Beast – Beerothite; Berothite

Beast

best: This word occurs often in both Old and New Testaments and denotes generally a mammal (though sometimes a reptile) in distinction to a man, a bird, or a fish. In this distinction the English is fairly in accord with the Hebrew and Greek originals. The commonest Hebrew words behemah and chai have their counterpart in the Arabic as do three others less often used, be`ir (Genesis 45:17; Exodus 22:5; Numbers 20:8 the King James Version), nephesh (Leviticus 24:18), and Tebhach (Proverbs 9:2). Behemah and A rabic bahimah are from a root signifying vagueness or dumbness and so denote primarily a dumb beast. Chai and Arabic chaiwan are from the root chayah (Arabic chaya), "to live," and denote primarily living creatures. Be`ir, "cattle," and its root-verb, ba`ar, "to graze," are identical with the Arabic ba`ir and ba`ara, but with a curious difference in meaning. Ba`ir is a common word for camel among the Bedouin and the root-verb, ba`ara, means "to drop dung," ba`rah being a common word for the dung of camels, goats, and sheep. Nephesh corresponds in every way with the Arabic nephs, "breath," "soul" or "self" Tebhach from Tabhach, "to slaughter," is equivalent to the Arabic dhibch from dhabacha, with the same meaning. Both therion ("wild beast"), and zoon ("living thing"), occur often in the Apocalypse. They are found also in a few other places, as mammals (Hebrews 13:11) or figuratively (Titus 1:12). Therion is used also of the viper which fastened on Paul's hand, and this has parallels in classic al Greek. Beasts of burden and beasts used for food were and are an important form of property, hence, ktenos ("possession"), the word used for the good Samaritan's beast (Luke 10:34) and for the beasts with which Lysias provided Paul for his journey to Caesarea (Acts 23:24).

For "swift beast," kirkaroth, "dromedary" (Isaiah 66:20 the King James Version), see CAMEL. For "swift beast," rekhesh, see HORSE (Micah 1:13 the King James Version; 1 Kings 4:28 the King James Version, margin; compare Esther 8:10,Esther 8:14).

See also WILD BEAST.

Alfred Ely Day

Beast-Fight

best'-fit.

See GAMES.

Beaten Gold

See GOLD (BEATEN).

Beaten Oil

See OIL (BEATEN).

Beating

bet'-ing.

See PUNISHMENTS.

Beatitudes

be-at'-i-tudes:

1. The Name:

The word "beatitude" is not found in the English Bible, but the Latin beatitudo, from which it is derived, occurs in the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A. D.) version of Romans 4:6 where, with reference to Psalms 32:1,Psalms 32:2, David is said to pronounce the "beatitude" of the man whose transgressions are forgiven. In the Latin church beatitudo was used not only as an abstract term denoting blessedness, but in the secondary, concrete sense of a particular declaration of blessedness and especially of such a declaration coming from the lips of Jesus Christ. Beatitudes in this derivative meaning of the word occur frequently in the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms (Psalms 32:1,Psalms 32:2; Psalms 41:1; Psalms 65:4, etc.), and Jesus on various occasions threw His utterances into this form (Matthew 11:6; Matthew 13:16; Matthew 16:17; Matthew 24:46, with the Lukan parallels; John 13:17; John 20:29). But apart from individual sayings of this type the name Beatitudes, ever since the days of Ambrose, has been attached specifically to those words of blessing with which, according to both Matthew and Luke, Jesus began that great discourse which is known as the Sermon on the Mount.

2. The Two Groups:

When we compare these Beatitudes as we find them in Matthew 5:3–12 and Luke 6:20–23 (24-26), we are immediately struck by the resemblances and differences between them. To the ordinary reader, most familiar with Matthew's version, it is the differences that first present themselves; and he will be apt to account for the discrepancy of the two reports, as Augustine did, by assigning them to two distinct occasions in the Lord's ministry. A careful comparative study of the two narratives, however, with some attention to the introductory circumstances in each case, to the whole progress of the discourses themselves, and to the parabolic sayings with which they conclude, makes this view improbable, and points rather to the conclusion that what we have to do with is two varying versions given by the Evangelists of the material drawn from an underlying source consisting of Logia of Jesus. The differences, it must be admitted, are very marked.

(a) Matthew has 8 Beatitudes; Luke has 4, with 4 following Woes.

(b) In Matthew the sayings, except the last, are in the 3rd person; in Luke they are in the 2nd.

(c) In Matthew the blessings, except the last, are attached to spiritual qualities; in Luke to external conditions of poverty and suffering.

Assuming that both Evangelists derived their reports from some common Logian source, the question arises as to which of them has adhered more closely to the original. The question is difficult, and still gives rise to quite contrary opinions. One set of scholars decides in favor of Matt hew, and accounts for Luke's deviation from the Matthean version by ascribing to him, on very insufficient grounds, an ascetic bias by which he was led to impart a materialistic tone to the utterances of Jesus. Another set inclines to theory that Luke's version is the more literal of the two, while Matthew's partakes of the nature of a paraphrase. In support of this second view it may be pointed out that Luke is usually more careful than Matthew to place the sayings of Jesus in their original setting and to preserve them in their primitive form, and further that owing to the natural tendency of the sacred writers to expand and interpret rather than to abbreviate an inspired utterance, the shorter form of a saying is more likely to be the original one. It may be noted, further, that in Matthew 5:11,Matthew 5:12 the Beatitude takes the direct form, which suggests that this may have been the form Matthew found in his source in the case of the others also. On the whole, then, probabilities appear to favor the view that Luke's version is the more literal one. It does not follow, however, that the difference between the two reports amounts to any real inconsistency. In Luke emphasis is laid on the fact that Jesus is addressing His disciples (Luke 6:20), so that it was not the poor as such whom He blessed, but His own disciples although they were poor. It was not poverty, hunger, sorrow or suffering in themselves to which He promised great rewards, but those experiences as coming to spiritual men and thus transformed into springs of spiritual blessing. And so when Matthew, setting down the Lord's words with a view to their universal application rather than with reference to the particular circumstances in which they were uttered, changes "the poor" into "the poor in spirit," and those that "hunger" into those that "hunger and thirst after righteousness," he is giving the real purport of the words of Jesus and recording them in the form in which by all men and through all coming time they may be read without any chance of misunderstanding.

As regards the Beatitudes of the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, which are given by Matthew only, they may have been spoken by Jesus at the same time as the rest and have been intended by Him in their association with the other four to fill out a conception of the ideal character of the members of the Kingdom of God. In view, however, of their omission from Luke's list, it is impossible to affirm this with certainty. That they are all authentic utterances of Jesus Himself there is no reason to doubt. But they may have been originally scattered through the discourse itself, each in its own proper place. Thus the Beatitude of the meek would go fitly with Luke 6:38 ff, that of the merciful with Luke 6:43 ff, that of the pure in heart with Luke 6:27 ff, that of the peacemakers with Luke 6:23 ff. Or they may even have been uttered on other occasions than that of the Sermon on the Mount and have been gathered together by Matthew and placed at the head of the Sermon as forming along with the other four a suitable introduction to our Lord's great discourse on the laws and principles of the Kingdom of God.

3. Number, Arrangement, Structure:

With regard to the number of the Beatitudes in Matthew's fuller version, some have counted 7 only, making the list end with Matthew 5:9. But though the blessing pronounced on the persecuted in Matthew 5:10–12 differs from the preceding Beatitudes, both in departing from the aphoristic form and in attaching the blessing to an outward condition and not to a disposition of the heart, the parallel in Lu (Luke 6:22 f) justifies the view that this also is to be added to the list, thus making 8 Beatitudes in all. On the arrangement of the group much has been written, most of it fanciful and unconvincing. The first four have been described as negative and passive, the second four as positive and active. The first four, again, have been represented as pertaining to the desire for salvation, the second four as relating to its actual possession. Some writers have endeavored to trace in the group as a whole the steadily ascending stages in the development of the Christian character. The truth in this last suggestion lies in the reminder it brings that the Beatitudes are not to be thought of as setting forth separate types of Christian character, but as enumerating qualities and experiences that are combined in the ideal character as conceived by Christ--and as exemplified, it may be added, in His own life and person.

In respect of their structure, the Beatitudes are all alike in associating the blessing with a promise--a promise which is sometimes represented as having an immediate realization (Matthew 5:3,Matthew 5:10), but in most cases has a future or even (compare Matthew 5:12) an eschatological outlook. The declaration of blessedness, therefore, is based not only on the possession of the quality or experience described, but on the present or future rewards in which it issues. The poor in spirit are called blessed not merely because they are poor in spirit, but because the kingdom of heaven is theirs; the mourners because they shall be comforted; those that hunger and thirst after righteousness because they shall be filled; those who are persecuted because a great reward is laid up for them in heaven. The Beatitudes have often been criticized as holding up an ideal of which limitation, privation and self-renunciation are the essence, and which lacks those positive elements that are indispensable to any complete conception of blessedness. But when it is recognized that the blessing in every case rests on the associated promise, the criticism falls to the ground. Christ does demand of His followers a renunciation of many things that seem desirable to the natural heart, and a readiness to endure many other things from which men naturally shrink. But just as in His own case the great self-emptying was followed by the glorious exaltation (Philippians 2:6 ff), so in the case of His disciples spiritual poverty and the bearing of the cross carry with them the inheritance of the earth and a great reward in heaven.

LITERATURE.

Votaw in HDB, V, 14 ff; Adeney in Expositor, 5th series, II, 365 ff; Stanton, The Gospels as Historical Documents, II, 106 ff, 327 f; Gore, Sermon on the Mount, 15 ff; Dykes, Manifesto of the King, 25-200.

J. C. Lambert

Beautiful Gate

bu'-ti-fool, gat.

See TEMPLE.

Beauty

bu'-ti: The space allotted to this topic allows liberty only for the statement of two problems to students of the Bible. They should give distinct attention to the interblending of aesthetics with ethics in the Scripture. They should observe the extent and meaning of aesthetics in Nature.

1. Aesthetics in Scripture:

That the Bible is an ethical book is evident. Righteousness in all the relations of man as a moral being is the key to its inspiration, the guiding light to correct understanding of its utterance. But it is everywhere inspired and writ in an atmosphere of aesthetics. Study will bring out this fact from Genesis to Revelation. The first pair make their appearance in a garden where grew "every tree that is pleasant to the sight" (Genesis 2:9), and the last vision for the race is an abode in a city whose gates are of pearl and streets of gold (Revelation 21:21). Such is the imagery that from beginning to end is pictured as the home of ethics--at first in its untried innocence and at last in its stalwart righteousness. The problem will be to observe the intermingling of these two elements--the beautiful and the good--in the whole Scripture range. A few texts will set before us this kinship and then the Bible student can detect it as he reads. "One thing have I asked of Yahweh, that will I seek after: That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Yahweh, And to inquire in his temple" (Psalms 27:4).

"For all the gods of the peoples are idols; But Yahweh made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary" (Psalms 96:5,Psalms 96:6). If we catch the spirit set forth in such and similar Psalms, we can use it as a magnetic needle to detect its like wherever we shall read: and we shall find that like in abundance. It is only necessary to turn to the directions given for making the Ark of the Covenant and its encircling tabernacle, and the decorations of the priests that were to minister in the worship of Yahweh in the ceremonies described, as given in Exodus 25:1–40 ff, to see that every resource of Israel was brought to bear to render ark and tabernacle and their service beautiful. One will find in a concordance half a column of references under the word "Ark" and a column and a half under the word "Tabernacle." By looking up these references one can realize how much care was spent to give and preserve to these aids to worship the attractiveness of beauty.

In 1 Chronicles 15:1–29 and 16 we have an account of David's bringing in the Ark of the Covenant into his own city to rest in a tent he had provided for it. On this occasion a demonstration was made with all the aesthetics of which the music of that day was capable. "And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy." And David himself gave to the celebration the aesthetics of one of the noblest of his psalms (1 Chronicles 16:8–36).

It is almost idle to refer to Solomon and his temple (1 Kings 6:1–38; 2 Chronicles 3:1–17). It is a common understanding that the civilization of Solomon's day was drawn upon to its utmost in every department of aesthetics, in the building of that house for Yahweh and in the appointments for the worship there to be conducted. Beauty of form and color and harmony of sound were then and there integrated--made one--with worship in holiness. The propriety of that association has been seen and felt through the ages.

There is beauty in speech. It is a fact that the supreme classics in the literature of the tongues of two of the dominant nations of the earth, the English and the German, are translations of the Bible. There is no explanation of such fact except that the original justified the translations. You can read indifferently from one translation to the other and catch the same aesthetic gleam. Nobility and poetry of thought lay in what was to be translated. Here is proof that cannot be gainsaid that the Scripture authors sought the aid of aesthetics as garb for the ethics they taught. So they wrote in poetry. So they used allegory, illustration, figure, metaphor that would charm and hold. The parables of Jesus are examples of this method of clothing thought. They do their ethical work because they have swept into it figure and imagery from familiar aesthetic perceptions. "The sower went forth to sow" (Matthew 13:3). That is a glad sight--always has been and always will be. That is why a picture of "The Sower" hangs on the walls of a Christian home. Just the painting--and every beholder remembers the parable and cannot forget its ethics. The intensity of thought concentrated upon ethics in the New Testament has drawn away attention from the partnership between these two principles in religion. But it is there, and we shall see it when once we look for it.

It is something to which we do not wake up till late in life--to wit, the measurelessness of the provision in Nature for beauty. Common consent awards beauty to the rainbow.

2. Aesthetics in Nature:

Reflect that every drop of water in the ocean, or in the hydrated rocks, or in the vapor floating over Saturn, has in it the possibility of rainbow coloring. In fact all matter has color of which the rainbow is only specimen. Any element incandescent has a spectrum partially coincident with that of water and ranging above and below it in the infinite capacity it has to start ether undulations. As apparently the larger part of the matter of the universe is incandescent, we can see that the field for expression in color is infinite. No one but the infinite God can see it all.

If we come down to this plain, plodding earth, cultivation of aesthetic sense will bring out beauty everywhere, from the grandeur of mountain scenery to aesthetic curves and colors revealed only by the microscope. We say the butterfly is finish beautiful. But the larva from which it is derived often carries as much beauty in mottling of color and of the fineness of of spine and mandible. Looking across the scale in this way the evidence of theism from beauty itself becomes convincing. Beauty becomes a messenger of and from God--as Iris was to the Greek and the rainbow to the Hebrew (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

This from Amiel's Journal Intime, I, 233, sets forth the radical, inexpugnable position of beauty in Nature and in philosophy thereof correctly interpretative: "To the materialist philosopher the beautiful is a mere accident, and therefore rare. To the spiritualist philosopher the beautiful is the rule, the law, the universal foundation of things, to which every form returns as soon as the force of accident is withdrawn."

As we accustom ourselves to make larger and larger synthesis in the department of aesthetics, what diapason of theistic message may we not hear? Beauty wherever and however expressed is a medium of revelation. It is a bush ever burning, never consumed. Before it "put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." That beauty should be--to that intent, for that end, from everlasting hath wrought the Ancient of Days.

C. Caverno

Beauty And Bands

bu'-ti, bandz (no`am, and chobhelim): The names given in Zechariah 11:7,Zechariah 11:14 to two symbolical staves, the first signifying Yahweh's covenant of grace with the peoples, and the second representing the brotherhood of Judah and Israel. The breaking of the two staves is symbolic of the breaking of Yahweh's covenant and of the union between Judah and Israel.

Bebai

be'-ba-i, beb'-a-i (bebhay; Septuagint Bebai, "fatherly"):

(1) Descendants of B: returned with Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:11 called Babi; 1 Esdras 8:37); one of these is Zechariah, the son of Bebai (Ezra 8:11, Zaeharias; 1 Esdras 8:37). 623 returned with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:11; 1 Esdras 5:13; Nehemiah 7:16 gives the number 628); some of these had married "strange wives" (Ezra 10:28; 1 Esdras 9:29).

(2) A chief of the people who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:15).

(3) An unknown town (Judith 15:4). Omitted in Codex Vaticanus and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A. D.)

Because

be-kos' (hina, "in order that"): "The multitude rebuked them, because (AV; the Revised Version (British and American) "that") they should hold their peace" (Matthew 20:31).

Becher

(1) Son of Benjamin (Genesis 46:21; 1 Chronicles 7:6,1 Chronicles 7:8).

(2) Son of Ephraim whose family is called Becherites (the King James Version "Bachrites"), Numbers 26:35 (1 Chronicles 7:20 called Bered). Compare BERED.

Bechorath

be-kor'-ath.

See BECORATH.

Beck; Beckon

bek, bek'-'-n (neuma): This word from neuo, "to nod," "beckon," "make a sign" by moving the head or eyes (Luke 5:7; John 13:24; Acts 21:40; Acts 24:10), occurs only in 2 Macc 8:18, "Almighty God who at a beck can cast down both them that come against us, and also all the world," the Revised Version (British and American), "able at a beck." So Shak, "troops of soldiers at their beck"; "nod" is now generally used.

Become

be-kum':

(1) Greek ginomai, used in New Testament for a change of state, corresponding to Hebrew hayah of Old Testament. Compare Matthew 18:3 with Deuteronomy 27:9.

(2) For what is fitting, suitable, proper, in New Testament: "prepei" (Matthew 3:15; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Timothy 2:10); in Old Testament, na'awah, na'ah, Psalms 93:5: "Holiness becometh thy house." in this sense, the adverb "becomingly" must be interpreted: "Walk becomingly toward them that are without" (1 Thessalonians 4:12), i.e. in a way that is consistent with your profession.

Becorath

be-ko'-rath (bekhorath, "the first birth"; the King James Version Bechorath): A forefather of Saul of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Samuel 9:1).

Bectileth

bek'-ti-leth (to pedion Baikteilaith): A plain which is defined as "near the mountain which is at the left hand of the upper Cilicia" (Judith 2:21). The name in Syriac is Beth QeTilath, "house of slaughter." So far there is no clue to its identification.

Bed; Bedchamber; Bedstead

For the very poor of the East, in ancient times as now, the "bed" was and is, as a rule, the bare ground; and the bedclothes, the gown, simlah, or "outer garment," worn during the day ("For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?" (Exodus 22:27); compare Deuteronomy 24:13, "Thou shalt surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his garment").

When one was on a journey, or watching his flock by night as a shepherd, such a "bed" was the most natural, and often a stone would serve as a pillow. (See Genesis 28:11, where Jacob "took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.")

An advance on this custom, which came in due course of time, or under change of circumstances, was the use of a mat on the floor as a bed, with or without covering. At first it was literally laid on the floor, which was generally of one common level, in some convenient place near the wall; but later it was put on an elevation, either a raised part of the floor on one side, or a bedstead, which gave rise to the expression "going up to the bed" (compare Genesis 49:33 English Versions of the Bible, "He gathered up his feet into the bed," and Psalms 132:3, "go up into my bed").

1. Old Testament Terms for Bed, and Sleeping Customs of the Hebrews:

With a later development and civilization, "beds" came to be built upon supports and constructed in different forms, which fact is reflected in the variety of names given the "bed" in the Hebrew and related languages.

(1) The following Hebrew words are used in the Bible for "bed," and, though it is impossible at this remove of time and place and custom to differentiate them sharply, they will repay study: miTTah (Genesis 48:2, "And Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed"; Ex 8:3, "frogs .... shall come into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed"); mishkabh, compare (Genesis 49:4, Jacob to Reuben: "Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it"); `eres (Proverbs 7:16, the "strange woman" says: " I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry"; compare Psalms 41:3, "Thou makest all his bed in his sickness"); matstsa` (once only, Isaiah 28:20, "For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it"); and yetsua` (Job 17:13, "I have spread my couch in the darkness"; 1 Chronicles 5:1, "He defiled his father's couch"; compare Genesis 49:4 where the same "father's bed" is mishkabh; Psalms 63:6, "when I remember thee upon my bed"; Psalms 132:3, "nor go up into my bed").

(2) It is a far cry from the simple sleeping customs of Deuteronomy 24:13 to the luxurious arts and customs of the post-exilic days, when beds of fine wood and ivory are found in use among the Hebrews, as well as pillows of the most costly materials elaborately embroidered (see Judith 10:21; Esther 1:6; compare Song of Songs 3:10); but it all came about as a natural, as well as artificial development, with changed conditions and contacts and increasing civilization and luxury. As marking the several stages of that development, we find pictures of the poor, first sleeping upon the ground without mat or mattress, then in a single sleeping-room for the whole family, often without a separate bed, then with "beds" that were simply wadded quilts, or thin mattresses, and mats for keeping them off the ground; then with still better "beds" laid upon light portable, wooden frames, or upon more elevated bedsteads (compare Psalms 132:3 and Mark 4:21 the Revised Version (British and American) "under the bed"). The degree of richness depended, of course, upon time and place, in a measure, but more upon the wealth and station of the family and the style of the house or tent in which they lived, as it does even with the Bedouin of today. The prophet Amos gives a vivid and significant picture of the luxury of certain children of Israel, "that sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed" (Amos 3:12); and of certain children of luxury "that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock .... that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph" (Amos 6:4–6; compare Revelation 18:10–13).

(3) We find that the poor, while sleeping for the most part in their ordinary clothing, often, in cold weather, made their beds of the skins of animals, old cloaks, or rugs, as they do still in the East. The "beds" and "bedding" now in ordinary use among Orientals are much the same, we may be sure, as they were in olden times. "Bedsteads" of any pretention were and are rare among the common people; but the richness of "beds" and "bedsteads" among Asiatics of wealth and rank was quite equal to that of the Greeks and Romans (compare Proverbs 7:16,Proverbs 7:17, "I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon"); Song of Songs 1:16,Song of Songs 1:17: "The beams of our house are cedars, and our rafters are firs .... also our couch is green." Compare the "palanquin" of Solomon, "of the wood of Lebanon," "the pillars thereof of silver," "the bottom of gold," and "the seat of purple" (Song of Songs 3:9,Song of Songs 3:10).

(4) As soon as any family could afford it, a special bedroom would be set apart, and the whole family would sleep in it (see Luke 11:5–8, "My children are with me in bed"). When the house had two stories the upper story was used for sleeping, or, during very hot weather, preferably the roof, or the room on the roof. See HOUSE. When morning came the "bed," a wadded quilt or mattress, used with or without covering according to the season, was rolled up, aired and sunned, and then put aside on the raised platform, or packed away in a chest or closet.

The words mishkabh and miTTah came to have a figurative meaning signifying the final resting-place; and `eres used of the "bedstead" of the King of Og (Deuteronomy 3:11) is thought by some to mean his sarcophagus (Benzinger, Hebrew Arch., 123; Nowack, I, 143). Genesis 47:31, "And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head" is not rightly rendered (see STAFF, and Crit. Commentary in the place cited.).

2. New Testament Terms for Bed, Their Meaning, etc.:

(1) We find several Greek words, kline, krabbatos, and koitte, used in the New Testament somewhat indiscriminately and rendered English Versions of the Bible by "bed," "couch," etc.; but, as with the Hebrew words noted, there is little to indicate just exactly what they severally stand for, or how they are related to the Hebrew terms rendered "bed" or "couch" in the Old Testament. Of one thing we can be sure, reasoning from what we know of "the unchanging East," the "beds" and sleeping customs of the Hebrews in Christ's time were in the main about what they were in later Old Testament times.

(2) An interesting case for study is that of the man "sick of the palsy" whom they brought to Jesus "lying on a bed," and who when healed "took up the bed, and went forth before them all" (Matthew 9:2,Matthew 9:6; Mark 2:4,Mark 2:12; Luke 5:18,Luke 5:19; compare John 5:8–12). Here the "bed" on which the sick of the palsy lay was let down from the housetop "through the tiles with his couch into the midst before Jesus" (Luke 5:18,Luke 5:19); and when the man was healed Jesus commanded him, as Luke says, to "take up (his) couch and go unto (his) house ," and he "took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his house, glorifying God" (Luke 5:24,Luke 5:25). It seems, therefore, that this "bed" was a "pallet" and "couch" combined, a thin mattress upon a light portable frame, such as we have already seen was in use among the ancients. Another kindred case was that of the sick man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2 ff) whom Jesus healed and commanded to "take up his bed and walk," and he "took up his bed and walked"; only in this case the "bed" is a "pallet" without the frame, it would seem.

(3) Jesus in His teaching (Mark 4:21; compare Luke 8:16) asks, in language which is significant in this connection: "Is the lamp brought to be put under .... the bed?" (Luke 8:16: "No man, when he hath lighted a lamp, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed"). Here, clearly, "the bed" is the "bedstead," bedclothes, draperies and all, under which "the lamp" would be obscured and hindered in its function of "giving light to all in the room." Again (Luke 17:34) Jesus says, "In that night there shall be two men on one bed," which is incidental evidence that the "beds" of that day were not all "pallets" or "couches" for one only (compare Luke 11:7, "My children are with me in bed"; Song of Songs 1:16; Song of Songs 3:10; Proverbs 7:16,Proverbs 7:18).

(4) For figurative use in the prophets (e.g. Ezekiel 23:17) and in the New Testament (e.g. "Let the bed be undefiled," Hebrews 13:4), see commentaries in the place cited

George B. Eager

Bedad

be'-dad (bedhadh, "alone"): Father of Hadad, king of Edom "before there reigned any king over the children of Israel" (Genesis 36:35; 1 Chronicles 1:46).

Bedan

be'-dan (bedhan, "son of judgment" (?)):

(1) One of the leaders in Israel who with Jerubbaal, Jephthah and Samuel is mentioned as a deliverer of the nation (1 Samuel 12:11). The text is questioned because the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic read "Barak" instead.

(2) A son of Ulam of the house of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 7:17).

Bedchamber

bed'-cham-ber.

See BED.

Bedeiah

be-de'-ya (bedheydh, "servant of Yah"): A son of Bani who had married a "strange wife" (Ezra 10:35).

Bedstead

bed'-stead.

See BED.

Bee

be (debhorah; compare Arabic dabr, "a swarm of bees," also Arabic debbur, "a wasp," said to be a corruption of zunbur, "a wasp"; all are apparently from the Hebrew dabhar, "to speak," "arrange," "lead," "follow," or from Arabic dabara, "follow" (compare Arabic dabbara, "arrange"), though the connection in meaning is not apparent): Honey is mentioned many times in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, but the word "bee" occurs only four times, and only one of the four times in connection with honey in the story of Samson (Judges 14:8). Both wild and domesticated bees are found today in Palestine, but it is not clear that bees were kept in Bible times, although it would seem very probable. The frequently recurring phrase, "a land flowing with milk and honey," certainly suggests that the honey as well as the milk is a domestic product. The hives now in use are very primitive and wasteful as compared with hives that are made in Europe and America. Sometimes a large water jar is used. More frequently a cylinder about 3 or 4 ft. long and 6 inches in diameter is constructed of mulberry withes plaited together and plastered with mud or cow dung. A number of these cylinders are placed horizontally, being piled up together under some rude structure which serves as a protection from the direct rays of the sun. In the passage already cited it is related that Samson found a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion which he had killed on his previous visit. We are not told how much time had intervened, but it does not take long in the dry climate of Palestine for scavenging beasts and insects to strip the flesh from the bones and make the skeleton a possible home for a swarm of bees. The other three passages refer to the offensive power of bees. In Deuteronomy 1:44, in the speech of Moses he says, "The Amorites chased you, as bees do"; in Psalms 118:12, the psalmist says, "They compassed me about like bees"; in Isaiah 7:18, the bee is the type of the chastisement that the Lord will bring from the land of Assyria.

Alfred Ely Day

Beef

bef.

See CATTLE.

Beeliada

be-e-li'-a-da (be`elyadha`, "the Lord knows"; ELIADA, which see; compare HPN, 144, 192, note 1, 202): A son of David (1 Chronicles 14:7).

Beelsarus

be-el'-sa-rus, be-el-sa'-rus (Beelsaros): One who accompanied Zerubbabel in the return from the captivity (1 Esdras 5:8), called Bilshan in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7.

Beeltethmus

be-el-teth'-mus (Beeltethmos; Balthemus): One of the officers of King Artaxerxes in Palestine (1 Esdras 2:16,25). According to Professor Sayce, the name by etymology means "lord of official intelligence" or "postmaster." Rendered "chancellor" in Ezra 4:8 and "story-writer" in 1 Esdras 2:17.

Beelzebub

be-el'-ze-bub (in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) is an error (after the Vulgate) for Beelzebul (Revised Version margin) Beelzeboul; Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, Beezeboul): In the time of Christ this was the current name for the chief or prince of demons, and was identified with SATAN (which see) and the DEVIL (which see). The Jews committed the unpardonable sin of ascribing Christ's work of casting out demons to Beelzebul, thus ascribing to the worst source the supreme manifestation of goodness (Matthew 10:25; Matthew 12:24,Matthew 12:27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15,Luke 11:18,Luke 11:19). There can be little doubt that it is the same name as BAALZEBUB (which see). It is a well-known phenomenon in the history of religions that the gods of one nation become the devils of its neighbors and enemies. When the Aryans divided into Indians and Iranians, the Devas remained gods for the Indians, but became devils (daevas) for the Iranians, while the Ahuras remained gods for the Iranians and became devils (asuras) for the Indians. Why Baalzebub became Beelzebul, why the b changed into l, is a matter of conjecture. It may have been an accident of popular pronunciation, or a conscious perversion (Beelzebul in Syriac = "lord of dung"), or Old Testament zebhubh may have been a perversion, accidental or intentional of zebhul (= "house"), so that Baalzebul meant "lord of the house." These are the chief theories offered (Cheyne in EB; Barton in Hastings, ERE).

T. Rees

Beer

be'-er (be'er; phrear; Latin puteus = "well"):

(1) A station on the march of the Israelites to the North of the Arnon (Numbers 21:16). Here it was that they sang round the well this song: `Spring up O well; greet it with song, Well, that the princes have dug, The nobles of the people have bored, With the scepter--with their staves' (Numbers 21:16 ff). The place is not identified.

(2) The town to which Jotham fled from his brother Abimelech after declaring his parable from Mt. Gerizim (Judges 9:21). This may be identical with BEEROTH, which see.

Beer-Elim

be-er-e'-lim (be'er 'elim; phrear tou Aileim, literally "well of Elim"): Probably lay to the North of Moab, answering to Eglaim in the South (Isaiah 15:8). It may possibly be identical with BEER (1); but there is no certainty.

Beer-Lahai-Roi

be-er-la-hi'-roi, be-er-la-hi-ro'-i (be'er lachai ro'i, "well of the Living One that seeth me"): "A fountain of water in the wilderness," "the fountain in the way to Shur" (Genesis 16:7–14). It was the scene of Hagar's theophany, and here Isaac dwelt for some time (Genesis 16:7 Genesis 24:62; Genesis 25:11). The site is in The Negeb between Kadesh and Bered (Genesis 16:14). Rowland identifies the well with the modern `Ain Moilaihhi, circa 50 miles South of Beersheba and 12 miles West of `Ain Kadis. Cheyne thinks that Hagar's native country, to which she was fleeing and from which she took a wife for Ishmael, was not Egypt (mitsrayim), but a north Arabian district called by the Assyrians Mucri (Encyclopedia Biblica).

S. F. Hunter

Beerah

be-e'-ra, be'-er-a (be'erah; "expounder"): A prince of the house of Reuben whom Tiglath-pileser carried away captive (1 Chronicles 5:6). Compare 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 16:7.

Beeri

be-e'-ri (be'eri, "expounder"):

(1) Father of Judith, one of Esau's wives (Genesis 26:34).

(2) The father of the prophet Hosea (Hosea 1:1).

Beeroth

be-e'-roth, be'-er-oth (be'eroth; Beroth): One of the cities of the Canaanites whose inhabitants succeeded in deceiving Israel, and in making a covenant with them (Joshua 9:3 ff). Apparently they were Hivites (Joshua 9:7). The occasion on which the Beerothites fled to Gittaim where they preserved their communal identity is not indicated. The town was reckoned to Benjamin (2 Samuel 4:2 f). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it under Gibeon, 7 Roman miles from Jerusalem on the way to Nicopolis (Amwas). If we follow the old road by way of Gibeon (el-Jib) and Bethhoron, Beeroth would lie probably to the Northwest of el-Jib. The traditional identification is with el-Bireh, about 8 miles from Jerusalem on the great north road. If the order in which the towns are mentioned (Joshua 9:17; Joshua 18:25) is any guide as to position, el-Bireh is too far to the Northwest. The identification is precarious. To Beeroth belonged the murderers of Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 4:2), and Naharai, Joab's armor- bearer (2 Samuel 23:37; 1 Chronicles 11:39). It was reoccupied after the Exile (Ezra 2:25; Nehemiah 7:29).

W. Ewing

Beeroth Bene-Jaakan

ben'-e-ja'-a-kan (be'eroth bene ya`aqan; the Revised Version, margin "the wells of the children of Jaakan"): A desert camp of the Israelites mentioned before Moserah (Deuteronomy 10:6). In Numbers 33:31,Numbers 33:32 the name is given simply "Bene-jaakan," and the situation after Moseroth.

See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL.

Beerothite; Berothite

be-e'-roth-it, be'-er-oth-it (be'erothi; 2 Samuel 4:5,2 Samuel 4:9; 2 Samuel 23:37; shortened form, 1 Chronicles 11:39).

See BEEROTH.