See 2 Chron. xix. 4; 1 Sam. viii. 2; 1 Kings xix. 3; Neh. xi. 27, 30. Modern travellers have found wells near the supposed site of the ancient Beersheba. BEETLE. This word occurs only in Lev. xi. 22. "Yet these ye may eat of every winged creeper which goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth... the beetle after his kind." significant hiss or hem, or exclama- | many interesting associations, and tion. the allusions to it in other parts of BEELZEBUB, or BAALZEBUB, the Scriptures are numerous. fly-god. It was an idol of the Ekronites, and worshipped as the god of medicine. 2 Kings i. 3. In the New Testament it is written BEELZEBUL, dung-god. This change of name may have been introduced for the purpose of throwing contempt on the idol. He was one of the chief gods of the heathen, and therefore the name is applied to the prince of the devils. Idols were deemed by the Jews as devils. The application of this name, therefore, would be well understood. Matt. x. 25. BEER, a well. This denotes, either alone or in composition, the presence of a well of water. There are two places so called. 1. In the land of Moab, where the Israelites encamped. Numb. xxi. 16. Called also BEERELIM. 2. A town in the tribe of Judah. Judges ix. 21. The place to which Jotham fled. It is, probably, now called El-bireh, and is a large village, with a population of seven hundred inhabitants, some distance from Jerusalem to the north. BEER-LAHAI-ROI, well of him living and seeing me. A place in the southern border of Canaan, near to the desert of Shur, and was so called in consequence of the appearance of an angel to Hagar when she was in exile. Gen. xvi. 14. BEEROTH, wells. By many taken for the same place as BEER. It is mentioned, Josh. ix. 17, as a city of the Gibeonites; and was reckoned as belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. BEERSHEBA, well of the oath. A place in the south of Canaan, and celebrated for the sojourn of the patriarchs. It took its name from the well which was dug there, and the oath which confirmed Abraham's treaty with Abimelech. Gen. xxi. 31. It seems to have been a favourite abode of the patriarchs. It became afterwards a town of some note. It was situated about twenty miles south-west of Hebron, at the southern extremity of the land, as Dan was at the northern. Hence the expression "from Dan to Beersheba," which denoted the whole length of the land. The book of Genesis has connected Beersheba with It cannot mean the common beetle. The description answers the locust tribe of insects, which are known to have been eaten by the common people of the East from the earliest times to the present day. The Arabic word signifies a swarm, and is explained, 66 a species of locust without wings.' BEEVES. Cattle: an old plural of beef. Lev. xxii. 19. BEHEMOTH. This word has exercised the skill and ingenuity of critics. The word is only the plural form of BEHEMAH, which is elsewhere rendered beast, Job xxxv. 11; and this has originated the suggestion, that it is only the plural of excellence, denoting some huge, gigantic animai. Gesenius, following Jablonski, says the word is Egyptian, signifying water-ox. The notion of Bochart is now generally adopted, that the beast was the statue of this god which Nebuchadnezzar, having returned to Babylon after the Jewish war, set up and dedicated in the plain of Dura. Dan. iii. An BEL AND THE DRAGON. apocryphal book, rejected by the Jewish church, and extant neither in the Hebrew nor Chaldee. The Council of Trent allows it to be part of the canonical book of Daniel. intended is the hippopotamus. The | pedition, demolished it, and carried description, Job xl. 15, corresponds off the immense wealth which it conbetter with this animal than with tained. Some have supposed that it any other although some parts of it are remarkably applicable to the elephant. The male hippopotamus has been found seventeen feet in length, fifteen feet in circumference, and seven feet in height. The head is enormously large, and the jaws extend above two feet, and are armed with four large teeth or tusks. The body is thinly covered with hair. The hide is so thick and tough, that it will resist the edge of a sword. It is BELIAL, wicked, worthless men. amphibious. Dr. A. Clarke supposes the It was given to the inhabitants of behemoth to be the mammoth, or the Gibeah, who abused the Levite's wife, mastodon, animals now extinct. See Judges xix. 22; also to Hophni and his Commentary. A French naturalist Phinehas, the wicked sons of Eli. says of the hippopotamus, "It is 1 Sam. ii. 12. In the New Testament found in the rivers of Africa, and the name signifies Satan, as being an most probably frequented the rivers embodiment of all that is worthless. of Idumæa, when the country con- Hence the question of the apostle, tained few inhabitants. It is known" What concord hath Christ with that this colossal creature lives upon Belial ?" 2 Cor. vi. 15. herbs and roots, and that it conceals itself in marshy places. Its teeth are large and strong; their hardness and whiteness render them peculiarly valuable. Its size is rather less than that of the elephant, and its tail is hardly a foot in length. These creatures congregate in herds, and roam about in the nights for pasture." BEKAH. A weight, half a shekel: in money, equal to about 1s. 1d. BEL. This is a contracted form of BAAL, and is the name by which the national god of the Babylonians is mentioned in Isai. xlvi. 1; Jer. 1. 2; li. 44. Whether under this appellation they worshipped Nimrod, or Pul, king of Assyria, or some other monarch, or the sun, is uncertain. It is, however, probable that Bel is the same as the Phoenician Baal; and that the worship of the same deity passed over to Phoenicia, and then to Carthage. Hence the names Hannibal, Asdrubal, &c., compounded of Bel, according to an eastern custom. A temple was erected to Bel, on the uppermost range of the tower of Babel, in which were many statues of this deity, and one of massive gold. This temple, with its riches, was in being till the time of Xerxes, who, on his return from his unfortunate ex BELLS. The lower part of the blue robe which the high-priest wore in religious ceremonies, was adorned with pomegranates and bells, arranged alternately, at equal distances. The reason is assigned Exod. xxviii. 35: "His sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not." Their tinkle seems to have signified some solemn point or process in the ceremonial, notifying to the people the time in which he was engaged in his sacred ministrations, during which they continued in prayer. BELLS OF THE HORSES are mentioned in Zech. xiv. 20. They were such as were attached to the bridles and belts of war-horses, that they might be trained to noise and tumult. Hence a person who had not been trained up to anything was called by the Greeks, "one not used to the sound of a bell," aкwdwvioтoç. The mules employed in the funeral ceremony of Alexander, had at each jaw a golden bell. There may be a reference to the pack-horses and mules of the East. The laden animals, being without riders, might stray, in traversing by night the open plains and deserts, but would soon be recovered by the sound of the bell. It is foretold that, in the happy days of the future, | viii. 18. His bravery on several occathe same motto, "Holiness to the sions is distinguished. 2 Sam. xxiii. Lord," which was upon the mitre of 20-23. He adhered to Solomon when the high-priest, should be inscribed some favoured the pretensions of upon the bells of the horses, mani- Adonijah, and, after putting Joab to festly signifying that in those days death, succeeded to the command of every thing, from the highest to the the army. 1 Kings i. 36; ii. 29-35. lowest, should be sanctified to the Lord. BELLY. Among the Hebrews, and the most ancient nations, the belly was regarded as the seat of the carnal affections; as being, according to their ideas, that which partakes first of sensual pleasures. Titus i. 12; Phil. iii. 19. It means also the soul. Prov. xviii. 8; xx. 27; xxii. 18. The belly of hell, signifies the grave, or imminent danger, or deep distress. Jonah ii. 2. BENHADAD, son of Hadad. The name of three kings of Syria. 1. Benhadad, king of Syria in the time of Asa, king of Judah, 1 Kings xv. 18, with whom he formed an alliance, against Baasha, king of Israel. He has been supposed to be the same person as Hadad, who rebelled against Solomon. 1 Kings xi. 25. 2. Benhadad, son of the preceding. 1 Kings xx. 1. He was a proud, boasting, and licentious man. 1 Kings xx. 10-12, 16. He declared war against BELSHAZZAR. The last king of Jehoram, king of Israel; but the proBabylon, the grandson of Nebuchad-phet Elisha disclosed Benhadad's plans nezzar, under whom Babylon was taken by the Medes and Persians. Dan. v. 18. During the siege, he gave a sumptuous entertainment to his lords and concubines, and impiously used the sacred vessels which had been brought by Nebuchadnezzar from the temple at Jerusalem. This was mixing the cup of the Lord with the cup of devils. His doom was denounced amidst the banquet. A divine hand appeared, and wrote certain mysterious words on the plaster wall of his palace, which Daniel, the prophet of God, interpreted: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." See MENE. In the tourse of the night, amidst the mirth nd revelling, the city was taken by the stratagem of Cyrus, and Belshazzar slain. The kingdom was transferred to Darius, the Mede. See BABYLON. so accurately, that Jehoram was able to defeat them. 2 Kings vi. 8, et seq. The next year he renewed the war, and besieged Jehoram in his capital, Samaria, until the inhabitants were reduced to the last extremities. The siege was then unexpectedly raised, according to the prediction of Elisha, through a panic infused into the besiegers, who, concluding that a noise, which they seemed to hear, indicated the advance upon them of a foreign host procured by Jehoram, thought only of saving themselves by flight. After some years Benhadad, learning that Elisha had arrived at Damascus, sent an officer of distinction, Hazael, to him with presents, to consult him as to his recovery from illness under which he then suffered. The prophet assured him that his disease was not mortal, but that he would, nevertheless, die. This was accomplished in a few days: Hazael smothered the sick monarch in his bed, B.C. 885. 2 Kings viii. 7-15. 3. Benhadad, son of the Hazael just_named. He was thrice defeated by Jehoash, king of Israel, who recovered from him all the territories beyond the Jordan, BEN, son. It is found as the pre- which Hazael had rent from the dofix of several proper names. Some-minion of Israel. 2 Kings xiii. 3, times also it is affixed, as REUBEN. 24, 25. BELTESHAZZAR. The name given to Daniel at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. BENAIAH. The son of Jehoiada, and commander of David's guards of Cherethites and Pelethites. 2 Sam. BENJAMIN, son of the right hand. The youngest son of Jacob and Rachel. His mother died immediately after his birth, and with her last breath called him BENONI, son of my sorrow. His father called him Benjamin; and he proved a great comfort to the aged patriarch. The tribe had their portion in the Holy Land adjoining to Judah; and when ten of the tribes revolted, Benjamin continued steady in attachment to Judah, and formed a part of it. 1 Kings xii. 17-23. BEREA. A city of Macedonia. Acts xvii. 10. It was in the northern part of that province, on the river Astræus, near Mount Pindus. It was afterwards called Irenopolis. To this. place Paul and Silas withdrew from Thessalonica; and the Jewish residents are described as "more noble," more ingenuous, than those of Thessalonica, because they diligently searched the Scriptures, to ascertain the truth of the doctrines taught by the apostles. BERNICE, or BERENICE. The eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I., and sister of the younger Agrippa. Acts xxv. 13, 23. She married her uncle, and subsequently Polemon, king of Cilicia, from whom she was soon divorced. Then she was mistress to Titus. Her residence with her brother was not free from suspicion. She was a woman of licentious character. She heard the discourse of Paul delivered before Festus. BERYL. A precious stone, of a bluish-green colour. It is found in the East Indies, Peru, Siberia, and Tartary. It was the tenth stone in the high-priest's breast-plate. Exod. xxviii. 10, 20; Rev. xxi. 20. BETH, house. A word often found incorporated with other names. The word is of a wide application, and is sometimes used to mean temple, place, habitation. BETHABARA, place of the ford. John i. 28. The name of a town on the east bank of the Jordan, where there was a ford across the river. It is about thirty miles north-east of Jerusalem, and perhaps the same as ВETH-BARAH. BETHANY, place of dates. Mark xi. A place on the south-east side of Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs distant, beyond the Mount of Olives. It was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, and Jesus appears to have gone frequently from Jerusalem to lodge there. See Matt. xxi. 17; xxvi. 6; Mark xi. 1, 11, 12; xiv. 3; Luke xix. 29; xxiv. 50; John xi. 1, 18; xii. 1. The village still subsists, and is now a very poor place, containing about twenty families. The monks, as usual, can identify all the places named in the sacred narrative, and point out the house of Martha, and the tomb of Lazarus. The sepulchre is a deep vault, like a cellar, excavated in the limestone rock in the middle of the village, to which there is a descent of twenty-six steps. Robinson alleges that there is not the slightest probability of its ever having been the ever after appears to have superseded tomb of Lazarus. The tomb was not BETHAVEN, house of iniquity. Hosea x. 5. A name given to Bethel, after it had become the seat of the worship of the golden calves. There was a place of this name lying east of Bethel. Josh. vii. 2; 1 Sam. xiii. 5. There was also a desert, or wilderness, of this name, forming part of the northern boundary of the tribe of Benjamin. Josh. xviii. 12. BETHEL, house of God. An ancient town, about twelve miles north of Jerusalem, on the right hand of the road to Shechem. It was originally called Luz. When Jacob left his father's house, in order to avoid the wrath of his brother Esau, he lodged one night near the town of Luz, and was favoured with a remarkable vision of the God of his fathers. He poured oil on the stone which had been his pillow, and called the name of the place Bethel, for, under the solemn impression made upon his mind, he said, "This is none other than the house of God." The name Bethel The been a favourite place. To this place BETHER, mountains of separation, BETHESDA, house or place of servoir of water in the city of Jerumercy. The name of a pool or re-salem, built round with porches, for H |