Boar – Buz

Boar

The wild boar is considered as the parent stock of the common hog. He is a furious and formidable animal. The tusks are larger and stronger than in the tame herds, the color is iron-grey, inclining to black. His snout is long, and his ears are short. At present wild boars frequent the marshes around the upper Jordan, and have been found on Mount Carmel, and in large herds near the sea of Tiberias. They were frequent in the time of the Crusades. Richard Coeur de Lion encountered one, ran him through with a lace, and while the animal was still endeavoring to gore his horse, leaped over him, and slew him with his sword. The destructive ravages of the animal are referred to in Ps 80:13.

Boaz

Ru 2:1, a wealthy Bethlehemite, a descendant of Judah, through whom is traced the regular succession of Jewish kings, Mt 1:5. His conduct in the case of Ruth proves him to have been a man of fine spirit and of strict integrity. He admitted the claim which Ruth had upon him as a near kinsman: under the obligations of the Levitical law, he married the poor gleaner, and thus became one of the ancestors of David, and also of David’s Son and Lord. He was the father of Obed, Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse of David. The whole narrative is a beautiful picture of the simplicity of the age, when artificial courtesies had not usurped the place of natural and sincere expressions of love.

Boaz was also the name of one of the two brazen pillars which Solomon erected in the porch of the temple, the other being called JACHIN. These columns were about thirty-five feet high, 1Ki 7:15,16,21.

Bochim

Weepings, a place near Gilgal, where the angel of the Lord reproved Israel for their remissness, Judg 2:1-5.

Book

Several sorts of materials were anciently used in making books. Plates of lead or copper, the bark of trees, brick, stone, and wood, were originally employed to engrave such things and documents upon as men desired to transmit to posterity, De 27:2,3; Job 19:23,24. God’s laws were written on stone tablets. Inscriptions were also made on tiles and bricks, which were afterwards hardened by fire. Many of these are found in the ruins of Babylon. Tablets of wood, box, and ivory were common among the ancients: when they were of wood only, they were oftentimes coated over with wax, which received the writing inscribed on them with the point of a style, or iron pen, Jer 17:13; and what was written might be effaced by the broad end of a style, Lu 1:63. Afterwards, the leaves of the palm-tree were used instead of wooden tablets, and also the finest and thinnest bark of trees, such as the lime, the ash, the maple, the elm: hence the word liber, which denotes the inner bark of trees, signifies also a book. As these barks were rolled up, to be more readily carried about, the united rolls were called volumen, a volume; a name given likewise to rolls of paper or of parchment. The ancients wrote like-wise on linen. But the oldest material commonly employed for writing upon, appears to have been the papyrus, a reed very common in Egypt and other places, and still found in Sicily and Chaldea. From this comes our word paper. At a later period, parchment from skins was invented in Pergamos, and was there used for rolls or volumes. The pen for writing on these soft materials was a small brush, or a reed split at the end, Jer 36:23. The ink was prepared with lampblack coal of ivory, various gums, etc., and the writing was sometimes permanently fixed by fire. Scribes carried their inkhorns hanging to their girdles, Eze 9:2. The making of paper from linen in its modern form was first known in Europe about A. D. 1300. The art of printing was introduced about one hundred and fifty years later.

An ancient book therefore had the appearance of a thick roll of some paper-like substance, written usually in parallel columns on one side only, and read by gradually unrolling it by means of two small rollers, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the volume. A roll was sometimes sealed, being first tied or wrapped about with a cord, on which the wax was dropped, and stamped by a signet, Isa 29:11; Re 5:1-3.

The writing was practiced very early, may be inferred from allusions to the art in Ge 5:1; Ex 17:14; Job 9:25; 19:23; 31:5. The Egyptians were accustomed to it from the earliest ages.

Ancient writers, instead of writing their books, etc., with their own hand, often employed amanuenses. St. Paul notes it as a particular circumstance, in the epistle to the Galatians, that he had written it with his own hand, Ga 6:11. To other letters he only affixed his salutation with his own hand, 1Co 16:21; Col 4:18; 2Th 3:17. The amanuensis who wrote the epistle to the Romans, has mentioned himself at the close, Ro 16:22. See LETTER.

Book of the Generation, is used in Ge 5:1; Mt 1:1, in the sense of a genealogical record. See GENERATION.

Book of the Wars of the Lord, Nu 21:14, was probably a sort of military journal, formed of detached odes.

The Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah and Israel were apparently public journals, 1Ki 14:19,29.

The Book of Jasher, 2Sa 1:18, may perhaps have been a collection of national ballads, one of the forms most used for perpetuating the history of ancient times.

The Books of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah and Israel were apparently public journals, 1Ki 14:19,29.

Book of Life, or of the Living, Ps 69:28. It is probable that these descriptive phrases are taken from the custom observed in the courts of princes, of keeping a list of persons who are in their service, of the provinces which they govern, of the officers of their armies, of the number of their troops, and sometimes even of the names of their soldiers. In the figurative style of oriental poetry, God is represented as inscribing the names, acts, and destinies of men in volumes; and the volume in which are thus entered the names of those who are chosen to salvation, is "the book of life," Php 4:3.

Booth

A shelter, made usually of poles fixed upright in the ground, and covered over with green boughs, Ge 33:17. The great feast of tabernacles, or booths, had its name from the circumstance that the Jews were directed by their law to dwell in booths during the seen days of this feast, Le 23:40-42; Ne 8:14.

Booty

Spoils taken in war were to be shared equally by those who fought and those who guarded the camp, Nu 31:27-32. The Lord’s portion was first deducted from the whole; and in after-times the king appropriated a large part to himself.

Bosom

The front of the upper part of the body, the breast. The orientals generally wore long wide, and loose garments; and when about to carry any thing away that their hands would not contain, they used for the purpose a fold in the bosom of their robe above the girdle, Lu 6:38. Our Savior is said to carry his lambs in his bosom, which beautifully represents his tender care and watchfulness over them, Isa 40:11.

Bosses

The thickest and strongest parts, the projecting points, of a shield. Job 15:26.

Bottle

The accompanying engraving shows the form and nature of an ancient goatskin bottle, out of which a water-carrier is offering to sell a draught of water. After the skin has been stripped off from an animal, and properly dressed, the places where the legs had been are closed up; and where the neck was, is the opening left for receiving and discharging the contents of the bottle. These were readily borne upon the shoulder, Ge 21:14. See also Jos 9:4,13; Ps 119:83; Jer 13:12.

By receiving the liquor poured into it, a skin bottle must be greatly swelled and distended; and still more, if the liquor be wine, by its fermentation while advancing to ripeness; so that if no vent be given to it, the liquor may overpower the strength of the bottle, or if it find any defect, it may ooze out by that. Hence the propriety of putting new wine into new bottles, which being in the prime of their strength, may resist the expansion of their contents, and preserve the wine to maturity; while old bottles may, without danger, contain old wine, whose fermentation is already past, Mt 9:17; Lu 5:38; Job 32:19.

Such bottles, or skins, are still universally employed in travelling in the East, as well as by the public water-carriers, and for domestic uses. They were made, for storage in wine cellars, of the hides of oxen or camels. But the smaller ones of goatskins were more generally used for water as well as wine. The ancients, however, were acquainted with the art of making earthenware, and had a variety of elegant small bottles and vases for toilet purposes, made of the precious metals, of stone, glass, porcelain, and alabaster, Jer 19:1,10,11. See CRUSE, VINE, TEARS.

Bow

A weapon much used in ancient times, both for hunting and for war. It was made of wood, horn, or steel, Ge 27:3; Ps 18:34; and the foot was sometimes used in bending it. It was carried in a case, when not used, Hab 3:19. The Benjamites were celebrated for their skill in the use of this weapon, 1Ch 12:2; 2Ch 14:8; 17:17. See ARMS. The phrase, "a deceitful bow," to which the people of Israel are compared, Ps 78:57; Ho 7:16, means an ill-made or twisted bow, which does not shoot the arrow as it is aimed. In 2Sa 1:18, we read. "Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow." Here the words, "the use of," are not in the Hebrew. The use of the bow in war had long been common among the Jews, Ge 48:22; and to "teach them the bow," is by some supposed to mean, teach them by some supposed to mean, teach them the song of THE BOW, the lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, which follows; so called from the mention of the weapon in Ge 48:22, as the first four books in the Bible take their title in Hebrew from the first word in each. See ARROW.

Bowels

Are often put by the Hebrew writers for the internal parts generally, the inner man, just as we often use the word heart. Hence the bowels are often represented as the seat of mercy, tenderness, compassion, etc., 1Ki 3:26; Isa 63:15; Jer 31:20; Col 3:12; 1Jo 3:17.

Box-Tree

A well-known beautiful evergreen, growing in many parts of Europe and Asia. Its wood is highly prized by engravers. The word employed in Isa 60:13, is thought by many to have been a species of cedar. It is used as an emblem of the abiding grace and prosperity of the church of God.

Bozrah

Ge 36:33, a city of Edom, Isa 34:6; 63:1, and the region around it, Jer 49:13,22. It is associated with Terman, and with the Red sea, Jer 49:20-22; Am 1:12. Its site is found in the modern El-Busaireh, midway between Kir Moab and Mount Hor, south by east of the Dead sea. This is a village of about fifty houses, on a hill crowned by a small castle. The ruins are those of a considerable city. Bozrah of Moab, Jer 48:24, may be the same place with this, or perhaps with Bezer.

Bracelet

Properly an ornament for the wrist, or for the arm above or below the elbow; but sometimes used also in the Bible to signify an ornament worn of the leg, Nu 31:50; Isa 3:19. Armlets were worn by men, sometimes as a badge of royalty, 2Sa 1:10. Bracelets were of great variety of materials and forms; were usually large, and often of great value, Ge 24:22.

The woman of Syria and Arabia at this day wear rings round their legs, to which are fastened many other lesser rings, with make a tinkling noise, like little bells, when they walk. These rings are fixed above the ankle, and are of gold, silver, copper, glass, or even of varnished earth, according to the condition of the wearer. The princesses wear large hollow rings of gold, within which are enclosed little pebbles, that tinkle. See RINGS.

Branch

As trees denote, in figurative language, great men and princes, so branches, boughs, and plants denote their offspring. Christ is called "the Branch," the "rod out of the stem of Jesse," and "branch out of his roots," Isa 11:1; 53:2; Zec 3:8; 6:12; being a royal descendant of the princely house of David, Jer 23:5; 33:15. The word branch also illustrates the union of believers with Christ, Joh 15:5,6. It is used in Eze 8:17 as a symbol of idolatrous worship, probably in allusion to the carrying of fragrant boughs in honor of idols.

Brass

Is frequently mentioned in the English Bible, Ge 4:22; De 8:9; but there is little doubt that copper is intended, brass being a mixed metal-two-thirds copper and one-third zinc-for the manufacture of which we are indebted to the Germans. The ancients knew nothing of that particular compound, though well acquainted with bronze, of which arms, mirrors, and ornaments were made. Copper was used for many purposes about the temple, Le 6:28; Nu 16:39; 2Ch 4:16; for filters, Judg 16:21; 2Ki 25:7; for armor, 1Sa 17:5,6,38; for musical instruments, 1Ch 15:19; and for money, Mt 10:9. "Brass" is used to describe drought, insensibility, baseness, and obstinacy in sin, Le 26:19; De 28:23; Isa 48:4; Jer 6:28; Eze 22:18. It is also a symbol of strength, Ps 107:16; Da 2:39; Zec 6:1. See COPPER.

Brazen Serpent

An image in brass prepared by Moses, resembling the fiery serpents so destructive to Israel in the desert, and set up in the midst of the camp in the view of all, that whosoever would evince penitence, faith, and obedience by looking to it, might live, Nu 21:6-9. Our Savior has shown us that this was typical of himself and of salvation through him—a gratuitous salvation, free to all, on the easy terms of faith and obedience, Joh 3:14,15. The brazen serpent was long preserved, as a memorial of the gracious miracle wrought in connection with it; but being regarded as an object of worship, it was broken to pieces by king Hezekiah, as Nehushtan—a mere piece of brass, 2Ki 18:4.

Bread

A word which in Scripture is often put for food in general, Ge 3:19; 18:5; 28:20; Ex 2:20; Le 11:3. Manna is called bread from heaven, Ex 16:4. Bread, in the proper and literal sense, usually means cakes made of wheaten flour; barely being used chiefly by the poor and for feeding horses. The wheat was ground daily, in small stone mills; the flour was made into dough in a wooden trough, and subsequently leavened, Ex 12:34; Ho 7:4. It was then made into cakes, and baked.

The ancient Hebrews had several ways of baking bread: of baking bread: they often baked it under the ashes upon the earth, upon round copper or iron plates, or in pans or stoves made on purpose. The Arabians and other oriental nations, among whom wood is scarce, often bake their bread between two fires made of cow-dung, which burns slowly. The bread is good, if eaten the same day, but the crust is black and burnt, and retains a smell of the fuel used in baking it. This explains Eze 4:9,15.

The Hebrews, in common with other eastern people, had a kind of oven, (tannoor,) which is like a large pitcher, open at top, in which they made a fire. When it was well heated, they mingled flour in water, and this paste they applied to the outside of the pitcher. Such bread is baked in an instant, and is taken off in thin, fine pieces, like our wafers, Le 2:1-16. Bread was also baked in cavities sunk in the ground, or the floor of the tent, and well lined with compost or cement. A tire was built on the floor of this oven; and the sides being sufficiently heated, thin cakes were adroitly stuck upon towns there were public ovens, and bakers by trade, Jer 37:21; Ho 7:4.

As the Hebrews generally made their bread thin, and in the form of flat cakes, or wafers, they did not cut it with a knife, but broke it, La 4:4, which gave rise to that expression so usual in Scripture, of "breaking bread," to signify eating, sitting down to table, taking a repast. In the institution of the Lord’s supper, our Savior broke the bread which he had consecrated; whence "to break bread," and "breaking of bread," in the New Testament are used for celebrating the Lord’s supper. See under EATING.

SHOWBREAD, Heb. Bread of presence, was bread offered every Sabbath-day to God on the golden table which stood in the holy place, Ex 25:30; twelve cakes of unleavened bread, offered with salt and frankincense, Le 2:13; 24:5-9. The show-bread could be lawfully eaten by none but the priests; nevertheless, David having received some of these loaves from the high-priest Abimelech, ate of them without scruple in his necessity, 1Sa 21:1-6; and our Savior quotes his example to justify the disciples, who had bruised ears of corn, and were eating them on the Sabbath-day. Mt 12:1- 4.

Breastplate

A piece of embroidery, about ten inches square, Ex 28:15-30, of very rich work, which the high priest wore on his breast. It was made of two pieces of the same rich embroidered stuff of which the ephod was made, having a front and a lining, and forming a kind of purse or bag, in which, according to the rabbins, the Urim and Thummim were enclosed. The front of it was set with twelve precious stones, on each of which was engraved the name of one of the tribes. They were placed in four rows, and divided from each other by the little golden squares or partitions in which they were set. At each corner was a gold ring answering to a ring upon the ephod, these four pairs of rings serving to hold the breastplate in its place on the front of the ephod, by means of four blue ribands, one at each corner.

Bricks

Were usually made of clay, dried and hardened in the sun, Ge 11:3, though brick-kilns were sometimes used, 2Sa 12:31; Na 3:14. The tower of Babel was constructed of brick, cemented with bitumen. The bricks used were often a foot square; and great numbers of them are found, both in Babylon and Egypt, impressed with some royal or priestly stamp. The principal subject of interest connected with brick making is the fact that it was the labor in which the Hebrews in Egypt were most oppressed. On the monuments of Egypt, all the parts of this hard and ancient task-work are painted-the carrying, tempering, and molding of the clay, and the drying and pilling of the bricks-all done by foreigners under the orders of taskmasters. The straw was probably mixed with the clay to compact it. See Wilkinson’s "Ancient Egyptians."

Bride And Bridegroom

See MARRIAGE and SOLOMON’S SONG.

Brigandine

A coat of mail, Jer 46:4; 51:3.

Brimstone

A mineral substance, highly inflammable, and burning with a suffocating smell. Sodom and the other cities of the plain were destroyed "by brimstone and fire," Ge 19:24; and this awful catastrophe is often used in Scripture, as an emblem of temporal and eternal judgments of God upon the wicked, Job 18:15; Ps 11:6; Isa 30:33; 34:9; Re 21:8.

Brook

See RIVER.

Brother

Signifies in Scripture the son of the same parent or parents, Mt 1:2; Lu 6:14; a cousin or near kinsman, Ge 13:8; 14:16; Joh 7:3; Ac 1:14; one of the same stock or country, Mt 5:47; Ac 3:22; Heb 7:5; a fellow-man, and equal, Mt 5:23; 7:3; one beloved, 2Sa 1:26; Christians, as sons of God, Ac 9:30; 11:29. In Mt 12:46-50; 13:55,56; Mr 3:31-35, the brothers of Christ are so mentioned, in connection with his mother and sisters, as almost to require us to believe they were children of Joseph and Mary, younger than Jesus. Yet this is not quite certain, as it may be that the James, Joses, and Judas in Mt 13:55, are the nephews of Christ alluded to in Mt 27:56; Lu 6:15,16; Joh 19:25; Cleophas and Alphaeus being probably the same.

Bruit

Rumor or report, Jer 10:22; Na 3:19.

Bul

Occurring only in 1Ki 6:38, applied to the eighth month, usually called Marchesvan, which see. Solomon’s temple was finished in Bul.

Bulls

Of Bashan, pasturing in a fertile region and with but few keepers, became strong and fierce, and might "compass about" and intruder, and trample him under foot. They are symbols of powerful, fierce, and numerous foes, Ps 22:12; 68:30; Isa 34:7. See OX.

Bulrush

Or papyrus, a reed growing on the banks of the Nile, in marshy ground, Job 8:11, to the height of twelve or fifteen feet, Isa 35:7. The stalks are pliable, and capable of being interwoven very closely, as is evident from their being used in the construction of arks, Ex 2:3,5; and also vessels of larger dimensions, Isa 18:2. Boats of this material were very common in Egypt. Being exceedingly light and small, they sailed with great velocity, and might easily be borne on the shoulders around rapids and falls. The inner bark of this plant, platted and cemented together, furnished a writing material; and the pith was sometimes used for food. See BOOK.

Burden

A weight or load, on body or soul; often used figuratively, to denote afflictions, failings, sins, Ps 38:4; 55:22; Ga 6:2; services under law, Mt 23:4; official responsibilities, Ex 18:22; De 1:12; and especially prophetic messages, not always of a threatening character, Isa 19:1. In this last sense the Hebrew word may be rendered "oracle," "divine declaration," or "prophecy," as in Pr 31:31,1.

Burial

The Hebrews were at all times very careful in the burial of their dead, Ge 25:9; 35:29. To be deprived of burial was thought one of the greatest marks of dishonor, or cause of unhappiness, Ec 6:3; Jer 22:18,19; it being denied to none, not even to enemies. Good men made it a part of their piety to inter the dead. Indeed, how shocking must the sight of unburied corpses have been to the Jews, when their land was thought to be polluted if the dead were in any manner exposed to view, 2Sa 21:14; and when the very touch of a dead body, or of any thing that had touched a dead body, was esteemed a defilement, and required a ceremonial ablution, Nu 19.11-22.

Only two cases of burning the bodies of the dead occur in Scripture: the mangled remains of Saul and his sons, 1Sa 31:12, and the victims of some plague, Am 6:10. It was customary for the nearest relatives to close the eyes of the dying and give them the parting kiss, and then to commence the wailing for the dead, Jer 46:4; 50:1; in this wailing, which continued at intervals until after the burial, they were joined by other relatives and friends, Joh 11:19, whose loud and shrill lamentations are referred to in Mr 5:38. It is also a custom still prevailing in the East to hire wailing women, Jer 9:17; Am 5:16, who praised the deceased, Ac 9:39, and by doleful cries and frantic gestures, aided at times by melancholy tones of music, Mt 9:23, strove to express the deepest grief, Eze 24:17,18.

Immediately after death the body was washed, and laid out in a convenient room, Ac 9:39; it was wrapped in many folds of linen, with spices, and the head bound about with a napkin, Mt 27:59; Joh 11:44. Unless the body was to be embalmed, the burial took place very soon, both on account of the heat of the climate and the ceremonial uncleanness incurred. Rarely did twenty-four hours elapse between death and burial, Ac 5:6,10. The body being shrouded, was placed upon a bier-a board resting on a simple handbarrow, borne by men-to be conveyed to the tomb, 2Sa 3:31; Lu 7:14. Sometimes a more costly bier or bed was used, 2Ch 16:14: and the bodies of kings and some others may have been laid in coffins of wood, or stone sarcophagi. The relatives attended the bier to the tomb, which was usually without the city. A banquet sometimes followed the funeral, Jer 16:7,8; and during subsequent days the bereaved friends were wont to go to the grave from time to time, to weep and to adorn the place with fresh flowers, Joh 11:31, a custom observed even at this day. See EMBALMING, SEPULCHRE.

Burnt-Offerings

See SACRIFICE.

Bushel

Used in the New Testament to express the Greek modius, which was about a peck by our measure.

Butter

The Hebrew word usually rendered butter denotes, properly, sour or curdled milk, Ge 18:8; Judg 5:25; Job 20:17. This last is a favorite beverage in the East to the present day. Burckhardt, when crossing the desert from the country south of the Dead sea to Egypt, says, "Besides flour, I carried some butter and dried leben, (sour milk,) which, when dissolved in water, not only forms a refreshing beverage, but is much to be recommended as a preservative of health when travelling in summer." Yet butter may have been known to the Hebrews. It is much used by the Arabs and Syrians at the present day, and is made by pouring the milk into the common goatskin bottle, suspending this from the tent-poles, and swinging it to and fro with a jerk, until the process is completed. Still it is not certain that the Hebrew word rendered butter ever denotes that article. Even in Pr 30:33 we may render, "The pressing of milk bringeth forth cheese;" and everywhere else the rendering "curd," or "curdled milk," would be appropriate.

Buz

Son of Nahor and Milcah, and ancestor of the Buzites, who lived in Mesopotamia or Ram, and afterwards perhaps in Arabia Deserta, Ge 22:21; Job 32:2; Jer 25:23.