythic monsters in question, the poet naturally

filled up the gaps in his

from two monsters

of the Nile which the Egyptians regarded as represent-
atives of the evil god

Coming now to

Is.

27,

we note

the writing

belongs to a prophetic passage which has

a strong

apocalyptic tinge, and stands at the head of the period
which produced the apocalypse of

Nowhere

perhaps in the OT is the phraseology more distinctly

Hommel

1892,

p.

connects Apopi or Apep with

storm-flood.’ Apopi

is the

of heaven. His head is split

the conquering

into two parts

body is so treated

Marduk.

Reading

with Budde (improving slightly

on Gunkel). The ‘sons of pride’ (if

is correct) may he a

phrase equivalent to

helpers.

If so, mythic monsters

referred to.

3

is probably a corruption of

(Che.).

Leviathan was made to be lord of living creatures

those of

the ocean-depth,

just mentioned).

Che

July 7897.

Cp Maspero’s

Nations.

et

56)

well knew the connection of the two Nile-monsters

with Typhon or Sit.

Che.

Is.

Lyon,

p.

quoting Smith‘s

ed. Sayce,

go.

BEHEMOTH

mythical.

the fleeing serpent

finds

in the carving on a seal representing

with a dagger pursuing the dragon which flees before
him in the shape of a serpent, and

the

serpent is the mythic phrase for the ocean which

surrounds the

In (g),

Ps. 7414, a psalmist gives a somewhat different

view of Leviathan. To him the

of

past. This is, of course, the original view represented

in the Babylonian Creation-story (see C

RE

A

T

IO

N

,

The passage should most probably be read thus

:-

Thou didst shatter the head of Leviathan
And

u p his [carcase] as food for

jackals.

There is no reference to the unburied corpses of
Egyptians (Ex.

1 4

30)

the people inhabiting the wil-

derness’

an impossible rendering of a corrupt text

(see

Fox).

W e have here simply an amplification of

a

mythic detail in the story

of

(see the Babylonian

Creation-tablet iv.

detail which

explains a fine passage in the latter part of Isaiah

Taken by itself

( h ) ,

Ps.

it must be admitted,

gives

no confirmation to

our

mythological interpreta-

tions.

appears as one of the monsters of the

sea, and we are told that

himself formed him as

its ruler. The writer may know nothing of mythology.

He has heard this said, and repeats it.

We now turn to

and

the apocryphal passages.

The former (Enoch

runs

in Charles’s translation from

the Ethiopic version

(155)

:-‘And in that day will two monsters

he parted, a female monster named

to dwell in the

depths of the ocean over the fountains of the waters. But the
male

called

who occupies with his

(?) a

waste wilderness named

on the east of the garden.

.

. .

And

I

besought that other angel that he should show me the

might of these monsters how they were parted on one day and
the one was placed in

of the sea and the other

the

mainland of the wilderness.

The latter (4 Esd.

is as follows

E t tunc conseruasti

duo

nomen uni uocasti Behemoth e t nomen

uocasti Leuiathan. E t separasti ea

ab alterutro, non enim

septima pars ubi

aqua congregata

ea.

Et dedisti

Behemoth unam partem qua: siccata est

die, ut inhabitet in

ea, ubi snnt montes mille Leuiathan autem dedisti septimam
partem

et seruasti ea ut

in deuorationem quibus

uis et quando uis.

(Behemoth becomes uehemoth in cod. M and

Enoch in codd.

SA

[so

It

needless to pause long

on the purely Jewish

elements in these

That

was

created on the fifth day was an inference from Gen.
the reference to the thousand mountains comes from
a faulty reading in

Ps.

(where

should be

combined with

an

absurd

of

in the

same passage. The chief points to notice are these

:

and

are not two great

monsters, but have their habitation, the one on the dry
land, the other in the

the

of Enoch

may possibly be the Babylonian

which is a

synonym of

‘the earth,’ and is literally the

According to Gunkel, the female monster

is

and the male monster

is Kingu,

husband

(on

whom see

tablet

In the Babylonian story these

monsters met their fate at creation; in Enoch the
assignment of their respective dwellings is an incident of
the judgment at Noah’s flood in 4 Ezra again it is a
detail of creation.

It is not

safe,

however, to dogmatise

too freely on the sources of the apocryphal writers.
Their notions were probably a strange compound, in
which there were exegetical inferences side by side with

corrupted statements of Oriental tradition.

One of

these

appears to have related to the habitation

of Behamath-at least, if we may accept Zimmern’s
explanation of

which Dillmann and Charles

the

serpent in one form of the Babylonian

For details on the

Jewish fancies, see Drummond,

Weber

3

C.

H.

Toy

a n d

4

So

in

C

D

Del.

BEKAH

connect with

(comparing

Enoch

104, which is certainly not a mere fiction of the

author

’).

The view here taken is, of course, quite con-

sistent with Charles’s theory

53) that the writers

of

4 Esd.

and Bar.

27-30

both used the text of

an earlier work which contained the story of the six days
of Creation.

lost hexahemeron, just

as

much

as

4

Esd.

638-64,

represents not

a

homogeneous tradition,

but a medley of, notions derived from different sources,
Jewish and Oriental.

On the subject of this article consult Gunkel

41-69

and

commentaries on Tob

:

Book

BELA

:his situation to

is

a tablet which refers not to

but

Melkart (Johns,

Aug.

p.

It is remarkable that

name

is given to the king of

Bela.

When we consider the (probable) corruptness

other names in the passage, it is reasonable to

suppose that the name, being uncouth, early dropped

of the text.

T o supply

Bela,’ with Bishop

BELA

I

.

[ADEL],

[E

in Gen.

The first Edomite king, son of Beor (or perhaps

Achbor see B

AAL

-H

ANAN

[

I

]), of the city of Dinhabah

(Gen.

Ch.

It is singular that

famous

was called

‘

son of

Beor.’ With Noldeke

87)

and Hommel

we may venture to identify Bela’ and

and all the more confidently if

belonged to

a

region adjoining Edom (see

Obviously the

temptation which the name presented to an imaginative
narrator must have been irresistible. Targ. Jon. and
Targ.

I

Ch.

144

had already suggested the identifica-

tion. The list which contains the name Bela
is regarded by Sayce as

a

piece of

an

Edomite chronicle.

It comes before

us,

however, as

a

thoroughly Hebrew

document, and is correlated with the history of the b’ne
Israel (Gen.

probably JE). Certainly it

no

sport of the idealistic imagination

a

true interest in the

fortunes of a kindred people prompted its preservation.

It may be incomplete,

or

it may have had some

filled up ignorantly, not to speak

of

the undeniable

corruptions of the text. Let us take the list as it stands,
and see what we can gather from it.

The list contains eight names (or rather seven, for

has come in through

a

scribe’s error).

Four kings have their fathers’ names given

six are

distinguished by the name of their city,

and

one is

described

as

a certain region

(

The names

both

of the cities and of the persons (or apparent persons)

are not all correct. D

INHABAH

,

ZEHAB

are corrupt, and the corruptions efface the im-

portant fact that Bela (whose city was not Dinhabah
but

cp

v.

and Mehetabel came from the

N. Arabian land of

or

(see M

IZRAIM

,

I t will be noted that one of the names occurs

twice (in

v.

‘

Hadar is certainly

a wrong reading)

:

it is properly the name of

a god-of the

god

Hadad. From this name, and from two other items-

‘

Bela the

son of Beor

’

and

‘

Saul of Rehoboth by the

river ’-Bishop

A.

C. Herveyinferred (Smith’s

Bela’) that there had been an

conquest

Edom.

The references to Bela and Saul, however, are

not really in point (cp B

ALAAM

,

3), and all that the

doubly attested

3

with

-can be held to suggest is that

influence was

early felt as far south as Edom.

important is the historical notice connected with

the name of Hadad,

son of

(see

also

I t tells

us of the early occupation of what afterwards

became the land of Moab by the Midianites, whom the

under Hadad defeated. W e can understand

this notice in the light of Gideon’s defeat of the same
plundering hordes, described in Judg.

To make the

two events contemporary, with

in Riehm’s

(art.

’), seems needless and hazardous.

Our most interesting as well

as

most certain result,

however, is the antiquity of regal government among
the Edomites and, from the fact that there is no trace

of dynasties, and from the continual references to the
cities

of

the respective kings, we may probably infer,

with Winckler, that the kings were of the type of
Abimelech, or at the most of Saul, and that their rule,
except in time of war, was little felt save by their own
tribe.

It is true that this will not apply to Saul of

Rehoboth of the River, for this place seems to have

B

AAL

-

HANAN

was perhaps really the father of

Hadad

hen Achbor is a variant to ben Beor which has

attached itself to the wrong name.

Hervey (Smith‘s

is-unnatural.

T. K. C.

of

July 7897

‘ T h e Text of Job,’

See also

4f

R

AHAB

and cp

C

ROCODILE

. On

of

and

between the dragon and the crocodile

as the enemy of the Sun-god, cp Clermont-Ganneau

de la rev.

1877,

25.

T.

K.

C.

BEKAH, RV

Beka

Ex.

See W

EIGHTS

BEL

Ass.

like

(Baal), is a simple appellative meaning ‘lord’

quite as often

as

it is a proper name (see

In the Assyrio-Babylonian pantheon it is borne by two

deities (see B

ABYLONIA

,

the younger of whom,

identified with Marduk (see M

ERODACH

), finds mention

in writings of the Babylonian and Persian periods (Is.

461

Jer.

omits)).‘

The extent of the

of this god in later times

appears from the many proper names compounded
with

in Phcenician, and more especiallyin Palmyrene

Jacob of Seriig states that he was the

god of Edessa

29

131).

BEL AND

THE

DRAGON. See DA

NIEL

,

and cp

I

O

,

BELA

‘that which is swallowed

up’?: cp Jer.

Gen.

one of the

five royal cities in the vale of

at the time

of

the invasion of C

HEDORLAOMER

Gen.

8,

where the name receives the geographical explanation,

that is

Zoar.’ In fact, in Gen.

we hear of a

small city near Sodom, the name of which was called
Z

OAR

to commemorate the escape of Lot from

the catastrophe of Sodom and the other

‘

cities of the

plain.’

The writer of the explanation in Gen.

evidently means

to suppose that the original name

of Zoar was Bela.

The author of Gen.

1 9 (J), however,

does

not

appear to have known this. In

13

IO

the same

writer speaks of

Zoar as bearing that name before the

catastrophe of Sodom, and a comparison of the phrase-
ology of

2530

makes it probable that the etymological

myth in

19

does not really presuppose a change

of name. It is probable that, had the name of Bela
been known in the comparatively early period when
Gen.

19 was written, an etymological myth would have

grown up to account for it-‘ Therefore that region is
called Bela, because the ground opened her mouth and
swallowed it up’ (cp Nu.

Such a myth did, as a fact, spring up hut long afterwards

and not as a fruit of the popular

In the

of Jonathan the phrase

king of Bela’

14

is para-

phrased as

‘

the

king of the city which consumed its inhabitants.’

The same interpretation was given by

R.

and his con-

temporary Joshua h. Karcha

Die

der

and is repeatedly given

&

the authority of

‘the

Hebrews

by Jer.

in

14 19

in

15

5)

it has also naturally enough found a

in the

par. 42). Hommel

boldly identifies

Bela with the ancient city

of

which he surmises to have

been in

trans-Jordanic

but his authoritv for

AND

M

EASURES

.

The evidence of some proper names, however, may seem to

show that Bel was not unknown in Canaan at an earlier date
(see

and

doubtfully, Balaam and

Reuben).

Whether the Palm.

as

supposes

aus

Act.

1880,

p.

n.

is uncertain.

523

BELAH

been in

not in Edom but we should observe the

variation in the phraseology of the account of Saul. I t
is not said that his city was Rehoboth, but that he was

‘of Rehoboth.’ We may suppose that he entered by

marriage into

an Edomite family and then obtained

a

tribal sovereignty. He was

a

( a native of the

Arabian

The name of the last king (Hadar,

or rather Hadad) is unaccompanied by the historical
notice which we should have expected it is, however,
followed exceptionally by the name of his wife, of whom
we are told that she was

a

daughter of

and a

daughter of M

E

-

ZAHAB

. The former name is

a

of

the latter of Mizrim

was really a correction of

Mehetabel,

as well as Bela and Saul, was a

This is a fact

with important historical bearings (see

i.

T.

c.

I n genealogy of B

EN

J

AMIN

( B d e

Gen.

46

(RV

26

38

4 0

; cp

I

Ch.

7

6

BA omit] 7

;

in

6

in B takes the place of Bela and B

ECHER

and 8

I

and the gentilic

or

rather

BELIAL

as to the origin, or at least the nature; of the

word.

G. F. Moore (on Judg.

gives a better

rendering

of

than most commentators, viz.,

‘vile scoundrels’ this recognises the fact that

sug-

gests not merely worthlessness or ordinary viciousness,
but gross wickedness.

H e also describes the different

etymologies of Belial as extremely dubious, and cannot
find in the Hebrew language any analogy for the word.
In fact the seemingly compound word

(Job

imaginary it is

a

corruption of

utter vanity.

But Moore passes over Lagarde’s acute suggestion (in

p. 47, cp

that

in Ps.

(cp

suggests an etymology (a

popular

one?) from

rising up.’

435-439) the present writer sought to show that Belial

is found in the O T in three senses

:

(

I

) the sub-

terranean watery abyss,

hopeless ruin, (3)

great

or

even extreme wickedness.

The third meaning is com-

mon the first and second are rare, and found only in
late passages (see

Ps.

1 8 4

Ps. 418

101

[58

3

so read, =deeds of destruction] Nah.

1

15

but should, if naturalness of development is to

count for anything, be more nearly original than the
third.

It is only in Ps.

1 8 4

that Belial is used

to

denote the

and it may be objected to the view

that this is the primary meaning that in

Asc.

Berial, like Sammael in

7 9 ,

appears as an angel of

the firmament (cp Eph.

22). However, as Bousset has

the eschatological tradition of A

NTICHRIST

one of whose names is Belial, is derived

ultimately from the old Babylonian dragon-myth, and
we know

mythic dragon has for his proper

sphere the sea, though in some mythic developments
he appears as a temporary inhabitant of heaven, from
which at last he and his angels are cast out (Rev. 127-9).
I t is, therefore, in perfect harmony with the old myth
to suppose that Belial may have been originally an angel
of the abyss, not of the firmament.

Beliyya‘al

seems to be

a

Hebrew modification of some earlier word,

planned so as to suggest a popular

ogy,

‘

(from which) one comes not

up again’ (cp

m a t

the Ass. equivalent of

a

title of the underworld meaning ‘the land

without return,’ Jensen,

This

earlier word was most probably borrowed from the

Babylonian mythology of the underworld. The original

word, which was Hebraised

as

deluge,’ was

Hebraised (see D

ELUGE

,

7),

may very possibly have

been

which is the name of

a

goddess of vegeta-

tion, and hence of the underworld, the sister of
or

from whom she differs in being unable to

ascend again to earth (see Descent

of

in

Jeremias,

Bad.-ass.

23

and cp Jensen,

2 2 5 ,

272,

275).

There may have been a middle form

between

(which appears to be

non-Semitic) and

which has been lost; cp

The Canaanites and Israelites prob-

ably took the name (which three times

[

I

167

I

K. 21

has the article) as a synonym for the

abyss of

Afterwards it seems to have, become

a

symbol of insatiable and malignant destructiveness

(cp

and hence the phrase

sons (son,

daughter)

of Belial’; but the older meaning was not forgotten,
as we see from Ps.

1 8 4

The objection of

Belial’), that

streams of

the under-world

(Ps. c.

) would be

a

unique phrase,

is of no moment, for the whole context is in some
important respects unique.

It is not a flood from

the sky that overwhelms the speaker; it is a flood
from

the ‘waters of death,’ which are

parallel.

W e now come to the origin of the word.

world of the dead

(or

ruler),

as

49

15

and

Nu. 26 38

[BAFL]).

I

Ch. 5

3.

b.

in genealogy of

R

E

U

BEN

BELAH

Gen.

4621

AV, RV

ii.

BELEMUS

[BA]),

I

Esd.

BELIAL. This is

an imperfect reproduction of the

Heb.

times in historical books, once in Job,

thrice in Proverbs, thrice in ‘Psalms, twice in the
like passage prefixed to Nahum

(1

I

]

,

see RV]).

On Cor.

6

see below

I

).

It is generally taken

to

mean worthlessness,’

moral or material,

so

that the familiar

phrase, sons (or men) of Belial,’ would
mean good-for-nothing fellows

gives base fellows.

So BDB, from

‘not,’ and

‘profit’

so,

too,

in

23

6

and elsewhere. This rendering, however is

not supported by the earliest tradition

;

for

renders

by

(Aq. also gives

and the qualification ‘of Belial’ by

with or without

as

the case may be.

find also

and

(Symm.)

These renderings may imply the etymology

and this etymology, though impossible,

yet more

harmony with biblical usage.

Tg. gives

‘oppressors.

Another tradition, however, favours the use of Belial

as a proper name.

So in

Jud. 20

13

Theod.,

Judg.

and occasionally in

so, too, in the

English versions including even RV

(on

see

above). This came about in the following way.

How-

ever we account for it, it is a historical fact that in the
interval between the O T and the N T Belial (sometimes in
the forms Beliar or Berial) was used as

a synonym for

the arch-demon Satan it is so used in

6

where

Paul asks, What harmony is there between Christ
(parallel to light and Beliar (parallel to darkness

?

(BKC) cp

explanation,

lumen,

as if

in

Beliar stands for Satan

also in Test.

Test.

Rub.

2,

4,

the

(Berial), and

Jubilees

(ch.

15, ed. Charles).

In the

Sib.

63

iv.

Nero, under

the name of Beliar, is to lead the armies of Antichrist

(see

A

NTICHRIST

,

15)

and, according to Bousset, the

phrase

6

( i d .

4)

in

Thess.

(BK, Tisch., Treg., W H

for

has

also good authority) may be

a

translation of Belial.

W.

H. B.

Both for the sake of exegesis and on account of the

importance of Jewish semi-mythological modes of

thought, it is

to be clear

as to

the course of development of the mean-
ings of Belial, and to form a probable

Cp Deane,

168,

and Bousset,

Antichrist.

should have the same meaning.

Che.

86

BELLOWS

BELSHAZZAR

a

primitive element in

mythology

(see

6).

Hommel, while accepting this identification, proposes

He thinks that the

amodification of the theory.
Babylonian phrase quoted above

simply translated

.

by the Canaanites, from whom the name was

borrowed again by the Babylonians as Belili

Times,

8

This is plausible

but we should like

to

know how far this theory would lead

us.

H e

still maintains

derivation of

from

and

and thinks that some of the occurrences of the word may
possibly be due to editorial manipulation, and that the word
(explained as

wickedness does not look very

ancient. H e also quotes a communication of Jensen, which
Cheyne in his answer regards as favourable rather than other-
wise to the new theory, though Jensen himself expresses his
agreement with Baudissin. See

Times,

and also

Che.

on

4

(popular etymology from

‘ t o swallow up.’

however, is intrusive, cp

ii. 1

402).

BELLOWS

properly

instrument for blow-

ing’

;

mentioned only in

EV

of

Jer.

in connection with lead-smelting see M

ETALS

,

I n Egypt bellows were used as early as the time of Thotmes

bag was fitted into a framefromwhich extended

a

long pipe to

fire. Two bags were used, upon each of which

the operator placed a foot ressing them alternately, while he
pulled up each exhausted

with a string that he held in his

hand (Wilk.

Eg.

In one illustration Wilkinson

notes that when the man left the bellows they were raised as if

full of air, thus implying a knowledge of the valve. T h e earliest
forerunner of the bellows seems to have been a mere reed or
pipe which was used by smiths in the age of

fig.

Whether hand-bellows were used by the Hebrews for

domestic purposes is quite unknown for

description

of

a primitive kind still used in Egypt see Wilkinson

(ii.

BELLS,

in the modern sense of the word, though

used as ornaments at the present day in Syria, do not
seem to have been known to the ancient Hebrews.
The words so rendered require examination.

I

.

strike), used of the golden

which, alternately with

P

O

M

E

G

R

A

NA

TE

S

were worn

upon the lower part of the Ephod (Ex.
cp also in the Heh. of Ecclus.

see

and

cymbals

upon which were

inscribed the wordc

Holy unto Yahwb,’ were worn by

horses in Zechariah’; prophecy (Zech. 14

‘bridles

so

and

In both cases small discs or plates are meant, the

being possibly similar to the

or crescents

(see N

ECKLACE

) of Judg. 816.

BELMEN

(RV

Belmaim)

is mentioned, in connection

with the defensive measures of the Jews against Holo-
fernes, in Judith

4

The readings are

[A],

P e l -

meholah)

;

Vet.

Belmen would thus

appear

to

be the same

as the

[EV]

(

Lat.

of

which, obviously, is re-

garded

as

lying near

and therefore cannot be

the Abel-maim of

Ch.

nor perhaps the

of Ct. 811.

The place meant is probably

Ibleam (modern

a

town of strategical

importance.

In Judith83 this place is probably in-

tended by B

ALAMO

, RV B

ALAMON

Syr.

and

if

we might assume that the

translator had a correct text and understood it rightly,
we should be justified in restoring

for

in

44.

Certainly none of the readings in

4 4

can be

accepted as reproducing the original name.

BELSHAZZAR,

or

as,

following the Greek form, he

however, not inaptly, finds a reference to

‘bellows of

the smith’ in Job. 32

where

‘new bottles,’ is

rendered

(reading

I n

9

40

Baudissin returns to the subject.

Their purpose

related

Ex. 28 35.

T.

K . C.

in

Balthasar,

Baltasar

or, less correctly,

which is also used

as the equivalent of

see D

ANIEL

ii.

was,

according to the Book of Daniel, a

son and successor

king of Babylon. The length of

the reign of Belshazzar is not given; but we read

n Dan. 81 of the third year’ of his reign.

In Dan.

it is stated that he was slain, and that

on

his death the empire passed into the hands

of

the Mede. Allreferences to Belshazzar in other authors,
including that in the apocryphal Book of Baruch

(1

11

appear

to

have been suggested by the passages in

Daniel

and, since it is now recognised that the Book

Daniel was composed

the second century

B

.c.,

narrative is open to question.

Till quite lately it was the fashion to follow Jos.

x.

11 in identifying the Belshazzar of Daniel with the

last Babylonian king,

whom

Jos. else-

where calls

(in

a citation from

;

c.

in Herod.

177 188

this king appears as

and in

(quoted by

Eus.

9

as

Against the identification of

Belshazzar with

it was

that the

according

to

was

not

even

a relation

of

Nebuchadrezzar,

a certain Babylonian

’

who

usurped the throne in consequence of

a

revolution nor

was

slain, like the Belshazzar of Daniel,

on the overthrow of the Babylonian empire, but is stated
to have been sent to the province of

(the

modern

These objections were so serious

that

a

few writers, in their anxiety

to

defend the narra-

tive of Daniel, identified Belshazzar with Evil-merodach

K.

The discovery of the Babylonian inscriptions has re-

futed both of the above-mentioned theories, and has at
the same time confirmed the opinion that the narrative
in Daniel is

An unhistorical narrative, how-

ever, is not necessarily

a

pure fiction, and in this case it

appears probable that the author of Daniel made use of

a

traditional story. It is now known that
the

of the inscriptions, who reigned from

5 5 5

to

had

a son called

Bel,

preserve thou the king’), a name of which Belshazzar is
evidently

a corruption.

In

a celebrated inscription

offers up a prayer in behalf of

the exalted (or, my first-born) son, the sprout of my
body

heart)’: see Schr.

and also

36

Moreover, in certain contract-tablets, dating

from the first, third, fifth, seventh, eleventh, and twelfth
years of

the son of the king, is

expressly named. Several other tablets of the same reign
speak of

a son of the king

but whether in all these

cases

meant cannot be determined, since

appears to have had at least one other

It is, however, generally believed that

must

be identical with the prince mentioned in an inscription
of Cyrus, which informs

us that in the seventh, ninth,

tenth, and eleventh years of the reign

of

the son of the king’ was

at

the head of the army in

e . ,

Northern Babylonia. Unfortunately, this

very important inscription is mutilated,

so

that we learn

nothing

of the years twelve

to

fifteen of

and

in the account of the sixteenth year only a few words
are legible.

Of the seventeenth and last year

of

there is

a

long account but it would seem

very doubtful whether the son of the king is mentioned

in Dan. 1 7 and in

Dan. 2 26

4 5

6 16

thrice 5

I

8

Darius Hystaspis tells us in one of his inscriptions (Spiegel,

that early in his reign a

rebellion was raised a t

bv an

who orofessed

to be

son

son

of

This proves, at least,

a t the time

question

was believed to have had a son named

Nebuchadrezzar. See Che.,

Ref. Life,

BELT

BENE-BERAK

BEN-ABINADAB

son of Abinadab,

AV), the name of one of Solomon’s prefects,

I

RV

is corrupt, but perhaps

represents the

[Swete

see S

OLOMON

.

Klostermann, however, suggests

Abiner

and

are easily confounded, and the final in

may be

the preposition

in

prefixed to all

or ‘all the height of Dor‘ (EV), words which

the extent of the prefecture.

in

Nos.

6-11

‘Yah hath built up,’

31

[see BANI]

I

.

but in

S.

I

Ch.

11

b. Jehoiada,

‘valiant

(see I

SH

-

HAI

,

THE SON OF),

onlysecond,

on David‘s roll of honour, to

three.’ He was a

Judahite

of

K

ABZEEL

, and commanded the so-called

C

HERETHITES

and

P

ELETHITES

S.

[B],

[A],

I

Ch.

and David set him

over his bodyguard

S.

2323).

H e gave valu-

able support to Solomon against

(

I

) , and

after executing the sentence of death on Joab, was
appointed to the vacant post of general

(

I

K.

[om.

35

[BA]

4 4

[om.

Three

(or at any rate two) special exploits were assigned to
him in popular tradition

( z

S.

I

Ch.

11

the first two see

I

a correction

of the text is indispensable. The other feat consisted
in his slaying a

( z

S.

23

a man of

or

(see

This hero is twice

mentioned in a list of no value in

I

Ch.

27

34).

Each

time there is an inaccuracy. In

(RV) Benaiahs

father is described (by an obvious confusion of
as the priest’

in

34

Jehoiada son of Benaiah’

takes the place of ‘Benaiah son of Jehoiada.’ C p
J

EHOIADA

,

and see D

AVID

,

(c)

One of David‘s thirty, a Pirathonite

;

corruptly

om.

AL)

I

Ch. 11 31

27

14

See

P

IRATHON

.

3.

A

Simeonite chief (

I

Ch. 436 [om.

4.

A

Levite singer of the second grade one of those who

played with psalteries set to

A

LAMOTH

I

Ch. 15 18

24

overseer in the temple in the time of Nezekiah

Ch.

6.

An

ancestor

of

;

Ch. 2014 (om.

7-10.

I n list of those with foreign wives (see

E

ZRA

,

I

.

5

end),

One of the b‘ne

I

Esd.

RV

8.

One

of the b’ne

P

AHATH

-M

OAB

I

perhaps

and

9. One of the b’ne

in

I

RV

M

AMDAI

[A],

I

O.

One’of

b’ne

Esd. 935

B

ANAIAS

Father of

P

ELATIAH

v.

Gen.

Ez.

AV.

BEN-DEKAR,

RV

Ben-deker

one

of

Solomon’s prefects, in charge of NW. Judah

(

I

49,

yioc

. . .

The

name is improbable nor

Ben-Rechab any

probable.

It is reasonable to hold that, as in other

cases, the father of this prefect was an influential officer
of the crown. The prefect’s real name has certainly
dropped out.

suggests that we may re-

store thus

:

‘

Elihoreph, son of Shisha the secretary

’

3).

Ben-dekar is not impossibly a corruption of

Beneberak

The locality suits.

BENE-BERAK

a

Danite city, the

modern Zbn

about an hour

SE. from Joppa

(Josh.

:

In

the

list

given at the end of chap.

by

he is described

as

T

O

O

of

for which, however,

BENAIAH

in Nos.

I

4

and

See

A

M

M

O

N

,

I

.

See

S

H

IP.

again.’

In

any case, it is implied that

not

was at this time commander of the army

in Akkad (see

T S B A

3

b

and

0. E.

Keilschrifturkunden

Gesch. des

Konigs Cyrus

in

the

[ed. Delitzsch

and Haupt]

2

We possess, moreover,

another inscription

of Cyrns, describing the conquest

of Babylonia at considerable length and expressly men-
tioning

but without any reference to

a ‘son of the king’ (see

new series,

KB

3

b

and

Assyr.

2

there is nothing to prove that

played any important part at the close

of

his father’s

reign, and it is even possible that be may have died
some years earlier.

Thus it will be seen that, apart from the similarity

of name, the historical prince

bears hut

a

very slight resemblance to the Belshazzar of Daniel.
The one is the son

of the usurper

the other

is the son of Nebuchadrezzar. The one is, at the most,
heir to the throne the other” is actually king, for docu-
ments are dated from the year of his accession (Dan.

I

8

I

).

Moreover, if the ordinary rendering of Dan.

5

7

1629

be correct, Belshazzar is represented as sole king,

for

a

man who can

of his own authority make any one

he pleases third ruler in the kingdom must clearly be

supreme in the state.
lated third ruler

’

occurs nowhere else, and is of very

doubtful meaning, it

be unsafe to press this

argument.

I n order to prove that

reigned conjointly with his

father, it has sometimes been

that king

who

is mentioned on certain Babylonian tablets, must he

identical with

; but Assyriologists now admit that

king

reigned

and identify

him with

:

see TSBA 6

and

BAG 476 n.

I t has likewise been

that, though

was not a son of Nebuchadrezzar, he

may have been a grandson of Nebuchadrezzar through his’
mother but

theory that

married a daughter of

rests upon no evidence whatever.

It remains, therefore, altogether uncertain how the

story in Daniel really originated; but, besides the
similarity of the names Belshazzar and

is at least

reason for thinking that King

shazzar was not invented by the author.

Herodotus,

as has been mentioned, calls the last Babylonian king

representing him as the son of an earlier
the famous Nebuchadrezzar.

Further, in

a

legend related by

the last king

of Babylon seems to have figured as a son of
rezzar (see Schr. Die Sage vom Wahnsinn Nebuchad-

in the

pp.

The date

of the historian

is indeed doubtful; but he

can hardly have borrowed either directly or indirectly
from the Book

of

Daniel.

so that the agreement of these

three accounts in wrongly describing the last Babylonian
king as

a son of Nebuchadrezzar must he due to their

having followed some popular tradition. ‘See also

BELT

RV, AV ‘strength.’ See

BELTESHAZZAR

See D

ANIEL

,

ii.

corr. text). See G

EBAL

.

BEN

a Levite, enumerated between Zecha-

riah and Jaaziel

(

I

Ch.

15

renders

but

no

doubt rightly, omits. The name

is wanting

the parallel list in

I

Ch.

C p

The passage which Schrader

translated ‘the wife of

the king had died’

is

supposed by Pinches

to

mean ‘the son of

the king died’

(see

Smith’s

1893,

article ‘Belshazzar’),

while Hagen renders ‘he

slew the son of the

king’ (he is careful, however to indicate that the word ‘son’

is

doubtful). I t is therefore

that no argument can be built

upon

clause in question.

Since, however, the word trans

PENAL

,

S

HAREZER

.

A. A. B.

G

IRDLE

,

3.

34

BENE

et

[Vg.]

It appears in Ass.

(upon

inscription of Sennacherib)

as

(cp

Jerome mentions

a

village

which

was situated near Azotus. The name (properly a clan
name) may be paraphrased,

Sons of the storm-god

2

or Rimmon' (who was sometimes called

see B

ARAK

), and is thus of interest as

a survival

of

the old Canaanitish religion.

BENE JAAKAN

Nu.

See

B

EEROTH

THE

CHILDREN

OF

J

AAEAN

.

BEN-GEBER

I

RV, AV

G

EBER

,

I

.

§§

y.

[A]

[A]

in

or rather

is at least a witness

to the letter

R

at the end of the name.

T h e divine name

was confounded by

a

Hebrew scribe with the Aramaic

bar,

son,' and trans-

lated into Hebrew as Ben

( = @

and

DR

was

miswritten

DD

hence arose the wrong form Ben-hadad.

The name

Assyrian is

where the

ideograph

is most naturally read

(the

Assyrian thunder-god

cp E

N

-

RIMMON

), but may of

course be read (and probably was read

also)

Bir or Bur

(cp the name Bir-dadda, and see

The mean-

ing is Bir is my glory.'

See

A

who controverts Schr. and Del.

but cp Schr.

zoo,

Del.

Bib.

97, and Hilprecht,

76-78.

The name Ben-hadad is used as a general name for

the kings of Damascus in Jer.

4927

but as this passage

BEN-HESED

between 846 and 842) was too long to

be

to a single king of Damascus, and

by the

eading of the name of the opponent of

11.

which, again, is supposed to be equivalent

o

On the first point it is enough to

(after Wi.) that Tab-rimmon may (Rezon and

not being identical) have been for

a

long time

a

of Baasha and

Asa, so that only about

brty years may have elapsed between

war

Baasha and his death. On the second point, it

be doubted whether the reading

is

tenable

the equation IM

(or Bir) appears

to

have been made out (see above) and even were it

stherwise, it could hardly be held that

is

Aramaic form of

in

(Sayce,

and

for an

y

would have made the alteration of

into

impossible.

whence

my

. .

seems in fact to be derived from

to be wide, grand

cp Heb.

On the narra-

tive of the death

of

Benhadad

( z

K.

87-15),

see H

AZAEL

.

By this king is here meant, not

the contemporary of

(often wrongly

so

designated),

11.

occurs in

a very late oracle, made up

of

borrowed phrases, the use is of no

historical significance. I n

Amos, from whom the

author of Jer.

borrows the phrase the palaces of

Benhadad,' means most probably by Benhadad (Am.

1 4 )

the first king of Damascus who bore that name

:

he

speaks, in the parallel line, of the house of Hazael.'
Hazael was certainly

a historical person

:

he was the

successor of Benhadad

I. (others say Benhadad 11.).

Consequently, Beuhadad-in Amos's phrase 'the
of Benhadad '-cannot be

a merely typical name, as in

the imitative passage, Jer.

4927.

There are two (some,

however, say three) Benhadads in the Books of

just as there are (really) two Hazaels (see H

AZAEL

).

I

.

B

EN

-

HADAD

I.,

son of Tab-rimmon, was the ally

of A

SA

I

],

king of Judah, against Baasha, king of

Israel

(

I

K.

15

H e was an energetic king, and

constantly involved

warfare,

only with Ahab

of

Israel, whom he appears to have besieged in Samaria

( 2

K.

but also with Shalmaneser

of Assyria.

In 854, at the head of

a Syro-Palestinian league which

included Israel, he opposed Shalmaneser, not without
success. For, though Shalmaneser claims to have been
victorious at Karkar (near

he certainly had

to return to Assyria to prepare for a more decisive
campaign. Again in 849 and in 848 Shalmaneser,
though nominally victorious, had to return.

Convinced

that he had no ordinary opponent, the Assyrian king
entered on his next campaign with a much larger force

than before.

however, had taken his pre-

cautions, and again it was only an indecisive victory that
was gained by Shalmaneser. On the relations between
Benhadad and Ahab, in which there was apparently

a

change for the advantage of Israel, see A

HAB

,

Benhadad is sometimes referred to, not by name,
as ' t h e

of Syria'

see

I

K.22

2

K . 5

Some unnecessary trouble has been produced

(

I

)

by .the

supposition that the period between

Benhadads

assistance to Asa and 'Benhadad's' death (which

Pesh. seems to point to the reading

'the lightning

Cp

the obscure name Boanerges.

Baal.'

but the son of Hazael

the

grandson of Benhadad

I. ). The

of Israel, begun by Hazael,

--

'

"'

a

n

)

.

has

continued by &is Ben-hadad

(2

K.

But was his name really Ben-hadad?

(see A

SSYRIA

,

32)

mentions

a

king of Damascus named Mari', whom he besieged in
his capital, and compelled to pay tribute.

This event

must have occurred between

806

or

805 and 803.

Now Benhadad

is represented as

a

of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, who probably reigned

(see C

HRONOLOGY

,

34) from

It is

cult to suppose that another king named Mari' came
between Hazael and Benhadad.

More probably Mari',

and not Benhadad, is the right name of the son

of

Hazael. This king may have sought to compensate

himself for the blow inflicted by Assyria, by exercising
tyranny over Israel.

(For

a

different view of the

see D

AMASCUS

,

7.)

BEN-RAIL

'son [man] of might

'),

one of

Jehoshaphat's commissioners for teaching the Law

( z

Ch.

7 ) .

The name, however, is suspicious.

Bertheau

quotes Ben-hesed

son

of lovingkindness '),

I

K.

(MT) but the reading there is doubtful (see

§ 3).

and Pesh. read

-'??

for

but

adds

cp Gray,

65 n.

2.

If the story of Jehoshaphat's commis-

sion is only ideal,' we may surmise that the name
hail is equally unhistorical.

BEN-RANAN

son of

a gracious one

-

a

yioc

y.

[L]),

a son

of

a Judahite

( I

Ch.

BEN-HESED

'son

of kindness'

a n im-

possible name, see below), the third in the list

of

Solomon's prefects

( I

K.

AV

son of Hesed';

. . .

His prefecture included, at any rate, Socoh; but

If we look at the sphere

T.

K.

C .

which of the different Socohs

?

of the prefect whose name precedes his
in the list, we shall think of one of
the two southern Socohs mentioned in

Joshua, either that in the mountains near Hebron, or
that in the

SW. of Jerusalem.

If, on the

other hand, we consider the sphere of the two prefects
whose names follow his, a northern Socoh, which is
possibly referred to in early Egyptian name-lists (see

Del.

97)

conjectures, as the original

form

of the name of Benhadad

II.,

which be

interprets 'the son of

Addu

. . .

Pinches has, in

fact, found the names Bin

and Bin (?)

amar, which occur

on tablets

of

King

See, however,

Wi.

69,

n.

I

.

532

BEN-HESED

will be more suitable. The decision must

be in favour of one of the two southern places of the

name, because otherwise the land of Judah will have

had no prefect. Which of the two southern Socohs,
then, is the right one? Probably that in the rich
growing country of the

because

t h e

prefects

had

to supply provisions for the court.

' T h e whole

land of Hepher also fell

to

his lot. There are traces

of this

the N. (H

EPHER

,

cp Gathhepher,

Hapharaim). But if this prefect is the only southern
one, we must expect the land of Hepher

to

be some

large district (this, indeed, is implied by "the whole
land').

In

I

we hear of a Heber

who

was the father of Socoh.

Plainly this Heber is closely

connected with Hebron (as the

heros

3

and

are easily confounded 'from

a

phonetic cause

:

we

should, therefore, probably read

the whole

land of Heber,' or, better, 'of Hebron'

His place of residence is in

M T called Arubboth.

in Josh.

1552

(see Klo.) does not help

us.

BENJAMIN

monument of the sufferings of the later Jews under

a

an unkindly (cruel) people'

Ps. 43

I

.

T.

K.

C.

BEN-HINNOM

Josh.

EV 'son

of

BEN-HUR,

AV

'son of

'son

of

B

E N

y i o c

w p

Ant.

2

one

of

Solomon's prefects

(

I

K.

48)

see S

OLO

MON

. The prefect's own name is omitted;

probably his father's name

also

for the evidence tends

to

show that most of the prefects were the sons of

famous men. The name of his city also is wanting.
Yet the hill-country of Ephraim was not deficient in
places of importance.

Consequently either Hur or

must be incorrect.

Either ' H u r ' stands in

place of one of David's and Solomon's heroes,

or Ben-hur is

a corruption of the name of the prefect's

city.

rendering may seem to protect Ben.

But

nowhere else

version of

section is

given instead of

is of course

an

interpolation)

if

represented by

is correct, we must suppose

that it

is a mutilated form of

priest (as

in

in

IO

may be of

In this case, Azariah,

son of Zadok the priest

will be the prefect's

name, and his city will be

Beth-horon. Azariah,

therefore, stands first in both lists, which is intrinsic-
ally probable.

If, however, we follow the

of

the prefect's city alone has come down

to

us;

may represent Bethhoron.

may easily have

come from

Horon (abbrev. from Bethhoron).

So,

in the main, Klostermaun.

T. K. C.

BENINU

79

the covenant (see E

ZRA

, i.

note]

I

I

Kt.; N

AMES

,

7),

Neh.

BENJAMIN

often but

see Ba.

73

The gentilic is

Benjamite,

[Judg. 3

also

in

S.

20

[

I

S. 9

I

]

and

I

4

; perhaps

also

I

S.

4

M T

pl.

19

I

S.

;

see

I

Ch.

27

;

in

I

S. 22 7

[A];

in

S.

9 4

has

and

in

20

I

has

in

S. 23

in Ne. 1234

in Zech. 14

I O

Though popularly explained

as meaning the propitious

or sturdy

the son of my right

was probably at first a geographi-

cal name for the people of the southern

portion of the highland district called Ephraim (cp the
expression

in the old narrative

I

S.

a

district of Gilead (Gad) seems to have been

called

North' (see

cp also Teman,

Temeni,

Yemen, and

on the other hand

esh-Sham).

It is not impossible indeed that this district was already

known to the Canaanites as the South' but there is
nothing to suggest that it was.

Indeed, it is a good

deal more probable that the name means 'south of
Joseph,' the Hebrews who settled in the highlands of
Ephraim being known as the house' or sons

of

Joseph,'

a designation which retained this general sense

till quite

a

late date.

question is rather whether

Benjamin,

at first

a

distinct tribe, afterwards became

the southern part of Joseph

by the energy and

success of Saul as Winckler supposes), or whether it
was not rather the southern part of Joseph that, under
the influence of forces immediately

to

be described,'

Another interpretation was probably 'son

of

of

old age' (so in Test.

Patr. Benj. ;-cp Gen.

'child

of

his old age,'

In the uncertainty how the present text

of Judg. 20 16 arose

(cp Moore,

there is perhaps hardly sufficient ground

for connecting with this etymology the story of the
handed warriors.

Cp however also

and the story of

the Benjamite deserter; to David, who could use t h e bow and
the sling with either hand

(

I

Ch. 12

534

cut

knot by reading

Analogous phenomena else-

where suggest that

should be

for

and that it has been misplaced.

(cp

in

8

[BL], perhaps for 'Beth-horon') could, of

course, be only

a

mutilated form of

a name. T o read

Bethlehem would be

too bold,

Baetogabra

(mod.

would not suit, since the name occurs

late, and (as Buhl points

out,

the description

of the battle of Mareshah in

Ch.

is opposed to the

assumption that there was

a

town

on

the site of

gabra in early times.

It is quite possible, however,

that the neighbouring town of Mareshah had

a

second

name-scarcely

but perhaps Beth-horim,

place of caves

has been corrupted into

both.

may have been partly mutilated and

partly corrupted in the record into

whence

especially if

was written with the mark of abbrevia-

tion

or

The conjecture is geographically

plausible.

At the present day

is rightly

described

as

the capital of the

this is

set forth more fully elsewhere (see

E

LEUTHEROPOLIS

).

Suffice it to remark here that

if

became t h e

'centre of the district' after the fall of Mareshah, the

earlier city cannot have been less important in the time
of

Solomon. If Taanach and Megiddo are mentioned

in the record of the prefectures, surely Mareshah,
under this or some other name, must have been men-
tioned

too. Now, Bet-Jibrin is only

min.

N.

of

(Mareshah).

W e have spoken of Beth-horim

as possibly a n early

name

of

Mareshah. This designation would harmonise

with the natural features of the neighbour-

hood of Mareshah and

The excavation of

the caverns which now fill the district must have begun
in ancient times. The Christian and Islamic marks
and inscriptions which are sometimes found do not
oppose this obvious supposition.

See

2.

W e now turn to consider Ben-hesed's real name.

Klostermann has made it probable that the first two

prefects were described as

sons of

Zadok, the priest, and Shisha (Shavsha),

the secretary, respectively (cp

It is very possible that

should be read

'son of the secretary,'

that the prefect was in fact

the

mentioned in

3.

This is slightly favoured

by

but really rests

internal probability

(cp B

IDKAR

). The misreading

is touching, as

a

Beth-horim 'place

of

caves,' would naturally

come to he

explained

of the Horites (see

5

the Horites were no doubt regarded as giants
like the

Hebron

is

called in Targ. Jon. Gen.

city

of the giants.'

GASm.

231.

533

BENJAMIN

BEN

came gradually to he distinguished from the rest of the
highlanders of Ephraim by the special name of Ben-
jamites, ' men of the south,' the S. part, as being

the smaller (cp

I

9

receiving the distinguishing

epithet.

It is not difficult to conjecture how this would

naturally come about.

The plateau of Benjamin, if it is,

as

we have seen, historically connected with

Joseph, is hardly divided physically from

Judah.

Indeed, although no mean country

5

it differs materially in its physical features from

the northern part of Ephraim, being sterner and less
fruitful-in fact, more

Moreover, valleys,

running down to the Jordan

Kelt) and to the

sea (Merj ibn

exposed it to attack from the

E.

(Moab) and from the W. (Philistines), while

of strong

Canaanite fortress-cities (Gibeon, etc.

)

constituted an

additional source of danger to its highland peasants.
That these southerners had a certain traditional

(Blessing of Jacob) was, accordingly, only

a

natural result of their position and history. We cannot

be surprised, then, that they won the right to a special
name and place.

It is thus hardly necessary to assume, with Stade

1 3 4 8

some specific attempt or series

of attempts to overcome by force the Canaanites

of

the

cities (Jericho, Ai), perhaps under the leadership of the
clan of Joshua, in order to account for the origin of

a

separate tribe

:

the general situation might be sufficient.

Mixture of race may, however, have helped to

differentiate the tribe, although at least the Canaanite

6

elements took

a

very long time to

thoroughly amalgamated,

as

we see fromthe story of Gibeon

9

and still more from the hints about B

EEROTH

which appears to have retained its distinctively Canaan-
ite population at least till the time of Saul

:

indeed,

even the radical policy of the latter seems to have been
only partly successful (see I

SHBAAL

,

I

).

If

the name

C

HEPHAR

-

HAAMMONAI

) indicates the presence

of

immigrants from across the Jordan we must look for the
explanation to much later times (Josh.

18

24

P).

The

position of Benjamin on the marches of Joseph, however,
doubtless provided

for

with

other tribes.

Benjamin is,

explicitly brought by

E

(Gen.

into

connection with a

called B

ENONI

while the first

appearance of one or both of them is connected in some way (at
least etymologically) with the disappearance of

If

Simeon really temporarily settled in this neighhourhood before

making

his

way south (cp

I

SRAEL

,

it is a t least worthy

of

note that

a Simeonite list we find a clan name,

(

I

Ch.

4 24)

and a lace name Bilhah

29

;

see

Nor

is

to find suggestions of some connection with

R

EUBEN

: a famous

on the borders of Benjamin is con-

nected with his name (thou h the genuineness of the text is per-
haps not beyond

is also B

ILHAH

the hand-

maid of Rachel. In Bilhan, on the other hand to which the

Chronicler

his first genealogy assigns a prominent place

(I

Ch.

IO

),

we cannot safely see the remains of a Bilhah clan

(see,

for the name may have been taken from the

Horite genealogy, as Jeush

taken from the Edomite (below

a).

Historical probability is certainly in favour of the

that, after Dan failed to establish himself, Benjamin eventually
spread westwards-although some of the apparent

traces

of this are not to be trusted (see

46

23 [Danite;

see, however, D

AN

,

compared with

I

Ch.

88

[Benjamite]

;

[

I

],

Josh. 19 42 [Danite] compared with Judg. 1 3 5

[house of Joseph]

Ch. 8 13 [Benjamite ; see B

ERIAH

,

The

confused connection with Manasseh, however, that seems to

The historical figures belonging to the tribe, too, have a

certain passionate vehemence (Saul, etc.).

For a suggestion of a possible original connection between

the metaphor employed in the Blessing and the constellation
Lupus right opposite Taurus (=Joseph), see Zimmern's art.

'Der Jakohssegen u. der Tierkreis,'

3

A

late editor may be following trustworthy tradition

he adds

in his list (with

cp Ezra 2

4

'Son

of Reuben' may be a corruption

of

'stone

of

Reuben,' which may he not an alternative name of the stone, but

a n alternative reading for B

OHAN

535

from

the present text of

I

Ch.

7

compared with v.

s perhaps due merely to corruption of the text. (Shnpham and

Hupham may have had no place in the original system

of

the

Benjamite list,

I

Ch.

being perhaps supplied on the

nargin [see below

a]

may

some confusion, have made

:heir way into

in

[cp Be. ad

What connection with Moab is intended in Ch. 8 8 the present

of the text makes it impossible to

(the clause

nay be a gloss; see below,

9

Cp P

AHATH

-M

OAB

.

Nor perhaps can we venture

to

interpret historically the sugges-

tion of the Chronicler with regard to a later transference of clans
From Benjamin back to Ephraim (see B

ERIAH

,

3

)

.

Clan

names common to Benjamin and other tribes are not rare.

The memory of the derivative or at least secondary

character of Benjamin still lived in the earlier days of

the monarchy,

as

we see from

19

(cp also

20

I

with

20

and (apparently) from

Judg.

1

and seems to be reflected in the patriarchal

story (JE) which tells how, last of all, Benjamin was
born in

That the differentiation of Benjamin

was relatively ancient, however, we should be prepared
to believe from the fact of the other branches of Joseph
being called not brothers but

The reference

the Song of Deborah is too obscure (not to

of its

perplexing connection in some way with Hos.

58) to

of much

as positive evidence while the story of

Ehud, if it is perhaps hardly necessary, with Winckler
(Gesch.

1

to regard the single explicit reference

to

Benjamin as an interpolation (see below,

may

perhaps reflect the conditions of an age when no very
clear line was drawn between Benjamin and the rest
of Joseph (Judg.

3

men of the south and the

men of the more northern highlands. At all events,
by the time of David Benjamin was, owing

to

the energy

of Saul,

a distinct political element to be reckoned

with,

must not forget that,

in the story

of the first appearance of Jeroboam, the 'house of
Joseph' is an administrative unit

(

I

K.

11

The peculiar condition of the legends relating to

this tribe provokes an attempt to explain it.

This

must take account of two inconsistent
tendencies-a tendency in favour of the

tribe (Judg.

3

I

S. 4

I

K. 3

4

9

and

a

tendency

against it (Judg.

19-21). When we bear in mind the

central position of the tribe, and the

and

importance of sanctuaries within and near its bounds (see
below, 6), it cannot surprise ns that there were many
traditions of incidents

in which the tribe played

a part.

It is, however, remarkable that some of them

no

special reference to sanctuaries.

We can hardly suppose this due to

political

interests (those of

and Judah) leading to a sort of

diplomatic flattery of the boundary tribe with a view to
ing its adhesion-just as there evidently was rivalry of a less
peaceable kind

I

K.

15

77

22).

A.

Bernstein, who worked

this

view

in

detail in his able, if unequal, essay

1871

(see

especially

does not take

of

stories unfavourable

to

Benjamin outside of Genesis; and

clear that

Benjamin was naturally a part of

northern kingdom

(I

belongs to a

later date than

The later

history of the tribe, especially after the fall of Samaria (see below

7),

would go a long way towards accounting not only for the

preservation but also for the mixed character of much Benjamin
tradition.

If

we wish any further explanation, it seems reason-

able to seek it in a natural interest, friendly or otherwise, in the
great tribal hero, the mysterious Saul and his house.

The interest in the tribe is undeniable.

Israel will run any risk rather than that of losing Benjamin

(Gen. 42 38 J)

;

the narrative delights in detailing the various

signs of special affection on the art

even Judah

offers himself as surety for him

43

9

or, according to E,

Reuben the first-born offers his two sons (Gen. 42 37).

On

the

other hand all the tribes led by Joseph reprove and chastise
Benjamin, but relent and find a substitute in Jahesh Gilead

however, supposes that the account of Benjamin has been

lost

1 138).

P,

however i

this (Gen.

26).

3

Noldeke

communication) thinks that a t an early

time Benjamin was a powerful tribe, and that the rise of the
story of its late origin (as also Judg. 19-21) is to be accounted
for simply as the result of the

of its power by David.

It

has been

from

that it did not

include Benjamin

1115

could we argue from

48

that it did not include Ephraim?

536

BENJAMIN

BENJAMIN

(Jndg.

story that strangely parallel to Joseph's

accus-

ing Benjamin (falsely), the others interceding, and Judah offering
to become substitute

44 33). What historical substratum

may

underlie this Gibeah story we have not the means of

determining. Its late date and its untrustworthiness

present

form appear in its practically wiping out the tribe that was
so very long after able to give

its

first ruler to a

'

Israel

(see also below, 7, end, on post-exilic interest

Benjamin).

Benjamin was in

a sense at the centre of the religious

life of the land.

What the religious history of

I

)

may have been we

can only guess; but there were sacred

and trees that

the names

of D

EBORAH

(Gen.358 Judg.45) and R

ACHEL

(Gen.

35

Jer.

31

and

Geba, Gibeah, Mizpeh,

Gibeon, Gilgal, not only were Canaanitish sanctuaries
but also continued to be of importance as such in Israel
indeed, Geba, which (or perhaps it was
Gibeah) one writer calls ' Gibeah of God

( I

1 0

5).

was perhaps selected

the Philistines as the site

of

their

because of its sanctity

(

I

S.

13

3

and especi-

ally

10

5

cp S

AUL

,

2

n.)

as

well

as because of its

strategic position.3

More important still, perhaps, Bethel itself, the

famous royal sanctuary

7

where, according to

the story, Israel encamped after crossing the Jordan
(see B

OCHIM

), is said by

P

to have belonged to

Benjamin (Josh.

doubt the Chronicler

( I

Ch.

728)

assigns it to Ephraim

but

(though it may well have been

a border town with

connections on both sides) that is perhaps only
because he could not conceive of Benjamin,

a tribe

that he regarded as belonging to the southern kingdom,
extending so far north.

At all events, there was reason

for the words used of Benjamin in Dt.

3312

(cp Di. ad

and see below,

8),

'The beloved of

he

secure'

H e

encompasseth him

all

the hay,

And between his shoulders4 doth h e dwell.'

It seems, therefore, not unfitting that this tribe, martial
though it was, should for all time, whatever view we
take of the character of Saul, be associated with two of
the greatest names in the history of Hebre
and religion, representatives of two of the
religious movements

:

Jeremiah, who was

a native of

a

Benjamite town, and Paul, who at least believed that he
was sprung from the same tribe

(Rom.

11

I

Phil.

35

cp Test.

Patr., Benj. ch.

11).

Saul's

career ended in gloom yet his work was not

entirely undone. It was, therefore,

a

matter of course

that the

of Benjamin (especially the

Bichrites. see below,

9

even more

than the rest of the house of Joseph, should

dislike being subordinated to the newly-risen house of
Judah (S

HIMEI

,

I),

and should embrace any good oppor-

tunity to assert their claim (S

HEBA

,

I),

and that,

along with the rest of the house of Joseph, they should
throw in their lot with

(

I

).

accord-

ingly, no reason

to

question

accuracy of the state-

ment in

I

1220

:

' there was none that followed the

house

of David, but the tribe of Judah

(cp Ps.

80

[3]

and Hos. 58 with

note, and see

I

SRAEL

,

28

Jericho is regarded as north Israelite in

I

However,

as

Jeroboam was not

a

and the capitals of the northern kingdom

were always in the northern parts

of Joseph (cp

Z

ARETHAN

Benjamin does not appear to have

On the stone of Bohan or Reuben see above
Baal-tamar also was probably a

place. On the special

im ortance of Gilgal in early times see

has even tried to show

Gibeah was

by

some to have been the seat of Israel's famous shrine,

' a r k '

but he takes no account of the discussion of Kosters

We cannot argue from

for Judah' here

means, not, a s the

Ch. 21

supposed, a tribe

but the southern kingdom (the Chronicler thinks it

t o

try to explain-see the attempts of

to

understand

him-why Benjamin and

were not numbered).

537

A

RK

,

Note the Arabic metaphor, WRS,

Kin.

46 (foot).

really gained by this step.

In fact, it seems to have

gravitated more and more southwards.

Indeed, lying on the border between the two king-
doms, it was important strategically rather than politic-

and, although we cannot very well follow the

details of the

some of its towns seem to have

been, a t one time

or another, and more or less

permanently, incorporated in the southern kingdom.

blow that the northern kingdom received in

722

was favourable to this process, and in another sense the
sack of Jerusalem in

586.

Thus in Jer.

33

13

the land

of Benjamin' is included in an enumeration of the
various districts of the territory of

the

Megeb,

as in

2

K.

238

'from

Geba to Beersheba,' like from Geba to Rimmon in
Zech.

stands for the whole land of Judah, and in

6

I

Jeremiah's clansmen are living in Jerusalem

and so, in the century following

rebuilding of the

temple, Benjamin is regularly mentioned alongside

of

Judah, the combination of names appearing often

t o

the families that were not taken to Babylon (cp

Kosters,

passim),

and the Jews came to

believe that Rehoboain's kingdom had from the first
consisted formally of these two tribes (cp

Ps.

6827

Chron.

and

a

late writer in

I

K.

1221

23).

Hence we need not be surprised at

fulness with

which Benjamin,

as compared with the other Joseph

tribes, is treated in the book of Joshua (Di.

or

at the frequent and copious Benjamin lists in the
Chronicler (see

Only we must remember that

these tribal distinctions were in later times theoretical
Simon

( 2

Macc.

34).

and Lysimachus were

Benjamites for the explanation of Mordecai's mythic
genealogy

see E

STHER

,

( a )

Although the priestly writer's conception of the

frontier of Benjamin is not even self-consistent, Beth-

§

*.

Arabah, a point in Judah's

N.

boundary (Josh. 15

being assigned

first

to Judah and then

if the text is correct; see

I

)

to Benjamin, it can be

identified roughly.

From

Jordan near Jericho h e makes it pass

to

Beth-aven and Bethel

where it turns

S.

to

addar (possibly

and

W. to Beth-horon

nether

returning by Kirjath-jearim and Nephtoah

circling round the

of Jerusalem through the vale of

and

plateau of Rephaim, and by the spring of

Rogel and finally returning by En-shemesh
and

valley of Acbor to the Jordan a t Beth-hdglah

or

What led P to

fix

on this line, the southern stretch of

which he repeats with greater fulness in the delineation
of Judah

we cannot say; nor can we'

say

why he makes the boundary run south of

The 'Blessing

of

Moses' has indeed been

taken to imply (Dt.

3312

see above,

6) that in the

latter part of the eighth century Jerusalem was held to
lie inside the boundary of Benjamin

' b y him in

the first line is probably

to a clerical error, and

line 3 is quite indistinct

:

nothing points specially to

Jerusalem.

Stade ( G

1

162)

proposes Gibeon per-

haps Winckler would suggest Gibeah

;

Oort, however

(

1896, pp.

pleads vigorously for Bethel,

and nothing could be more appropriate in

a poem

so

markedly north-Israelitish.

It is plain enough, on the

other hand, that Jerusalem is assigned to Benjamin by
P (though he avoids giving the name of the town, speak-

See the account in GASm.

ch.

On the other tribes mentioned in this verse see

N

APHTALI

.

According to the Talmud the Holy of Holies and some

other parts of the temple stood on Henjamite

54);

but the site of the altar, though within Benjamin, was a
piece of land that ran into Benjamite territory from Judah

4

Unless Jerusalem may be thought to be implied in the

mention of Benjamin before Joseph

(Dr. Dt.

389).

But on the

order of the tribes cp Di.

BENJAMIN

simply of the Jebusite

and, if

do

not know

precisely why he does

so, we can at least see that he

has a purpose of some kind, for in Judg.

it is quite

clear that the editor has for the same reason twice
substituted Benjamin' for the original Judah,' which
we find in the otherwise identical Josh.1563.

W e

must conclude that, whatever conceptions prevailed in
later times, in the days when tribal names were really
in harmony with geographical facts of one kind or
another, Jerusalem was counted to Judah.

(6) Many late lists of Benjamite

towns have been

'preserved.

I.

The only

one is the rhetorical

enumeration of twelve places on the path of the
Assyrian invader (Is.

10

28-32).

Of the six names in it which are not mentioned in any of the

other lists, two are those of towns the sites of which are

known

with certainty :

and G

EBIM

P s list (Josh.

comprises an eastern and

a

western

a group of twelve (to which he

adds in

21 two others) and

a

group

of

fourteen towns.

Of these twenty-eight the following sixteen may be regarded

as identified, some with certainty, others with a high degree
of probability

:

J

ERICHO

, B

ETH

-H

OGLAH

, Z

EMARAIM

, B

ETHEL

,

the

J

G

IBEATH

,

A

LEMETH

).

3. Neh.

11

31-35

contains a list of some sixteen towns

alleged

to

be settled by Benjamites. The list, which

may be incompletely preserved, is more and more
assigned, by scholars

of various schools, to the time

of the Chronicler (see Torrey,

and

Hist.

of

;

Mey.

107, 189);

at all

events, it cannot be early.

Of the eleven new names (unless the Aija of

v.

31

be the

Avvim of Josh.

not in the Joshua lists, four may be re-

garded as identified

dispute:

N

EBALLAT

, L

OD

(see

O

NO

.

4.

In the list Neh.

7

Ez.

2

I

Esd.

5

(see

E

ZRA

, ii.

25-37

and

respectively, seem to

enumerate places (apparently places where members

of

Ezra's congregation were resident), mostly within

old Benjamite rather than old Judahite territory.

In

this list, excluding- N

EBO

as being probably merely a

transposition of N

OB

, we have still five other new names, of

which, however, some seem to be spurious, a d only N

ETOPHAH

and BETH-AZMAVETH (see

an

he regarded as

Other places perhaps in Benjamite territory are

HAZOR

( 2

S.

and N

OHAH

(see Moore,

Judges, 443).

I

Esd. also adds a

and A

MMIDOI

ASAI).

Lists of Benjamite clan or personal names (sometimes,

of

course, including place names) are many.

They have mostly, however, suffered

( i . ) P's two (Gen.

26)

usual, different

versions of the same list.

They probably contain

triplets (a)

Ashhel, and

(6)

;

and a third triplet,

not quite so certain,

The Chronicler's two

(

I

Cb.

7

and

I

Ch.

8)

are

more difficult to understand, but are Constructed more
or less

on the same scheme.

(a)

In

I

Ch.

(sons of

the first

which, how-

ever, Ashhel,

'

Man of Baal '

becomes Jediael,

'

Intimate of E l

we have what is of all

pei-haps

most symmetrical.

Certain

as apparent doublets) make it plausible

to

suppose that the symmetry was once even greater. Abijab

a

name that occurs elsewhere in the Chronicler's

only in priestly

should perhaps be read 'the father of'

(cp fatber of Bethlehem,'

I

Ch. 4

4).

I n that way the two places

Anathoth and Alemeth would be assigned to the last-mentioned

son

of Becher, just as

in

v.

12

Shnppim and Huppim are ascribed

identified with any certainty.

at one stage or another in transmission.

Verse

in a sense represents the third triplet, and

has

names connected in chap. 8 with the second.

Cp

I

Ch.

23

8

(Marquart in aprivate

communication). We can hardly argue from the

or

of the Peshitta that the change of Ashbel to Jediael is

due to an accident ; for in the Peshitta

I

Ch.

7 6

simply substi-

tutes the corrupt Genesis list

nine names (with its ' E h i

and Kosh

for 'Ahiram

for the Chronicler's

list of three sons.

On

the supposed Abijah, wife of Hezron, see C

ALEB

,

539

to

the last-mentioned son

of

Bela.

to whom

the

detection of this analogy is due, suggests that

should

be read

If some form of this theory be adopted it will

he only natural to look for a name (or names) assigned to the
last-mentioned son of Jediael (the remaining branch of Benjamin)
and to find it in Hushim the son of Aher

(v.

This will be

still more plausible if we may adopt the rest of Marquart's
theory, that Aher

is a miswritten

that Ahishahar,

is

a

corruption of the same name

If Uzzi and

in

v. 7

are a doublet 'five' in the same verse

is not original.

Perhaps Ehud etc., 'in v.

IO

are brothers of

Bilhan, the

words being a

Whilst

v.

is

thus required to give symmetry to the genealogy, it may

nevertheless be in a sense an appendix.

8

has in parts the appearance of being constructed

in a very schematic form (though efforts to detect a general
scheme have not been markedly successful), and this seems to
warrant the conviction that the present obscurity is due to
textual corruption. For remedying that some help can be had

the versions but it is not sufficient. Certain suggested

(see an article by the present writer

11

so

greatly reduce the disorder that now prevails that

there seems to be reason to believe that the genealogy was at
one time markedly regular in structure, and that considerable
boldness in attempts to restore it is warranted. I t has always
seemed

to explain how the historically important

mite clans-the

of Saul and Sheba

Becher), and that

of

so subordinated

this extraordinarily

copious list (they appear to be omitted altogether in Nu.
see, however B

ECHER

). I t is probable that the

is

to

of the text. When emended in the way

already referred to,

I

Ch. 8

1-76

is reduced to

three triplets

with the additional statement that Gera was the father of

and

or rather, as Marquart acutely suggests,

; cp

What

is obscure-

the reconstruction proposed in

is

parts not much

more than a guess-but

it seems

probable that the

names in vv.

beyond

three triplets, were originally

attributed to Gera through Ahishahar (once corrupted into

Shaharaim

.

see above

Hushim

being an intrusive

repetition

later

of the list). Then

gave the

of the Bichrites (for

'and his firstborn,'

'and the sons

v.

326

being

perhaps a marginal gloss due to some bewildered reader of

(in their new position after the intrusion of

from

chap. 9).

Marquart suggests that these nine verses originally

followed the mention of the sons of Bela.

For fuller details and

other suggestions the reader is referred to the article already

I t is difficult to avoid the conviction that some recon-

struction is necessary.

and 1Ch.97-9 we have two

versions

of

a list of Benjamite inhabitants of Jerusalem,

the original of which it is quite impossible to restore.

The names are grouped in the form of genealogies of a few

persons. for which among other reasons, Meyer pronounces
the list' an

of the Chronicler

Kosters however suggests that the genealogical form is not

and that the authority was

a

list of Jerusalem

Benjamites living 'in Jerusalem

the arrival of Ezra.

(iv.) On the list of Benjamite warriors in

I

Ch.

see D

AVID

,

( a )

iii.

On relations of Benjamin to

other tribes, see, further, R

ACHEL

, B

ILHAH

, J

OSEPH

.

A Benjamite b. Bilhan

I

Ch.

(see No.

I

,

9,

a).

3.

A

Levite, of h e

b'ne

in the list of those with foreign

wives,

(see

E

ZRA

,

5, end).

4.

A Levite, in the list of wall-builders, Neh.323 (see N

EHE

-

MIAH

E

ZRA

[I]

d ) , perhaps

as No. 3.

5.

the

at the hedication of the wall (E

ZRA

Neh.

on which see Kosters,

59.

H.

W.

BENJAMIN, GATE

OF

Jer.

202

387 Zech. 1410. See J

ERUSALEM

.

is taken as a proper name in

I

Ch.

by

EV, in

26

by

(yioi

yioi

and by Jer. and Targ. That the list

of the sons of

is in a most unsatisfactory state

is evident from a comparison with Ex.

I

Ch.

and

The

M T

is most

obscure, and, according to Kittel,

are one of

the latest additions

one rendering is to take

v.

as follows

Of Jaaziah, his (Merari's)

son,

(even) the

sons of Merari through Jaaziah his

son,'

etc.

BEN-ON1

yioc

I n a private communication to the present writer.
So Marquart. On foreign names in this list see above, 3.
See now also Marquart's important article on the same

subject

BEN-ZOHETH

BERED

Vet. Lat. has

Josephus

(Ant.

102) has

or, in some

MSS,

Ewald

thinks of the modern Bir

m.

NW. from

Jufna, or of Beeroth (mod. el Bireh).

2.

Bercea,

[A],

the scene

of

the death of

the modern Aleppo (2 Macc.

3.

[Ti. W H ] (some MSS

now

or

in Lower Macedonia, at the foot of

Mt. Bermios,

above the left

hank

of

the

mon

(

It

a splendid view over the

plains of the Haliacmon and the Axius; plane-trees
and abundant streams make it one

of

the

desirable

towns of the district. Yet it did not lie on the main
road

which perhaps accounts for its being chosen as

a place of refuge for Paul and Silas in their midnight
escape from Thessalonica (Acts

17

I

O

).

A curious parallel is found in Cicero’s speech against Piso.

to

face the chorus of complaint at Thessalonica

fled to the out-of-the-way town of

In Pis. 36).

In the apostolic age Bercea contained

a colony of

Jews, and

a

synagogue

17

I

O

).

They were of a

nobler spirit

than those of Thessalonica

-possibly because they did not belong to the purely
mercantile class. Not only were many

of

the Jews them-

selves converted, but also not

a few of the Greeks, both

men and women

Acts

17

:

the language

seems to indicate that the apostle was here dealing
with an audience at

a higher social level than elsewhere).

Paul’s stay here seems to have been of some duration
(several months, Rams.

partly in order to

allow him to watch over the converts of Thessalonica,
only

m. distant

he may have been still at Bercea

when he made those two vain attempts to revisit them to

which

I

Thess.

2 alludes, and Timothy may have been

sent to them from Bercea,

not from Athens,

on the

occasion mentioned

in

I

Thess.

3

2.

The apostle was at

length obliged to quit the town, as the Jews

of

lonica’ heard

of

his work and resorted to their usual

tactics of inciting to riot

Acts

Silas and Timothy were left in Macedonia but

Paul was escorted by certain of the converts to the sea

.and as far as Athens (Acts

This hurried

been bytheroad

In other cases the

name of the harbour is given : so in Acts

16

T

I

The

omission, however, affords no proof that the journey to Athens

was performed by land-a view which derives some colour from
the AV ‘to go as it were to the sea’ (RV ‘as far

as

to

the

sea

’).

Possibly one of his escort was that Sopater, son of

Pyrrhus,

a

Bercean, who is mentioned in Acts

as ac-

companying Paul from Corinth to Macedonia. The
Sosipater of Rom.

is probably another person. W e

read in Acts205 that the escort from Corinth preceded

Paul to Troas

:

this may have been partly due to his

a detour in order to revisit

BERECHIAH

in

Nos.

4f:

28,

Yahwi: blesses’

[BHA],

I

.

Son

of Zerubbabel,

I

Ch. 3

20

[Ll,

One of the Levites that dwelt in the villages of the

Netophathites,

I

Ch. 9

not

included in Neh. 11. Probably thk same as the doorkeeper for
the Ark

I

Ch. 15

23.

3.

of Meshullam in list of

N

EHEMIAH

,

E

ZRA

,

ii.,

Neh. 3 4

om.

B),

30

[A]); cp

6

18.

4.

of ’the prophet Zechariah, Zech. 1

I

Omitted in the Ezra5

I

.

On the question of his

identity with the

(AV), or

B

ARACHIAH

(RV) of Mt.

23

35,

see

Z

ACHARIAS

,

Father of Asaph, a singer,

I

Ch. 6

24

(AV

15 17

6.

b.

Meshillemoth one

of the chief men of the

Ephraim,

temp. Ahaz,

25

[A]).

[Vg.]).

A place in S. Palestine, or perhaps rather

The omission of the harbour is noticeable.

w.

J

.

w.

rightly interpreting the mind of the writer), the first

name of B

ENJAMIN

3), given to her new-born child

by the dying Rachel (Gen.

Ben-oni must, how-

ever, have been an early tribal name.

W e find the

clan-names

and

(both in Judah, the

former also Horite) also

a

Benjamite city

nor

can the existence of an ancient city called B

ETH

-

AVEN

(Beth-on?) be denied. T o assume, however, with Prof.
Sayce

first that Beth-el was

also called Beth-on, and next that the names Beth-on
and Ben-oni imply that the name of the, god worshipped

at Luz was

On, and next that this divine name was

derived from

in Egypt, is purely

arbitrary.

B

ETH

-

AVEN

, A

VEN

(3).

T.

K .

c.

BEN-ZOHETH

etym. doubtful, probably

corrupt).

Z

OHETH

and Ben-Zoheth are mentioned in

I

Ch.

ui.

among the sons of

of

Num.

possibly

for A

CHBOR

see

B

AAL

-

HANAN

[

I

]

[BAL W H in

2

Pet.

I

. Father of the

king

I

], Gen. 3632

See B

AAL

-

MEON

.

2.

Father of B

ALAAM

(Nu.

etc.,

[A],

except in

Dt.

Josh.

Mi. 65

Josh.

called

Pet.

AV

[Ti. following

Vg.

cp the

reading

RV

WH]).

In Nu.

reads

[A]) for Heb.

BERA

scarcely, ‘with evil,’ cp B

IRSHA

these,

like other names in Gen. 14, may be mutilated and
corrupted forms;
[Jos.

Ant.

Sodom, who joined the league

against Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14

2).

See

end.

BERACHAH,

RV Beracah

blessing

ite, one of

David‘s warriors

( I

Ch.

(RV Beracah), VALLEY

OF

great thanksgiving of Jehoshaphat and his people

( 2

in

[BA],

The geographical knowledge of

the narrator was evidently good but that, of course,
does not make his narrative any more historical (see

At

no

great distance from

there is

a broad open

on the west side of which

are extensive ruins named

Just opposite the

ruins the

itself is called the

(Rob.

From the form

we gather that

the true ancient pronunciation was probably

reservoirs.’

.

T.

C .

BERACHIAH

I

Ch.

RV

BERAIAH

Yahwi: creates

I

.

A

assigned

to the

( 8 )

I

Ch.

821.

The name is prob-

ably post-exilic,

‘

creation being one of the great exilic

and post-exilic religious doctrines.

See B

EDEIAH

.

BEREA,

I

.

An unknown locality in the neighbour-

hood of Jerusalem, where Bacchides encamped before
the battle in which the Jews were defeated and Judas
the Maccabee was slain (Apr.

161

B

.c.).

The camp of

Judas was at Elasa,

or Alasa, also unknown,

but probably

between the two Beth-horons

on the main road from Sharon to Jerusalem

(

I

Macc.

94

The best reading seems to be

but there is MS authority also for

and

That is

;

I

Ch.

7

30.

BERED

N. Arabia, between which and Kadesh lay

LAHAI

-

ROI

(Gen.

1 6

14).

Three identifications

deserve mention.

(

I

) T h e

represent

it by the same word as that given for Shur in
by

Hagra, and Jer. Targ. by

The

former word, however

Ar.

a

wall, enclosure

’),

seems to be meant for

a

translation of the name Shur,

not for

an

identification of the place. The second

name is clearly the

of Ptol., which is now

probably

in the

‘Asliij, about

m. from Beersheba

on

the way to Kuhaibeh

or

Rehoboth (see Palmer,

1871,

p. 3 5 ;

2

( z )

Eus. and Jer. ( O S

299

76

145

z )

identify a certain well

of

judgment’ with the

village Berdan in the Gerarite country (in which Beer-

sheba also is placed). This

‘

well

of

judgment

’

seems

like

a confused reminiscence of

(Gen.

147).

Is this Berdan the samespotwhich Jerome

( O S

101

3)

calls

where, he says,

a

Agar

was shown in his day?

( 3 )

If, with Rowlands,

we find B

EER

-

LAHAI

-

ROI

) at ‘Ain Muweileh, Bered

may be some place in

esh-Sheraif,

the

E.

side of the Jebel

(see

map).

T.

C.

BERED

an Ephraimite clan,

I

Ch.

T z o

om.

apparently called

in Nu.

35,

well-known Benjamite clan

name. When we consider the close relation between
the two tribes, the

of Becher in Ephraim

seems not unnatural (cp B

ERIAH

,

See, however,

BERI

prob.

76, ‘belonging to the

well [or to a place called Be’er]

the name occurs

an Asherite family-name

(I

Ch.

36).

BERIAH

perhaps p ominent,’

7;

the

play

on

the name in

I

Ch.

the play on the

name B

ERA

in Targ.

BEROTHAI

stated that the Benjamite clan

was adopted into

Ephraim in recognition of the service it had rendered

to

the imperilled territory.

So

Bertheau cp Bennett,

4. A Gershonite (Levite) family,

I

Ch. 23

A in

I

O

).

BERITES, THE

appear, through

a cor-

ruption of the text, in

(MT), where

mann, Kittel, Budde, and (with

some

hesitation)

Driver, read

the Bichrites (see B

ICHRI

).

The consonants

are, in fact, presupposed by the

strange rendering of

The description of the progress of

S

HEBA

now first becomes intelligible.

BERITH

Judg.

946

AV, RV El-berith. See

B

AAL

-

BERITH

.

BERNICE

the

Macedonianform of

eldest daughter of Herod

Agrippa I., and sister of the younger

25

1323

She was married to her uncle Herod, king of

and after his death she lived, not without

sus-

picion of incest, with her brother Agrippa. She next
became the wife of

king of

This

connection being

soon dissolved, she returned to her

brother, and afterwards became the mistress of
pasian and Titus (Jos.

Ant.

xix.

51

xx.

Hist.

81; Suet.

Tit.

7)

cp Sch.

and

see

H

ERODIAN

F

AMILY

, 9.

20

EV

M

ERODACH

-B

ALADAN

.

89.

Cp also

E

PHRAIM

.

S.

A.

C.

BERODACH BALADAN

K

.

BEROEA

RV, AV B

EREA

,

2.

BEROTH

[A]),

I

Esd.

BEROTHAH

a place mentioned by Ezekiel

defining the ideal northern frontier of the

Land.

It is apparently the same

as B

EROTHAI

and

may he regarded

as

a lengthened form of

‘wells.’

As

yet it has

been certainly

identified. Ewald (Hist.

3

connected it with the

well-known Berytus (the

and

of the

Amarna letters, the

of the List

of

Thotmes

[so

W.

M.

Muller], and the mod.

bur it seems

clear that

a maritime city would not suit Ezekiel’s

description. Tomltins would, therefore, place Berothah
in the neighbourhood of the rock-hewn inscriptions
in the

NW. of Baalbec, down which

a

stream is marked in the

Carte

de

as

flowing to the Orontes

Ap.

1885,

p.

but his philological argument seems unsound.

Fnrrer

8

Socin

and v. Riess

have thought of

a

village not

far to the S. of Baalbec; but this is only

a

plausible

conjecture, and

be judged in connection with

Furrer’s general theory of the frontier (see H

OR

, M

OUNT

R

IBLAH

Z

IDAD

). Cp A

RAM

,

6.

BEROTHAI

Klo. would read

a town

belonging to Hadadezer, king

of Zobah, S.

88

perhaps reading

from

to separate, select

[so

Klo.]),

form

of

B

EROTHAH

(see, however, Klo. and the article

T

EBAH

).

In

I

Ch. 188 (where

has the same trans-

lation), which is parallel to

88, for Berothai we

find the name

which must be a corruption,

either of the first three letters of Berothai

in

one of the earlier alphabetic stages, or of some other
name which the Chronicler found in his copy of the old

For asuggested emendation see M

EROM

,

end.

The reading

,is probably supported by

in

places, and by the

of

Jos.

Ant.

53.

The latter’s text, however, must have represented a

conflate reading, for

he

reads

which points to

‘from

Cun.’

544

BEEROTH.

I

.

An Asherite clan

Gen.

46

17 Nu. 26

in v.

[L] in

v.

29

it is omitted);

I

Ch.

7

[E] gentilic,

Nu.

-par

in

story of

a

lifting raid

I

Ch.

(beginning at

‘

and Ezer and

Elead

[B],

[L]) cp 8

13.

Accord-

ing to the Chronicler, Beriah was

a son of Ephraim,

born after his brother had been slain, and he was called
Beriah because ‘it went evil with his [father’s]

house’

(note the assonance

This notice of the

conflict with the

of Gath

is enigmatical; were

there family reminiscences of the border strifes

of the

early Israelites which were recorded in documents
distinct from

our

canonical books and accessible to the

Chronicler

We. preserves

a

tical attitude

Bertheau

and Kittel, however,

that there is

genuine tradi-

tion, and that, on the destruction of the clans Ezer and Elead
the Ephraimites of the border districts applied for help to
Benjamite clans,

and Beriah

(I

Ch. 8

13).

According to

S. A. Fries, the basis of this story is an early tradition dealing
with a raid made hy Ephraimites into Palestine from the land
of

in the wider sense which Hommel and he himself

give to this term (see

It would be unsafe to use these unsupported state-

ments of the Chronicler as historical material.

See

below.

It appears to be

Note that in

(

I

Ch.

730

and 8

13

(I

Ch.

7

23

and

(8

y

Ar.

which is usually represented’hy a breathing. For

rough y

Ar.

see G

AZA

etc.

Pesh.

the

of

M T cp Barnes,

Pesh.

xi.

3.

A clan of Benjamin

9

probably to be identified with No.

543

BEROTHITE

I

Ch.

11

39.

See B

EEROTH

.

BERYL.

The Beryl

as

a mineral

includes,

besides the

beryl,

rine or precious beryl, and the emerald.

The similarity between the beryl

the emerald

was pointed out by Pliny

the only points of

distinction are the green colonr of the emerald and the
somewhat superior hardness of the beryl

(7.5 to

8

in

the mineralogical scale specific gravity from

2.67

to

If we leave out of account the emerald, the colours of

the beryl range from blue through soft sea-green to

a

pale honey-yellow, and in some cases the stones are
entirely colourless.

The aquamarine is

so named

account of its bluish-green colour,

(Pliny,

c.

).

The beryl

lises in six-sided prisms with the crystals often deeply
striated in

a

longitudinal direction. The great abun-

dance of aquamarine and other forms of beryl in modern
times has very

depreciated its value; but it is

still set in bracelets, necklaces,

and used for seals.

That the beryl was known

to

the ancients there can

be

no doubt. Some of the finest examples of ancient

.

Greek

Roman gem-engraving are

found executed in beryl (see King's de-
scription of

a huge aquamarine intaglio

over two inches square,

Stones,

Gems,

p.

132)

:

the Romans cut it into six-sided prisms

and mounted them

as

ear-drops.

It is also

clear from the evidence of Pliny

that, in

later times, at least, beryl was called by the same name
as

now, though apart from

(see below) the name

does not appear in any Greek writer till considerably
after Pliny's

It appears, however, to have been

called also

Theophrastus seems to know

three Binds of smaragdos, which may well be our true
emerald, our aquamarine, and our common beryl

23).

In Herodotns, too,

is the

material not only of the

engraved for the ring of

Polycrates

but also of the pillar in the temple of

Heracles at Tyre

which cannot have been of true

emerald, as the noble Binds of beryl are never found
of large size.

The Hebrews must be presumed to have known the

beryl.

We may perhaps identify it with the

for P tells

us that the ornaments

on the high priest's shoulder (Ex.

were of

and

renders

this

We cannot always trust

rendering

of stone names (see P

RECIOUS

S

TONES

)

in this

case the identification seems suitable. W e are told that

on

each

were inscribed

names of six

of

the tribes of Israel, for which purpose

a

natural hexagonal

cylinder of beryl would be admirably fitted if,

as has

been suggested, the six names were inscribed longi-
tudinally on the six faces. The

mounted

ouches of gold were probably therefore beryls pierced

or simply mounted at the end with bosses

of

gold, like the beryl cylinders described by Pliny.

The importance given to the beryl

among the Baby-

lonians and the Phcenicians (see above) makes it all the
more probable that the Hebrews would specially value
it. From Gen.

(later stratum of J

it would appear

that the

was known in Judah before the exile,

and believed to abound, with good gold and bdellium, in

H

AVILAH

.

The Chronicler brings

into

connection with the construction of the pre-exilic temple

(

I

Cb.

the reading may be incorrect, see

E

BONY

,

while the writer

of

Job 2816 classes it with

gold of Ophir and other precious substances.

The etymology of the word

(which occurs in

On the stone called Beryl in E V see
The chrysoberylus, chrysoprasus, and chrysolithus

of ancient

appear to some extent

at

least, to have been names

applied

shades of beryl.

2.732).

35

545

BETAH

Chronicles as

a proper name; see S

HOHAM

) is

at

traces it

to

a

4.

Etymology

meaning paleness,'

if 'the pale ,stone

while Haupt, connecting it with the Assyrian

renders

Delitzsch. however.

argues that

means

a

(Ass:

6; cp

Par.

130

and

connects Assyr.

with Syr.

rather than) Heb.

1881,

479).

is rendered in the various versions as

follows

:-

@BAL

(as

in

Targ.

Saad.

etc.) in Ex. 28

=39

reproduced in Ezek. 28 13

(see

P

RE

C

I

O

US

S

T

O

N

E

S

)

;

Ex. 28 35 27 39

6

A.

green) in Gen. 2

in Ex. 35

A.

[L]

in Ch. 29

(as

in Aq. at

Theod.

a t Ex. and Gen., and Vg.

but

Ezek.] except

in Job) in

Pesh. everywhere

(

B

RW

LA

)

or

except in

I

Ch. 29 where its text differs Aq. in

Gen. 2

Vg. in Job 28

sardonyx.

as an alternative the rendering

supporting the identification argued for above.

EV follows throughout the usual Vg. rendering, giving every-

where

'

onyx

'

(see

O

NYX

),

reserving

'

beryl' for the Hebrew

(see

OF).

In the

however

'beryl is naturally the EV rendering

of

(Rkv.

W.

R.

BERZELUS

[A]),

I

Ezra

2.

BESAI

52

[L]).

The b n e

a family of N

ETHINIM

in the great post-exilic list (see

E

ZRA

,

[BA],

I

Esd.

5 3 1

B

ASTAI

, RV

B

ASTHAI

[BA],

[L]).

22

the form, however, is very improbable [see
read, rather,

Hasadiah),

an

Israelite, father of

Meshullam in the list

of

wall-builders (see

16

[

I

],

3 6

[B],

BESODEIAH

in the secret of Yah,'

E Z R A ,

T.

C.

BESOM

Is.

14

Pesh.

Vg.

a

word occurring nowhere else in Hebrew or, in this

sense, in any Semitic dialect.? According to

26

b., the word, though unknown to

the Rabbis (who called the article

was still in use

among the women (cp Jer.

2).

There

is

not,

therefore, any reason to doubt that Vg. and Pesh. are
right in understanding something to sweep (away) with
(cpthe metaphor in Is. 30

[sieve] on which see A

GRI

-

C

ULTURE

,

IO

).

The besoni of death is not unknown

to mythology (Otto Henne Am Rhyn,

Die

411

but the figure hardly needs any

mythological warrant (Che.

).

a

mentioned in the account of

David's pursuit of the Amalekites,

I

S.

[B],

[A]).

It was probably this

that Saul crossed' when he chastised the Amalekites

(

I

S.

read

and in the two

definitions of the Amalekite territory in

I

S.

and

Saul smote the Amalekites, from Havilah,' etc.), and

27

8

for those were the inhabitants of the land, which

were from

old

time,' etc.), we should probably read

'from the torrent Besor even to the torrent [land] of

See

T

ELEM

According to

it

is

the modern WBdy Ghazza which

from

the WBdy

and empties itself into the sea SW.

of Gaza.

T.

C.

BETAH

a

city of Hadadezer, king of Zobah,

Pesh.,

(through oversight?) at Ex. 35 9 29

6

Ezek. 28 13.

In Arab. the root means 'incline (the head),' in

'set

BESOR

[BAL],

Ant.

vi.

88

Ch.

188 (MT),

T

IBHATH

.

in order.

BETANE

ever, reads Tebah, and this is also favoured in

S.

by

[A],

[L], where

pa

arises from

a

corrupt repetition of the preceding letter

in this translator's Heb. text).

Cp Ew.

Hist.

3

and

see

T

EBAH

.

of the places to which, according to

Nebuchad-

rezzar sent his summons.

T h e B

ETH

-

ANOTH

of Josh. 1559 appears to be meant.

'vale'or

[B],

[L]), an unidentified site in the

territory of

(Josh.

called

by

Eusebius ( O S 236

who places it 8 R. m. to the

E.

of

BETH

constr. ,of

see BDB); the

most general term for a dwelling; used

of

a tent in

Gen. 27

33

but generally of houses of clay

or stone

also of temples (cp B

AJITH

,

[MI,

Combinations

of Beth with other words are frequent in

Hebrew place-names (see N

AMES

,

96).

In Assyrian,

compounds with Bit are used as names of countries:

the kingdom of Israel; Bit-Yakin

Babylonia, the country

of Merodach-Baladan).

Among other interesting compounds with Beth are

TERAH

Beth-eked Beth-haggan, Beth-lehem, Beth-meon (see

Beth-$or.

BETHABARA

Jn.

128

AV,

is the place where John baptized, according to the

reading which became widely current through the ad-
vocacy of Origen, who could find

no Bethany across the

Jordan, but found a Bethabarawith a tradition connecting
it with the Baptist.

Origen, however, admitted that the

majority of MSS were against him.

Origen was followed hy Chrysostom

.

Epiphanius like Arm.

(Lagarde) has

In t e

text of

the form

latter also in

syr.

hcl.

see W H 2

74);

in

OS

240

108 6 we find

The traditional site of the baptism of Jesus is at the

Hajla (see B

ETHARABAH

,

where, too, it is

suggested that we should read Bethabarah in Josh.
T h e two monasteries of

John attest the antiquity of

the belief in this site.

Conder suggests the

NE.

of

partly

of the nearness of this ford to Galilee and Nazareth,

and partly because the river-bed is here more open, and the
banks of the upper valley more retired

p. 73).

Another suggestion of the same explorer

1877,

p. 185) is

philologically weak.

As stated elsewhere (B

ETHANY

,

the true reading

in Jn.

1 2 8

was probably

B

ETH

-

NIMRAH

,

now

NE.

of Jericho.

BETH-ANATH

'temple of Anath

Josh.

an ancient Canaanite fortress, with

a

sanctuary of

(cp B

ETH

-

ANOTH

), Josh.

It is mentioned unmis-

takably by Thotmes III., Seti I., Rameses

II., and

Rameses

in the lists of places conquered by these

kings (see

638 Sayce,

Pat. Pal. 160, 236,

WMM, As.

Accord-

ing to Judg.

it adjoined Naphtalite territory, but

(like Beth-shemesh) remained Canaanitish down to the

regal period, subject only to the obligation of furnishing
labour for public works.

Eus. and

(OS23645

105

inappropriately refer to

a

village called

j

E. from

possessing medicinal springs.

But the site now most in

in

a valley

6 m.

from

Kedesh-is hardly strong enough

to

have been that of such a fortress as Beth-anath

(Buhl,

232

but cp Conder,

1

BETH

-

ANOTH

[A],

town in the hill

country

of Judah (Josh.

towards the eastern border

of

that region, identified

by W. M. Muller with the

547

See B

ETHANY

,

varies

and

(the

BETH-ARABAH

of the list of places conquered by Shishak

(As.

168).

If the form Beth-anoth be correct, it may

explained as= Beth-anath, 'house of A

NATH

'

)

(Josh.

21

and

sup-

a popular etymology ' place of answering'

of

echo?), with Kampffmeyer

1 6 3 ; cp

Is.

S B O T ) , is needless.

But is the form correct? Conder and Kitchener

identify Beth-anoth with

5

m. N. of Hebron, near the sites of H

ALHUL

and

(cp B

ETANE

). This appears reasonable, and

a doubt whether the ancient name may not have

been

Beth'enun.

It is true that

favours

and

in

the first syllable being unex-

pressed); but the case of

(see

E

N

-

GANNIM

,

that the absence of

both in M T and in the

text implied by

is not decisive. A spring

men-

tioned to the west of the ruins of Beit

T. K.

C .

BETHANY

I.

A small village

referred to in the Gospels,

15

furlongs to the

E.

of

Jerusalem on the road to Jericho (Jn.

11

18

Lk.

cp

I

),

commonly identified with the Beth-Hini of

the Talmud.

It is no doubt the mod.

(from Lazarus or Lazarium-the

wrongly taken as

article).

lies on

a spur

of

the

Mt. of Olives (cp M k . l l l

Its fig, olive,

and almond trees give one at first

a pleasant impres-

sion but

a nearer inspection of the few houses is dis-

appointing.

There are various romantically interesting spots connected

by

old tradition with Lazarus (cp the

Hieros. ed.

596,

the Bordeaux Pilgrim, and

108 3 239

IO).

The

Castle of Lazarus

on

the Vg. translation of

the Gr.

is a

tower, presumably anterior to

time of the Crusaders, and hard

the

of Lazarus the

house of

the Leper also is shown.

The Bethany where John baptized

Ti. W H

after

edd.,

RV) is distinguished from the

Bethany mentioned above by the designation across
Jordan'

'Iop.)

its exact situation is

known.

The reading of T R and of AV is B

ETHABARA

).

,Another suggestion is that Bethabara

house of

the ford

)

and Bethany

house of the ship

are one and the same place (see GASm.

n.

The analogy of some corrupt O T forms (cp K

ISHION

)

suggests, however, that the true reading in the traditional
source of Jn.

would be one combining

in the second

part of the name the letters N, B, and R-such a name
as

W e actually find

in

for the Bethnimrah of the Hebrew text.

Now, the site of B

ETH

-

NIMRAH

is well known.

It is accessible alike from Jerusalem and from the

region of Jericho (cp Mt.

and the perennial stream

of Nahr Nimrin, which flows into the Jordan, would
supply abundance of water. This theory belongs to
Sir George Grove it has been adopted by Sir C.

W.

Wilson (Smith's

Bethnimrah'), and has

strong claims to favourable consideration.

Of course,

the insertion of the words

would be

a

consequence of the faulty reading

T.

K.

C.

BETH-ARABAH

or

once,

Josh.

18

18,

by

a scribe's error [see

simply

Josh.

I.

One of the six cities in the wilderness of Judah

(Josh.

mentioned also as on the boundary lines of

Judah and Benjamin (156

BA

We may therefore dismiss the interpretation 'place of the

wretched one (cp the play upon Anathoth, Is.

MT). Beth-

is generally explained 'place of

fruit' (cp

'unripe fruit,' esp. of figs). The Talmud, however, says that

figs ripened

at Beth-Hini than anywhere else (Neub.,

150).

If so, these figs may have led to the name

B

ETHPHAGE

--Le., possibly, 'house

figs '-but the name

Beth-Hini remains unexplained. Another form of the name
is Beth-oni

BETH-ARAM

18

see also

The reference

must be considered separately (no.

2).

The wilderness

of Judah in

is the deep depression adjoining the

Dead Sea, together with the overhanging mountains
and the barren country beyond, including probably a
district in the neighbourhood of Arad (see SALT, C

ITY

OF).

Beth-arabah may have been the first or principal

settlement in that desolate corner of the

or

Jordan valley which forms the

N. end of the Dead Sea.

Though mentioned twice, if not thrice, with Beth-
hoglah, it must have been considerably to the

of

that place, for unless, with

we put it at

.

Hajla (which seems rather to have been Beth-hoglah),
there is no other suitable site for it till we come to
the copious fountain of

near the

corner of the Dead Sea (31”

43’

N.,

26’

E,).

The name Beth-arabah

the house, or homestead, in

the

has, therefore, a special significance (cp

that of B

ETH

-

JESHIMOTH

,

This indication of

the site was made in writing by Robertson Smith.
Perhaps, however, it is best

to suppose that there

were two settlement:

one near the fountain (viz.,

Beth-arabah), the other (see

at the fountain.

It will be still easier to adopt this identification

if we may follow

in reading not ‘Beth-arabah’

but Beth-abarah in Josh.

The ford

referred to in the name

house or place of the ford

might then be the famous

Hajla near the

mouth of the

W d d y

e

the bathing-place of the

pilgrims, where traditi

places the baptism of Jesus

Christ. Such a Beth-abarah would be more naturally
mentioned between Beth-hoglah and Zemaraim than
a place situated at

The confusion

of the two names was very easy (note the variant

BETH-ARAM

RV

in Jn.

1 2 8 ) .

Cp B

ETH

-

ABARA

.

T.

K.

C.

BETH-ARBEL

. . .

TOY

. .

.

T

O

Y

a place cruelly destroyed by Shalman

(Hos.

Baer

[BAQ]).

Robertson

Smith in 1881

12296) favoured an identification

of Beth-arbel with the trans-Jordanic Arbela (see

886); now

in which case there might be

a

reference either to Shalmaneser

111. or to

a

Moabite

king Shalamanu mentioned in an inscription

220)

a s a tributary of Tiglath-pileser

111. Schrader

argues ably for identifying Shalman with the

latter king, who very probably made an incursion into

Israelite territory. The combination of Beth-arbel with
the trans-Jordanic Arbela (Zrbid), however, is improb-
able

:

Shalman should be a more important king, and

Beth-arbel (if this compound phrase maybe accepted)

a

more important fortress, than Schrader’s theory sup-
poses. Wellhausen and Nowack think that Shalman
may be Shalmaneser

first Shalmaneser known

to the Israelites. If so, the latter part of Hos. 1 0
will be

a

later insertion. The reference to Beth-arbel,

however, remains a difficulty. Surely the reading must
be corrupt.

suggests a correction. Read

and, as

a consequence, for

read

The murder of

Zechariah, son of Jeroboam

by S

HALLUM

I

]

is probably referred to

or

points to a fate like

that of Sisera cp

Judg.

A reader of Hosea

justly assumed that Zechariah was not the only person

who was murdered, and took the massacre

of

the royal

family to be

a

fulfilment of the stern prophecy in

15,

which ends

:

‘in

a storm

We.) the king of Israel

shall be cut

off.’ The words ‘mother and children

were dashed to pieces’ may, however, refer to the
cruelty

of

to the women of

T

APPUAH

549

BETH-BAS1

as related

in

K.

1516.

If so, the inter-

polator combines two striking events which equally
formed part of the divinely threatened judgment

upon

Israel.

For a new but difficult theory of

Hos. 10

see Herz

Lung.

The versions give

help

except as to

preserves a trace of a theory

that the reference is

t o

the slaying of Zalmunna

Gideon, in

which case Ps. 83

would be parallel.

it

is true, does not accord with this theory but Syro-Hex. points
to

is

rendering of Zalmunna and

bas some authority

Hosea.

Vg. gives

est

a

The. conclusive

exegetical objections to this view need not here be stated. See

T.

K.

C.

also Field‘s

BETHASMOTH

[A]),

I

RV.

See

(i.).

cp. Benj. ‘ben-Oni’),

a

place to the

E.

of Bethel near Ai (Josh.

[A],

[L], from which, indeed, it has been pro-

posed, following

to eliminate the name, but on

insufficient grounds’), and

to the

W. of Michmash

are obviously wrong

I

[or

[L]). The site has

not been identified

but it must have been the last

village on the edge

of the desert country, for to this

it gave the name Wilderness of Beth-aven (Josh.

[A];

[B];

[L]).

All the data

point to the neighbourhood of
that village itself, or

immediately to the

S.

BETH-AZMAVETH

see

See Che.

Nov. 1897,

p. 364.

For the rest see B

ETHEL

,

4.

G.

A. S.

(i.

).

See B

AAL

-

MEON

.

BETH-BARAH

[L] the form of the second part of the name is obscure)
is not

to

be identified with the Bethabara of

(Reland) it occurs only in the story of Gideon (Judg.

7

who sends to his fellow-tribesmen in the hill country

of Ephraim, bidding them cut off the Midianites’ retreat
by holding against them ‘the waters as far as Beth-

and (also) the Jordan.’

The latter words

seem to be a gloss

the waters

By “the waters,: however, are really meant, not the
Jordan, but the streams emptying themselves into the
Jordan which the Midianites would have to pass.

Beth-

must have been situated somewhere in the

formed by one of these streams, and there are points in
the narrative which suggest locating it near the mouth
of the

W d d y

between which and the Jordan

Midianites would find

in a

(Moore).

BETH-BAS1

[Pesh.],

[Vet.

a fortified city in the desert

the

ruinous parts

of which Jonathan and

Simon repaired, when menaced

Bacchides

(I

Macc.

962

64).

The Syriac (see above cp Vet. Lat.) reads

Beth-yashan (cp J

ESHANAH

). This is probably correct

the corruptions can be easily accounted for. Jos.

( A n t .

calls the place Beth-alaga

e., Beth-hoglah),

which is too far from the MS readings, but may b e
a correct identification, though B

ETH

-

also

suggests itself. G.

A. Smith, however, thinks that the

second

6 in Beth-basi may be correct.

In

wilder-

ness of Judea,

E. of Tekoa, there is a

which name as it stands means “marsh,” an impossible

We. supposes

to be a

and

a con-

BETH-BAAL-MEON

13

temptuous

manner

&

&.

as

remarks,

So Albers, but not Di. or Bennett

SBOT.

Possibly it was early destroyed.

would account for the disparaging transformation

of

the

name

into Beth-aven (Kiehm,

1