Baal – Beer-Lahai-Roi

Baal

Lord,

1. In the Old Testament denotes an idol of the Phoenicians, and particularly of the Tyrians, whose worship was also introduced with great solemnities among the Hebrews, and especially at Samaria, along with that of Astarte, Judg 6:25-32; 2Ki 10:18,28. See ASHTORETH, plural ASH’TAROTH. The plural, Baalim, signifies images or statues of Baal, Judg 2:11; 10:10. Of the extent to which the worship of this idol was domesticated among the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, we have an evidence in the proper names of persons; as, among the former, Ethbaal, Jerubbaal; and among the latter, Hannibal, Asdrubal, etc. Among the Babylonians, the same idol was worshipped under the name of BEL, which is only another form of the word Baal, Isa 46:1; Jer 50:2; 51:44. The worship of Baal was established in Babylon in the famous tower of Babel, the uppermost room of which served at the same time as an observatory, and as the repository of a collection of astronomical observations.

That in the astronomical, or rather, astrological mythology of the East, we are to look for the origin of this worship in the adoration of the heavenly bodies, is conceded by all critics. The more common opinion has been, that Baal, or Bel, is the sun; and that, under this name, this luminary received divine honors. But the Greek and Roman writers give to the Babylonian Bel the name of Jupiter Belus, meaning the planet Jupiter, which was regarded, along with the planet Venus, as the guardian and giver of all good fortune; and formed, with Venus, the most fortunate of all constellations, under which alone fortunate sovereigns could be born. This planet, therefore, many suppose to have been the object of worship under the name of Baal, as also the planet Venus under that of Astarte. Not that the sun was not an object of idolatrous worship among these nations, but in that case he is represented under his own name; as 2Ki 23:11.

The temples and altars of Ball were generally on eminences. Manasseh placed in the two courts of the temple at Jerusalem altars to all the host of heaven, and in particular to Astarte, 2Ki 21:5,7. Jeremiah threatens the Jews who had sacrificed to Baal on the house-top, Jer 32:29; and Josiah destroyed the altars which Ahaz had erected on the terrace of his palace, 2Ki 23:12.

Human victims were offered to Baal, as they were also to the sun. Jeremiah reproaches the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem with "building the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal," Jer 19:5; an expression which appears to be decisive as to the actual slaying by fire of the unhappy victims to Baal. See MOLOCH.

The children of Israel were prone to serve Baal. See Nu 25:3; Judg 2:14; 3:7. Under Samuel they put away their idols, 1Sa 7:4. This continued under David and Solomon; but under Ahab, whose wife Jezebel was a daughter of the Zidonian king Ethbaal, the worship of Baal was restored with great pomp, 1Ki 16:31.

Joined with other words, Baal signifies also other false gods. Baal-Berith, or the "lord of the covenant," was a god of the Shechemites, Judg 8:33; 9:4. Baal-Peor, or "the lord of Peor," was a filthy idol of the Moabites, Nu 25:3, 5 Ho 9:10. Baal-Zebub, "lord of flies," was a god of the Philistines at Ekron. See BEELZEBUB.

2. The word BAAL also occurs in many compound names of places, not always having any reference to the idol.

Baal-Gad’

A city in the valley of Lebanon at the foot of Hermon; the northernmost point, to which the wars of Joshua reached, Jos 11:17; 12:7; 13:5. It was perhaps the same as Baal-Hermon. Some have supposed it was Baalbek; but this lay further north.

Baal-Hazor

Where Absalom kept his flocks, 2Sa 13:23, was near Ephraim, a city of Judah, some eight miles east of Jerusalem.

Baal-Meon

In Reuben beyond the Jordan, Nu 32:38; called also Bethmeon, Jer 48:23, and Beth-baal-meon, Jos 13:17. Its ruins are found two miles southeast of Heshbon. Eze 25:9, speaks of it as then a Moabitish town.

Baal-Perazim

Place of breaches, a name given by David to the scene of a battle with the Philistines, 2Sa 5:20; 1Ch 14:11; Isa 28:21. It was in the valley of Rephaim, not far southwest of Jerusalem.

Baal-Zephon

A town in Egypt, probably near the modern Suez. Its location is unknown, as are the details of the route of the Hebrews on leaving Egypt. They encamped "over against" and "before" Baal-zephon before crossing the Red Sea. Ex 14:2; Nu 33:7.

Baalah

A town in the tribe of Simeon, Jos 15:29; 19:3; called also Bilhah, 1Ch 4:29. The same as Kirjathjearim.

Baalath

A town in the tribe of God, Jos 19:44. This lay not far from Bethhoron. It is uncertain whether it is the same as the Baalath rebuilt by Solomon, 1Ki 9:18; 2Ch 8:6.

Baalis

King of the Ammonites in the time of the captivity. He caused the assassination of Gedaliah, then governor of Judah, Jer 40:14; 41:1- 10.

Baanah And Rechab

Sons of Rimmon, in the services of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul. Thinking to obtain a reward from David, they secretly slew their master while reposing at noon, and carried his head to David at Hebron. They suffered, however, the punishment suitable for those whose "feet are swift to shed blood," 2Sa 4:1-12.

Baasha

Son of Ahijah, and commander of the armies of Nadab, king of Israel. He killed his master treacherously at the siege of Gibbethon, and usurped the kingdom, B.C. 953, which he possessed twenty-three years. He exterminated the whole race of Jeroboam, as had been predicted, 1Ki 14:7-14; but by his bad conduct and idolatry incurred God’s indignation,

1Ki 15:1-16:7,12. God sent him a warning by the mouth of Jebu the prophet; which was fulfilled in the extermination of his family two years after his own death.

Babel

Confusion, the name of a lofty tower, begun to be built by the descendants of Noah among who Nimrod was a leader, about one hundred and twenty years after the flood; so called because God there confounded the language of those who were employed in the undertaking, Ge 10:10; 11:9. Their object in building the city and tower, was to concentrate the population and the dominion at that spot; and as this was contrary to the divine purpose of replenishing the earth with inhabitants, and betrayed an ungodly and perhaps idolatrous disposition, God frustrated their designs by miraculously giving to different portions of the people different languages, or different modes of pronunciation and divergent dialects of the original language of man, thus causing them to disperse over the globe. Compare Ac 2:1-11. The tower was apparently left incomplete, but the foundation of the city was probably laid, and a portion no doubt of the builders continued to dwell there. The place became afterwards the celebrated city of Babylon. It has been supposed that the tower of Babel was afterwards finished, and called the tower of Belus, within the city of Babylon. Herodotus visited this tower, and describes it as a square pyramid, measuring half a mile in circumference at the base; from this rose eight towers one above another gradually decreasing in the summit, which was reached by a broad road winding up around the outside. This tower was used for astronomical purposes, but was chiefly devoted to the worship of Bel, whose temple contained immense treasures, including several statues of massive gold, one of which was forty feet in height. Here were deposited the sacred golden vessels brought from Jerusalem. 2Ch 36:7; Jer 51:44. Its ruins are supposed to be the present Birs Nimroud, six miles south-west of Hilleh, the modern Babylon: an immense mound of coarse sun-dried bricks, laid with bitumen. It is a ruinous heap, shattered by violence, furrowed by storms, and strewn with fragments of brick, pottery, etc., fused and vitrified by some intense heat. It is 190 feet high, and on the top rises an irregular tower 90 feet in circumference and 35 feet high, built of the fine brick-with which the whole mound appears to have been faced. The tower is rent asunder and mutilated at the top, and scathed as if by lightning-a monument, some have thought, of the just wrath of God. See NEBUCHADNEZZAR.

Babylon

1. A celebrated city situated on the Euphrates, the original foundation of which is described under the word Babel. Wit this coincide many ancient traditions, while some speak of Semiramis as the founder, and others of Nebuchadnezzar. These accounts may all be reconciled, by supposing that Semiramis rebuilt the ancient city, and the Nebuchadnezzar. These accounts may all be reconciled, by supposing that Semiramis rebuilt the ancient city, and that Nebuchadnezzar afterwards greatly enlarged and adorned it.

Babylon lay in a vast and fertile plain watered by the Euphrates, with flowed through the city. Its walls are described as 60 miles in circumference, 300 feet high, and 75 feet wide, Jer 51:44- 58. A deep trench ran parallel with the walls. In each of the four sides were 25 brazen gates, from which roads crossed to the opposite gates. On the squares thus formed countless houses and gardens were made. Nebuchadnezzar’s palace was in an inclosure six miles in circumference. Within this were also "the hanging gardens," an immense artificial mound 400 feet high, sustained by archers upon arches, terraced off for trees and flowers, the water for which was drawn from the river by machinery concealed in the mound, Da 4:29,30.

Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon reached the summit of her greatness and splendor. She was renowned for learning especially in astronomy, and for skill in various arts, as the making of carpets and cloths, of perfumes, jewelry, etc. Her location gave her to a great extent the control of the traffic, by the Euphrates and by caravans, between Central Asia and Arabia and Egypt. She was "a city of merchants," Isa 43:14; Eze 17:4; and into her lap flowed, either through conquest or commerce, the wealth of almost all known lands. Justly therefore might the prophets call her "the great," Da 4:20; "the praise of the whole earth," Jer 51:41; "the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency," Isa 13:19; "the lady of kingdoms," Isa 47:5; but also "the tender and delicate," and "given to pleasures," Isa 47:1,8. In consequence of the opulence and luxury of the inhabitants, corruptness and licentiousness of manners and morals were carried to a frightful extreme. Bel, Nebo, Nergal, Merodach, Succoth-benoth, and other idols, were there worshipped with rites in which impurity was made a matter of religion. Well might we expect Jehovah to bring down vengeance on her crimes. Indeed, the woes denounced against Babylon by the prophets constitute some of the most awfully splendid and sublime portions of the whole Bible, Isa 13:1-22; 14:22; 21:9; 47:1-15; Jer 25:1-38; 50:1-46; 51:1-64, etc.

The city did not long remain the capital of the world. Under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. Nabonnidus, the Belshazzar of the Scriptures, it was besieged and taken by Cyrus. The accounts of Greek historians harmonize here with that of the Bible: that Cyrus made his successful assault on a night when the whole city, relying on the strength of the walls, had given themselves up to the riot and debauchery of a grand public festival, and the king and his nobles were reveling at a splendid entertainment. Cyrus had previously caused a canal, which ran west of the city, and carried off the superfluous water of the Euphrates into the lake of Nitocris, to be cleared out, in order to turn the river into it; which, by this means, was rendered so shallow, that his soldiers were able to penetrate along its bed into the city, Da 5:1-31. 538 B.C. From this time its importance declined, for Cyrus made Susa the capital of his kingdom. It revolted against Darius Hystapis, who again subdued it, broke down all its gates, and reduced its walls to the height of fifty cubits. According to Strabo, Xerxes destroyed the tower of Belus. Under the Persians, and under Alexander’s successors, Babylon continued to decline, especially after Seleucus Nicator had founded Selencia, and made it his residence. A great portion of the inhabitants of Babylon removed thither; and in Strabo’s time, that is, under Augustus Babylon had become so desolate, that it might be called a vast desert. There was a town on its site until the fourth century, and many Jews dwelt there, 1Pe 5:13. But from this time onward, Babylon ceases almost to be mentioned; even its ruins have not been discovered until within the last two centuries; and it is only within the present century that these ruins have been traced and described. These consist of numerous mounds, usually of brick, deeply furrowed and decayed by time, strewn with fragments of brick, bitumen, pottery, etc. One of these is described above. See BABEL. Another, four miles northwest of Hilleh, and called by the natives Kasr, is thought to mark the site of the hanging gardens. These ruins are 2,400 feet long, and 1,800 broad. Another near by, called Mujellibah, is of similar dimensions. From these mounds thousands of bricks have been dug, bearing arrow-headed inscriptions as ancient as the time of Nebuchadnezzar, whose name often occurs. The aspect of the whole region is dreary and forlorn. It is infested by noxious animals, and perhaps in no place under heaven is the contrast between ancient magnificence and present desolation greater than here. The awful prophecy of Isaiah, uttered more than a century before, has been most literally fulfilled, Isa 13:14.

The name of Babylon is used symbolically in Re 14:8; 16:1-21; 17:1-18; 18:1-24, to mark the idolatry, superstition, lewdness luxury, and persecution of the people of God, which characterized heathen Rome and modern Antichrist. Some thus interpret 1Pe 5:13 2. There was also a Babylon in Egypt, a city not far from Heliopolis. Some suppose this to be the Babylon mentioned 1Pe 5:13; but this is not probable.

Babylonia

The province of which Babylon was the capital; now the Babylonian or Arabian Irak, which constitutes the pashalic of Bagdad. This celebrated province included the track of country lying on the river Euphrates, bounded north by Mesopotamia and Assyria and south by the Persian Gulf. This gulf was indeed its only definite and natural boundary; for towards the north, towards the east or Persia, and towards the west or desert Arabia, its limits were quite indefinite. Bot in ancient and modern times, Important tracts on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and on the western ban of the Euphrates, and still more on both banks of their united streams, were reckoned to Babylonia, or Irak el-Arab.

The most ancient name of the country is Shimar, Ge 10:10; Da 1:2. Afterwards Babel, Babylon, and Babylonia became its common appellation with which at a later period, Chaldea, or the land of the Chaldeans, was used as synonymous, after this people had got the whole into their possession.

Babylonia is an extensive plain, interrupted by no hill or mountain, consisting of a fatty, brownish soil, and subject to the annual inundations of the Tigris and Euphrates, more especially of the latter, whose banks are lower than those of the Tigris. The Euphrates commonly rises about twelve feet above its ordinary level, and continues at this height from the end of April tell June. These inundations of course compelled the earliest tillers of the soil to provide means for drawing off the superabundant water, and so distributing it over the whole surface, that those tracts which were in themselves less watered might receive the requisite irrigation. From this cause, the whole of Babylonia came to be divided up by a multitude of larger and smaller canals; in part passing entirely through from one river to the other; in part also losing themselves in the interior, and serving only the purposes of irrigation. These canals seem to be the "rivers of Babylon" spoken of in Ps 137:1. Besides this multitude of canals, which have long since vanished without trace, Babylonia contained several large lakes, partly the work of art and partly formed by the inundations of the two rivers. Babylonia, therefore, was a land abounding in water; and Jeremiah might therefore well say of it, that it "dwelt upon many waters," Jer 51:13.

The Babylonians belonged to the Shemitic branch of the descendants of Noah, and their language had an affinity with the Arabic and Hebrew, nearly resembling what is now called Chaldee. The Babylonian empire was founded by Nimrod twenty centuries before Christ, and then embraced the cities Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, Ge 10:10. After the building of Nineveh by Ninus, 1237 B.C., that city became the seat of power and continued so until about 606 B.C., when the Assyrian empire gave way to the Chaldean, and Babylon reached its highest point in fame and power. Upon the return of the Jews from captivity, many still remained in Babylonia, and to their posterity the gospel was early conveyed. Peter is supposed by many to have written his first epistle there, 1Pe 5:13. The Jews had thriving synagogues in Babylonia, and one of their Talmuds was there composed. See CHALDEANS.

Baca

Tears, or weeping, Ps 84:6. It is not necessary to understand here that there was really a valley so called. The psalmist, at a distance from Jerusalem, is speaking of the happiness of those who are permitted to make the usual pilgrimages to that city in order to worship Jehovah in the temple: they love the ways which lead thither; yea, though they must pass through rough and dreary paths, even a vale of tears, yet such are their hope and joy of heart, that all this is to them as a well-watered country, a land crowned with the blessings of early rain.

Badger

A small inoffensive animal, of the bear genus, which remains torpid all winter. It is an inhabitant of cold countries, and is not found in Palestine. Hence many think the "badgers’ skins" mentioned Ex 25:5; 26:14; Eze 16:10, and elsewhere, as being used for covering the tabernacle and for shoes, were the skins not of this animal, but of a species of seal found in the Red Sea. Burckhardt remarks that he "saw parts of the skin of a large fish, killed on the coast, which was an inch in thickness, and is employed by the Arabs instead of leather for sandals." Others think it was an animal of the antelope species, the skins of which the Jews had obtained in Egypt.

Bag

De 25:13; Lu 12:33. Eastern money was often sealed up in bags containing a certain sum, for which they passed current while the seal remained unbroken, 2Ki 12:10.

Bahurim

A town of Benjamin, near Jerusalem, on the road to the Jordan. It is several times mentioned in the history of David, 2Sa 3:16; 16:5; 17:18.

Bajith

The site of a temple in Moab, where the king offered vain supplications against the Assyrians, Isa 15:2.

Balaam

A celebrated diviner, of the city Pethor, on the Euphrates, Nu 22:5. Balak, king of Moab, having seen the multitudes of Israel, and fearing they would attack his country, sent for Balaam, who was famous for his supposed supernatural powers, to come and curse them. Balaam, though eager for gain, was led to ask counsel of God, who forbade his going. Balak afterwards sent other deputies, whom Balaam finally accompanied without the approval of God, who sent an angel to meet and warn him in the way. Here occurred the miracle of Balaam’s ass, Nu 22:22,35. But instead of cursing, he was constrained by the Spirit of God to bless the children of Israel. This he did a second and a third time, to the extreme mortification of Balak, who dismissed him in great anger. Balaam subsequently foretold what Israel should in future times do to the nations round about; and after having advised Balak to engage Israel in idolatry and whoredom, that they might offend God and be forsaken by him, quitted his territories for his own land. This bad counsel was pursued; the young women of Moab inveigled the Hebrews to the impure and idolatrous worship of Baal-Peor, for which 24,000 Israelites were slain, Nu 25:1-9; 31:16; 2Pe 2:15; Jude 1:11; Re 2:14.

Balaam was probably a descendant of Shem, and possessed many just ideas of the true God. He calls Him "the Lord my God," Nu 22:18; and yet he seems to have been only an enchanter and false prophet, like many in the times of the kings of Israel, until he came in collision with the people of God. In this transaction he was made a bearer, against his own will, of the sublime messages of Jehovah; yet his heart remained unchanged, and he did not "the death of the righteous," Nu 31:8; Jos 13:22.

Balak

King of Moab, when the Israelites were drawing near the promised land. He was filled with terror lest they should attack and destroy him, as they had Sihon and Og, and implored the soothsayer Balaam to come and curse them. His fears and his devices were both in vain, De 2:9. See BALAAM. He found he had nothing to fear from Israel if at peace with them, and nothing to hope if at war with them.

Baldness (Natural Or Artificial)

It was customary among eastern nations to cut off the hair of the head, or to shave the head, as a token of mourning, on the death of a relative, Job 1:20; Jer 16:6. This was forbidden to the Israelites, in consequence of its being a heathen custom, De 14:1. Natural baldness was treated with contempt, because it exposed a man to the suspicion of leprosy. The children at Bethel cried after Elisha, "Go up, thou bald head," 2Ki 2:23. While they indicated by this epithet great contempt for him as a prophet of the Lord, they probably scoffed at the same time at the miracle of Elijah’s ascension.

Balm, Or More Properly, Balsam

The gum or inspissated juice which exudes from the balsam-tree, the Opobalsamum, which was anciently frequent in Judea, and particularly in Gilead, Jer 8:22; 46:11. It was reckoned very valuable in the cure of external wounds. The true balsam-tree is an evergreen, a native of Southern Arabia and Abyssinia, and is about fourteen feet high. It yields its gum in very small quantities. At the present day, this is collected chiefly in Arabia, between Mecca and Medina, and is therefore sometimes called the balm of Mecca. Its odor is exquisitely fragrant and pungent. It is very costly, and is still in the highest esteem among the Turks and other oriental nations, both as a medicine and as a cosmetic for beautifying the complexion, Ge 37:25; Jer 51:8; Eze 27:17.

Bamah, Plural Bamoth

High places, Eze 20:29. Bamoth-baal was a station of the Hebrews, in the border of Moab, Nu 21:20; 22:41; afterwards assigned to the tribe of Reuben, Jos 13:17. Baal was worshipped there, and it was perhaps the "high places" referred to in Isa 15:2. See HIGH PLACES.

Baptism

The holy ordinance by which persons are admitted as members of the Christian community. It is administered in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and is a visible and public profession of faith in Christ and his salvation, of vital union with him, of the obligation to live a new life according to his precepts and in his service, and of the expectation of sharing in his glorious and heavenly immortality. It is not by any means to be regarded as a regenerating ordinance, though significant of regeneration. It was established in the Christian church by Christ and his apostles, and is binding on his followers to the end of time. The use of water in this ordinance is grounded in part on its qualities as the great element of purification, and on the rites of the ancient dispensation, in which "water and blood: were the divinely appointed symbols of moral renovation and atonement.

Baptism With The Holy Ghost And With Fire

Mt 3:11; Lu 3:16. Christ is speaking in these places of the wheat and the chaff-the men who receive him and those who reject him. The former class shall be abundantly endued with the teachings and consolations of the Holy Spirit, but "the chaff-he will burn with fire unquenchable." Many here understand "fire" in the widest sense of purification: the purification of Christ’s people by the destruction of the ungodly from among them, and their purification from sin by the discipline to which he subjects them. "He shall sit as a refiner’s fire."

Bar-Jesus

See ELYMAS.

Barabbas

A noted robber in Christ’s time, who was imprisoned and awaiting death for the crimes of sedition and murder. It was a custom of the Roman government, for the sake of conciliating the Jews, to release one Jewish prisoner, whom they might choose, at the yearly Passover. Pilate desired thus to release Jesus, but the Jews demanded Barabbas, Mt 27:16-26.

Barak

The son of Abinoam, of Kedesh in the tribe of Naphtali. God summoned him, by means of Deborah the prophetess, to release Israel from the yoke of Jabin king of Canaan. Having first secured the attendance of the prophetess, he gathered 10,000 men, and stationed them on Mount Tabor, perhaps to avoid the enemies’ 900 chariots of iron, Judg 4:3. God fought for Israel in the battle, which ensued, and the song of Deborah and Barak, Judg 5:1-31 chronicles their victory. The name of Barak is enrolled among those illustrious for faith, Heb 12:29.

Barbarian

According to the Greek idiom, all other nations, however learned and polite they might be, were "barbarians." Hence Paul comprehends all mankind under the names of "Greeks and barbarians," Ro 1:14. Luke calls the inhabitants of the island of Malta, "barbarians," Ac 28:2,4. Indeed, "barbarian" is used in Scripture for every stranger or foreigner who does not speak the native language of the writer, Ps 114:1, and includes no implication whatever of savage nature or manners in those respecting whom it is used.

Barley

Sown in Palestine in autumn, and reaped in the spring, that is, at the Passover. The Hebrews frequently used barley bread, 2Sa 1:27; 2Ki 4:42; Joh 6:9. Barley also was much used as food for cattle, 1Ki 4:28.

Barnabas

Son of consolation, or JOSES, a disciple of Jesus, and a companion of the apostle Paul. He was a Levite, and a native of the isle of Cyprus, and is said to have sold all his property, and laid the price of it at the apostles’ feet, Ac 4:36,37. When Paul came to Jerusalem, three years after his conversion, about A. D. 38, Barnabas introduced him to the other apostles, Ac 9:26,27. Five years afterwards, the church at Jerusalem, being informed of the progress of the gospel at Antioch, sent Barnabas thither, who beheld with great joy the wonders of the grace of God, Ac 11:20-24. He afterwards went to Tarsus, to seek Paul and bring him to Antioch, where they dwelt together two years, and great numbers were converted. They left Antioch A. D. 45, to convey alms from this church to that at Jerusalem, and soon returned, bringing with them John Mark, Ac 11:28-30; 12:25. While they were at Antioch, the holy Ghost directed that they should be set apart for those labors to which he had appointed them, the planting of new churches among the Gentiles. They visited Cyprus and some cities of Asia Minor, Ac 13:2-14, and after three years returned to Antioch. In A. D. 50, he and Paul were appointed delegates from the Syrian churches to consult the apostles and elders at Jerusalem respecting certain questions raised by Jewish zealots; and having obtained the judgment of the brethren at Jerusalem, they returned with it, accompanied by Silas and Barnabas. At Antioch he was led into dissimulation by Peter, and was, in consequence, reproved by Paul. While preparing for a second missionary tour, Paul and Barnabas having a dispute relative to Mark, Barnabas’ nephew, they separated, Paul going to Asia, and Barnabas with Mark to Cyprus, Ac 13:1-15; Ga 2:13. Nothing is known of his subsequent history. There is a spurious gospel, but evidently written by some other hand. The name of Barnabas stands high in the annals of the early church. When he gave all his estates to Christ, he gave himself also, as his life of generous self-devotion and missionary toil clearly shows. He was a beloved fellow-laborer with Paul, somewhat as Melancthon was with Luther, and a true "son of consolation" to the church.

Barrenness

An affliction peculiarly lamented throughout the East, Ge 16:1; 30:1-23; 1Sa 1:6,19; Isa 47:9; 49:21; Lu 1:25, especially by the Jewish women, who remembered the promised Messiah, Ge 3:15, and hoped for the honor of his parentage. The strength of this feeling is evinced by the extraordinary and often unjustifiable measures it led them to adopt, Ge 16:2; 19:31; 38:14; De 25:5-10. Professed Christians are charged with barrenness, if they are destitute of the fruits of the Spirit, and do not abound in good works, Lu 13:6-9; 2Pe 1:8.

Barsabas

1. Joseph Barsabas, surnamed The Just, was one of Christ’s early disciples, and probably among the seventy. He was on of the two candidates nominated to fill the vacancy left by Judas Iscariot in the apostleship, Ac 1:1-26.

2. Judas Barsabas was "a prophet" and a distinguished member of the Jerusalem church. He was deputed, with Silas, to accompany Paul and Barnabas in a mission of importance to the Gentile converts in the Syrian churches, Ac 15:22-23.

Bartholomew

One of the twelve apostles, Mt 10:3; Mr 3:18; Lu 6:14; Ac 1:13. He is named in connection with Philip, and seems to have been the same person, whom John calls Nathanael, Joh 1:45-51, and mentions among the other apostles, Joh 21:2. Nathanael may have been his real name, and Bar-tholomew, that is, son of Tolmai, his patronymic and best-known name. See APOSTLE and NATHANAEL.

Bartimeus

Son of Timeus, a blind man, to whom Christ gave sight, by the wayside near Jericho, Mt 20.29-34; Mr 10.46-52; Lu 18.35-43. There were two healed, according to Matthew; but Mark and Luke only mention Bartimeus, who bore his father’s name, as though of a well known family. There is an apparent disagreement as to the time of the occurrence, which has led some to suppose there were two causes at different times, one as Christ entered Jericho and the other as he left it. We may rather suppose that Bartimeus heard the approach of Christ, Lu 18:35, and learned who he was on the first day; and encouraged by the mercy of the Savior to Zaccheus, and being joined by another blind man, called to him for help as he again passed by on his way to Jerusalem. The touching narrative of his steadfast faith, and Christ’s ready compassion, should encourage all to go boldly unto Jesus.

Baruch

1. The son of Neriah, of a distinguished family in the tribe of Judah. He was the faithful friend of Jeremiah. About 605 B. C. he wrote down, from the lips of Jeremiah, all the divine messages to that prophet, and subsequently read them to the people, and again to certain princes. These last took the book, and soon made known its contents to king Jehoiakim, who impiously destroyed it. Baruch wrote it down a second time as before, with some additions, Jer 36:1- 32.

He is supposed by some to have accompanied his brother Seraiah to Babylon, with the predictions of Jeremiah respecting that city, Jer 51:59-64. He afterwards shared the persecution of the prophet, was imprisoned with him, and forced to go to Egypt with the rebellious Jews, Jer 43:1-13. After the death of Jeremiah, the rabbins say, he returned to Babylon. An apocryphal book is ascribed to him.

2. Another Baruch is mentioned among the friends of Nehemiah, Ne 3:20; 10:6; 11:5.

Barzillai

1. Of Meholah in Simeon; father of Adriel, who married Merab, the daughter of Saul, 1Sa 18:19; 2Sa 21:8

2. An aged and wealthy Gileadite, a friend of David when he was in exile during Absalom’s rebellion. He sent a liberal supply of provisions, beds, and other conveniences for the use of the king’s followers, 2Sa 17:27; 19:32. On David’s return, Barzillai accompanied him as far as Jordan, but declined, in consequence of his great age, to proceed to Jerusalem, and receive the favors the king had intended for him. David, in his final charge to Solomon, enjoined upon him to show kindness to Barzillai’s family, and to make them members of the royal household, 1Ki 2:7

3. A priest who married a daughter of the above, Ezr 2:61; Ne 7:63.

Bashan

Fat, fruitful, Nu 21:33, a rich hilly district lying east of the Jordan, and between the mountains of Hermon on the north, and those of Gilead and Ammon on the south. The country takes its name from its soft and sandy soil. It is celebrated in Scripture for its rich pasturage: "Rams, of the breed of Bashan," De 32:14; "Rams, bulls, goats, all of them fatlings of Bashan," Eze 39:18. The oaks of Bashan are mentioned in connection with the cedars of Lebanon, Isa 2:13. Modern travelers describe the country as still abounding with verdant and fertile meadows, valleys traversed by refreshing streams, hills crowned with forests, and pastures offering an abundance to the flocks that wander through them. In the time of Joshua, Argob, one of its chief districts, contained sixty walled towns, De 4:43; Jos 20:8; 21:27. Bashan was assigned, after the conquest of Og and his people, Jos 12:4, to the half tribe of Manasseh. David drew supplies from this region, 1Ki 4:13. It was conquered by Hazael, but Joash recovered it, 2Ki 10:33; 13:25. From Bashan came the Greek name Batanaea, in modern Arabic El-Bottein. But this latter only included its southern part. The ancient Bashan covered the Roman provinces named Gaulonitis, trachonitis, Auranitis, Batanaea, and Ituraea.

Bath, Or Ephah

A Hebrew measure, containing seven gallons, four pints, liquid measure; or three pecks, three pecks, three pints, dry measure.

Bath-Sheba

The wife of Uriah, and probably granddaughter of Atithophel which see. David first committed adultery with her, then caused her husband to be slain, and afterwards took her to wife. These sins displeased Jehovah, who sent the prophet Nathan to David, with the parable of the ewe lamb, 2Sa 12:1. David bitterly repented, but was yet punished, 2Sa 11:12. Bath-sheba was the mother of Solomon, whose succession to the throne she took pains to secure, 1Ki 1:15. She is afterwards mentioned in the history of Adonijah, 1Ki 2:13, in the title of Ps 51:1, and among the ancestors of Christ, Mt 1:6.

Battering-Ram

A military engine for battering walls. A long and solid beam, armed at one end with a metallic ram’s-head, was suspended by the middle, and swung violently and repeatedly against the walls of a city or castle, till a breach was made. It was sometimes in the lower part of a wooden tower built upon wheels, and was worked by more than a hundred men; while the upper part of the tower was filled with archers and slingers, Eze 4:2; 21:22.

Battlement

A balustrade around the roofs of ancient houses, which were flat, and were much, resorted to for fresh air, amusement, or retirement by day and for sleep at night. The Mosaic law required a battlement for each house, De 22:8.

Bay-Tree

The bay tree is the Laurel of North America and the south of Europe; an evergreen tree, a wreath from which has been from time immemorial the symbolical crown of poets and warriors. The word rendered "bay- tree" in Ps 37:35, seems to mean simply a native, green and vigorous.

Bdellium

Commonly supposed to mean the aromatic gum of a tree growing near the Persian gulf, etc. It is transparent, and bitter to the taste, yet very fragrant while burning. But the substance so called, whatever is was, is mentioned in connection with gold and gems; while gum is certainly not so remarkable a gift of nature as to deserve this classification, or as that the production of it should confer on Havilah a peculiar celebrity, Ge 2:12. Hence the opinion of the Jewish writers is not to be contemned, namely, that pearls are to be here understood, of which great quantities are found on the shores of the Persian gulf and in India, and which might not inaptly be compared with manna, as in Nu 11:7.

Bear

That bears were common in Palestine appears from several passages in the Old Testament, 1Sa 17:34,36,37; 2Sa 17:8; 2Ki 2:24. The species known in Syria resembles the common brown bear; it is sill met in the recesses of Lebanon. To a sullen and ferocious disposition, the bear joins immense strength, considerable sagacity, and the power of climbing trees. Her ferocity, especially when her young are injured, is proverbial. See 2Sa 17:8; Pr 17:12; Isa 11:7; Ho 13:8.

Beard

The Hebrews regarded a thin, scanty beard as a great deformity; while a long, full, flowing beard was esteemed the noblest ornament of personal beauty and dignity. A man’s honor was lodged, as it were, his beard. To insult it by word or act was the grossest indignity; to take it respectfully in the right hand and kiss it, was a mode of expressing high esteem and love permitted only to the nearest friends. It was cherished with great care, Ps 133:2; Da 10:3. To neglect, tear, or cut it, indicated the deepest grief, Ezr 9:3; Isa 15:2; Jer 41:5; 48:37; while to be deprived of it was a mark of servility and infamy. Many would prefer death to such a mutilation. These facts explain many passages of Scripture: as the gross insult offered to David’s ambassadors, 2Sa 10:4-14; the zealous indignation of Nehemiah, Ne 13:25; the mode in which the feigned insanity of David was expressed, 1Sa 21:12, and the grief of Mephibosheth, 1Sa 19:24; the treachery of Judas; also several passages in the prophets, Isa 7:20; 50:6; Eze 5:1-5.

Beasts

This word, used in contradistinction to man, denotes all animals besides, Ps 36:6, sometimes it means quadrupeds, and not creeping things, Le 11:2-7; and sometimes domestic cattle, in distinction from wild creatures, Ge 1:25. They were all brought to Adam to be named. Few are mentioned in the Bible but such as lived in Palestine and the countries adjacent. Beasts suffer with man under the penalties of the fall, Ge 3:14; Ex 9:6; 3:15; Eze 38:20; Ho 4:3. Yet various merciful provision for them were made in the Jewish law, Ex 20:10; 23:11,12; Le 22:28; 25:7. Animals were classed in the law as clean or unclean, with a primary reference to animal sacrifices, Ge 7:2; Le 11:1-47 The word beasts is figuratively used to symbolize various kings and nations, Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1; Eze 29:3; Da 7:1-28,8; Re 12:13. It also describes the character of violent and brutal men, Ps 22:12,16; 1Co 15:32; 2Pe 2:12. The Hebrew word commonly rendered beast signifies living creatures. In Ezekiel’s vision, Eze 1:1-28, this is applied to human beings or their symbols. In the book of Revelation two distinct words are employed symbolically, both rendered "beast" in our version. One is applied to persecuting earthly powers, Re 11:7; 13:1, etc.; the other to superhuman beings or their symbols, Re 4:6, etc. this latter might be appropriately rendered, "living creature," as the corresponding Hebrew word is in Ezekiel.

Bed

In the East, is, and was anciently, a divan, or broad low step around the sides of a room, like a sofa, which answered to purpose of a sofa by day for reclining, and of a bed by night for sleeping, Ex 8:3; 2Sa 4:5-7. Sometimes it was raised several steps above the floor, 2Ki 1:4; Ps 132:4. It was covered very differently, and with more or less ornament, according to the rank of owner of the house. The poor had but a simple mattress or sheepskin; or a cloak or blanked, which also answered to wrap themselves in by day, Ex 22:2; De 24:13. Hence it was easy for the persons whom Jesus healed, to take up their beads and walk, Mr 4:21. Bedsteads, however, were not unknown, though unlike those of modern times. See De 3:11; 1Sa 19:15; Am 6:4. The Jews only laid off their sandals and outer garments at night.

Beelzebub

"the prince of the devils," Mt 12:24. This name is derived from Baal-zebub, an idol deity among the Ekronites, signifying lord of flies, fly-baal, fly-god, whose office was to protect his worshippers from the torment of the gnats and flies with which that region was infested, 2Ki 1:2,3,16. It is also sometimes written Beel- sebul, which signifies probably the dung-god. The Jews seem to have applied this appellation to Satan, as being the author of all the pollutions and abominations of idol-worship.

Beer

A well,

1. A station of the Hebrews in Moab, where God gave them water, Nu 21:16-18; Isa 15:8.

2. A town in Judah, according to Eusebius and Jerome a few miles west of Jerusalem, near Beth-shemesh. Jotham took refuge there from his brother Abimelech, Judg 9:21.

Beer-Lahai-Roi

Wells of him living, and seeing me, on the southwest border of Canaan, where Hagar was visited by an angel, Ge 16:14.