BAAL

(Baʹal) [Owner; Master].

1. The fourth-listed son of Jeiel, a Benjamite.​—1Ch 8:29, 30; 9:35, 36.

2. A Reubenite whose son Beerah was among those taken captive by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III.​—1Ch 5:5, 6, 26.

3. A Simeonite enclave city within the territory of Judah, apparently the same as Baalath-beer and Ramah of the south (or Negeb).​—Compare 1Ch 4:32, 33 and Jos 19:7-9.

4. In the Scriptures, the Hebrew word baʹʽal is employed with reference to (1) a husband as owner of his wife (Ge 20:3); (2) landowners (Jos 24:11, ftn); (3) “owners of the nations” (Isa 16:8, ftn); (4) “confederates” (literally, “owners [masters] of a covenant”) (Ge 14:13, ftn); (5) owners or possessors of tangibles (Ex 21:28, 34; 22:8; 2Ki 1:8, ftn); (6) persons or things having something that is characteristic of their nature, manner, occupation, and the like, for example, an archer (literally, “owner of arrows”) (Ge 49:23), a “creditor of the debt” (literally, “owner of a debt of his hand”) (De 15:2), “anyone given to anger” (literally, “owner of anger”) (Pr 22:24), “judicial antagonist” (literally, “owner of judgment”) (Isa 50:8, ftn); (7) Jehovah (Ho 2:16); (8) false gods (Jg 2:11, 13).

The term hab·Baʹʽal (the Baal) is the designation applied to the false god Baal. The expression hab·Beʽa·limʹ (the Baals) refers to the various local deities thought of as owning or possessing and having influence over particular places.

The term “Baal” occurs once in the Christian Greek Scriptures, in Romans 11:4, where it is preceded in the Greek text by the feminine article he. Commenting on the use of the feminine article before “Baal” in the Greek Septuagint and Romans 11:4, John Newton wrote in an essay on Baal worship: “Though he is of the masculine gender in the Hebrew, [hab·Baʹʽal], the lord, yet Baal is called [he Baʹal], = the lady, in the Septuagint; Hos. ii. 8; Zeph. i. 4; and in the New Testament, Romans xi. 4. At the licentious worship of this androgyne, or two-sexed god, the men on certain occasions wore female garments, whilst the women appeared in male attire, brandishing weapons.”​—Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism, by T. Inman, 1875, p. 119.

At times in Israel’s history Jehovah was referred to as “Baal,” in the sense of his being the Owner or Husband of the nation. (Isa 54:5) Also, the Israelites may have improperly associated Jehovah with Baal in their apostasy. The latter appears to be borne out by Hosea’s prophecy that the time would come when Israel, after going into and being restored from exile, would repentantly call Jehovah “My husband,” and no more “My owner” (“My Baal,” AT). The context suggests that the designation “Baal” and its associations with the false god would never again pass the lips of the Israelites. (Ho 2:9-17) The bad connotation that appears to have become attached to the Hebrew word baʹʽal because of its association with the degraded worship of Baal is thought by some to be the reason the writer of Second Samuel used the names “Ish-bosheth” and “Mephibosheth” (boʹsheth means shame) instead of “Eshbaal” and “Merib-baal.”​—2Sa 2:8; 9:6; 1Ch 8:33, 34; see ISH-BOSHETH.

Baal Worship. Little was known about Baal worship aside from the many Scriptural references to it until excavations at Ugarit (the modern Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast opposite the NE tip of the island of Cyprus) brought to light many religious artifacts and hundreds of clay tablets. Many of these ancient documents, now known as the Ras Shamra texts, are thought to be the liturgies of or words spoken by those participating in the rituals at the religious festivals.

In the Ras Shamra texts, Baal (also called Aliyan [the one who prevails] Baal) is referred to as “Zabul [Prince], Lord of the Earth” and “the Rider of the Clouds.” This harmonizes with a representation of Baal, showing him as holding a club or mace in his right hand and a stylized lightning bolt with a spearhead and a plant sprouting on its top in his left. He is also depicted as wearing a helmet with horns, suggesting an intimate connection with the bull, a symbol of fertility.​—PICTURE, Vol. 1, p. 230.

Normally, from late April to September, there is little rain in Palestine. In October the rains start and continue throughout winter and into April, resulting in abundant vegetation. The changes of the seasons and the resulting effects were thought to come in cycles because of the never-ending conflicts between the gods. The end of the rains and the dying of vegetation were attributed to the triumph of the god Mot (death and aridity) over Baal (rain and fertility), compelling Baal to withdraw into the depths of the earth. The beginning of the rainy season was believed to indicate that Baal had awakened to life. This, it was thought, was made possible by the triumph of Baal’s sister Anath over Mot, allowing her brother Baal to return to his throne. The mating of Baal with his wife, presumably Ashtoreth, was believed to ensure fertility for the coming year.

The farming and cattle-raising Canaanites probably thought that their engaging in a prescribed ritual, a sort of sympathetic magic, helped to stimulate their gods to action according to the pattern enacted at their religious festivals and was necessary to ensure productive crops and herds in the coming year and to avert droughts, locust plagues, and so forth. Hence Baal’s coming to life again to be enthroned and mated with his consort apparently was celebrated with licentious fertility rites, marked by sexual orgies of unrestrained debauchery.

Undoubtedly each Canaanite city built its Baal sanctuary in honor of its local patron Baal. Priests were appointed to conduct the worship at these sanctuaries and the many shrines on neighboring hilltops known as high places. (Compare 2Ki 17:32.) Inside the shrines there may have been images or representations of Baal, whereas near the altars outside were to be found stone pillars (likely phallic symbols of Baal), sacred poles representing the goddess Asherah, and incense stands. (Compare 2Ch 34:4-7; see SACRED POLE.) Male and female prostitutes served at the high places, and besides ceremonial prostitution, even child sacrifice was practiced. (Compare 1Ki 14:23, 24; Ho 4:13, 14; Isa 57:5; Jer 7:31; 19:5.) Worship of Baal was also carried out right on the housetops of the people, from where sacrificial smoke to their god was frequently seen to rise.​—Jer 32:29.

There are indications that Baal and other gods and goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon were associated in the minds of their worshipers with certain heavenly bodies. For instance, one of the Ras Shamra texts mentions an offering to “Queen Shapash (the Sun) and to the stars,” and another alludes to “the army of the sun and the host of the day.”

It is, therefore, noteworthy that the Bible makes several references to the heavenly bodies in connection with Baal worship. Describing the wayward course of the kingdom of Israel, the Scriptural record states: “They kept leaving all the commandments of Jehovah . . . , and they began to bow down to all the army of the heavens and to serve Baal.” (2Ki 17:16) Concerning the kingdom of Judah, it is noted that right in the temple of Jehovah there came to be “utensils made for Baal and for the sacred pole and for all the army of the heavens.” Also, the people throughout Judah made “sacrificial smoke to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations of the zodiac and to all the army of the heavens.”​—2Ki 23:4, 5; 2Ch 33:3; see also Zep 1:4, 5.

Each locality had its own Baal, and the local Baal was often given a name denoting his being attached to a specific locality. For instance, the Baal of Peor (Baal-peor), who was worshiped by Moabites and Midianites, took his name from Mount Peor. (Nu 25:1-3, 6) The names of these local Baals later came to be transferred through a figure of speech (metonymy) to the localities themselves, as, for example, Baal-hermon, Baal-hazor, Baal-zephon, Bamoth-baal. However, although there were many local Baals, officially, among the Canaanites, it was understood that there was actually just one god Baal.

What effect did Baal worship have on Israel?

Baalism is implied early in the Bible, although apparently it had not reached the level of degradation in the days of the patriarchs that existed when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. (Compare Ge 15:16; 1Ki 21:26.) The listing of the city of Ashteroth-karnaim, possibly named after Baal’s consort Ashtoreth, gives the first suggestion of it. (Ge 14:5) Before the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the location Baal-zephon could be seen in the wilderness. (Ex 14:2, 9) With respect to the inhabitants of Canaan, specific warnings were given to Moses on Mount Sinai to pull down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, and cut down their sacred poles. (Ex 34:12-14) Thus all appendages of Baal worship were to be eradicated from the Promised Land.

While the Israelites were camped on the Plains of Moab, King Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-baal (meaning “High Places of Baal”) to see the mighty throng. (Nu 22:41) After proving unsuccessful in bringing a curse directly upon the Israelites, Balaam advised Balak to lure them into idolatry through temptation to commit sexual immorality with the female idol worshipers of Baal of Peor. Thousands of Israelites succumbed to this temptation and lost their lives.​—Nu 22:1–25:18; Re 2:14.

Despite this bitter experience and the clear warnings by Moses and Joshua (De 7:25, 26; Jos 24:15, 19, 20), the Israelites, in taking up residence in the land, began to imitate the remaining Canaanites, apparently with a view to ensuring fertility in their cattle and crops. At the same time, they carried on a pretense of worshiping Jehovah. Following the death of Joshua, wholesale apostasy set in. (Jg 2:11-13; 3:5-8) The people kept altars, poles, and other appendages of Baal worship in their fields, and apparently they listened to their Canaanite neighbors as to how they might please the “owner,” or Baal, of each piece of land. The Israelites were also ensnared by the immoral practices associated with Baal worship. As a result, Jehovah abandoned them to their enemies.

However, when the people turned back to him, Jehovah mercifully delivered them by raising up judges such as Gideon, whose name was changed to Jerubbaal (meaning, “Let Baal Make a Legal Defense (Contend)”). (Jg 6:25-32; 1Sa 12:9-11) But no permanent reform then took place. (Jg 8:33; 10:6) Baalism continued to be practiced even beyond the days of Samuel, although it is written that, at his urgings, the people put away the Baals and Ashtoreth images and began serving Jehovah alone.​—1Sa 7:3, 4.

Although we do not hear of Baalism again until the end of Solomon’s reign, it may have lingered on in parts of the kingdom. Many varieties of Baalism were introduced into the country as Solomon married his many heathen wives, and they induced him and their children to serve other gods and goddesses, such as Ashtoreth and Molech, who were associated with Baal worship.​—1Ki 11:4, 5, 33; Jer 32:35.

With the split of the kingdom in 997 B.C.E., Jeroboam set up calf worship in the northern kingdom of Israel at Dan and Bethel. The native Baalism and the calf worship were carried on side by side, just as in Judah a semblance of true worship was carried on at Jerusalem as Baalism was also practiced throughout the land.​—1Ki 14:22-24.

A different Baal cult was introduced into Israel in King Ahab’s day (c. 940-920 B.C.E.), that of Melkart, the Baal of Tyre. (PICTURE, Vol. 2, p. 532) Ahab formed a marriage alliance with the daughter of the king of Tyre, named Ethbaal (meaning “With Baal”). This resulted in Ethbaal’s daughter, Jezebel, importing this more virile cult into Israel, with many priests and attendants. (1Ki 16:31-33) Finally, a famous showdown came at Mount Carmel between Jehovah and Baal.

Likely because Baal, believed to be the owner of the sky, was regarded by his worshipers as the giver of rains and fertility, a drought was ordered by Elijah in the name of Jehovah. (1Ki 17:1) After three years and six months of drought, Baal having proved unable to bring an end to the drought in answer to the many appeals undoubtedly made by his priests and worshipers, Elijah summoned all the people to Mount Carmel to witness the great test as to who is the true God. The test resulted in the humiliation of the Baal worshipers and the slaughter of 450 Baal prophets. Jehovah, and not Baal, then brought rain to end the drought.​—1Ki 18:18-46; Jas 5:17.

Ahab’s son and successor, Ahaziah, continued to serve Baal. (1Ki 22:51-53) Ahaziah’s brother, Jehoram, succeeded him, and it is reported that he removed the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made, although he persisted in calf worship.​—2Ki 3:1-3.

Later (c. 905 B.C.E.) Jehu was anointed king. He avenged the murder of Jehovah’s prophets by killing off Jezebel and the house of her husband Ahab. All the worshipers of Baal were then summoned to Samaria under pretense of holding “a solemn assembly for Baal.” At Jehu’s command all the Baal worshipers were killed. The sacred poles were burned, and the sacred pillar and house of Baal were pulled down, the house being set aside for a public privy. With this it is said that Jehu “annihilated Baal out of Israel.” (2Ki 10:18-28) So, at least for the time, Baal worship was suppressed. However, it was on account of such Baalistic religion that Jehovah finally let the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel go into exile.​—2Ki 17:16-18.

In Judah, Baalism evidently remained entrenched, despite the efforts of King Asa to remove its appendages. (2Ch 14:2-5) When Ahab married off Athaliah, his daughter by Jezebel, to Jehoram, the seventh Judean king, her wicked influence established Tyrian Baalism among the royal family in Judah. Even reforms at the beginning of the reign of Athaliah’s grandson, King Jehoash, and those later by King Hezekiah, did not effect permanent removal of Baal worship. (2Ki 11:18; 18:4) Hezekiah’s son Manasseh rebuilt the very high places that his father had destroyed. (2Ki 21:3) While apparently most of the Judean kings were contaminated with Baal worship, Manasseh was excessive in his pursuit of this degraded cult. (2Ki 21:9-11) King Manasseh’s later reform and even the extensive purge by his grandson, King Josiah, did not bring about a permanent return to true worship. Punishment by exile and desolation of the land was the result of this thorough contamination with false worship.​—2Ch 33:10-17; 2Ki 23:4-27; Jer 32:29.

Jeremiah, carrying on his prophetic work from the days of Josiah to the exile to Babylon, denounced Israel for degrading herself by Baal worship, likening Israel to an adulterous wife who prostituted herself under every luxuriant tree and on every high place, committing adultery with stones and trees, and forgetting Jehovah, “the husbandly owner” of the people. (Jer 2:20-27; 3:9, 14) After the exile to Babylon and the return of the Jews to Palestine, Baalism is not mentioned in the Bible as being practiced by the Israelites.

BAALAH

(Baʹal·ah) [Place of the Mistress].

1. A city on the N border of Judah, also called Kiriath-baal but better known as Kiriath-jearim. It is tentatively identified with Deir el-ʽAzar (Tel Qiryat Yeʽarim), about 13 km (8 mi) WNW of Jerusalem.​—Jos 15:9, 10, 60; 18:14; 1Ch 13:6; see KIRIATH-JEARIM.

2. A mountain in the NW corner of Judah, between the towns of Shikkeron and Jabneel, forming part of the N boundary of Judah’s territory. (Jos 15:11) It may possibly be identified with the hill of Mughar just N of the torrent valley of Sorek and 3 km (c. 2 mi) ESE of Jabneel (modern Yavne).

3. A town in the Negeb region of Judah (Jos 15:29), evidently referred to as Balah in Joshua 19:3 and Bilhah in 1 Chronicles 4:29. It was subsequently allotted to the tribe of Simeon as an enclave city. Its specific location is unknown, but evidently it lay to the SE of Beer-sheba.

BAALATH

(Baʹal·ath) [Place of the Mistress].

A border town of the original territory of Dan, mentioned at Joshua 19:44, 45 as being between Gibbethon and Jehud. It is evidently the same place that Solomon later included in his rebuilding program. (2Ch 8:5, 6) Its identification geographically is uncertain; Josephus (Jewish Antiquities, VIII, 152 [vi, 1]) refers to it along with Beth-horon as not far from Gezer, another fortified city.​—1Ki 9:17, 18.

BAALATH-BEER

(Baʹal·ath-beʹer) [Mistress of the Well].

An enclave city of Simeon within the territorial limits of Judah. (Jos 19:1, 8) Also called “Ramah of the south” (or Negeb), it is evidently referred to simply as Baal at 1 Chronicles 4:33 and may be the same as the “Ramoth of the south” at 1 Samuel 30:27. The references to it would place it S of Beer-sheba, thus in the Negeb.

BAAL-BERITH

(Baʹal-beʹrith) [Owner of a Covenant; once, at Jg 9:46, El-berith, God of a Covenant].

The Baal of Shechem, whom the Israelites began worshiping after the death of Judge Gideon. (Jg 8:33) The designation “Baal-berith” may denote that this particular Baal was believed to watch the keeping of covenants.

A kind of treasury was evidently attached to the house or temple of Baal-berith at Shechem. (Jg 9:4) In connection with the grape harvest, the Shechemites apparently held a festival in honor of Baal-berith, climaxed by a kind of sacrificial meal in the temple of their god. It was in the temple of Baal-berith on the occasion of their eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech, likely under the influence of wine, that Gaal incited the Shechemites to revolt against King Abimelech. (Jg 9:27-29) Later, when threatened by Abimelech, the landowners of the tower of Shechem (Migdal-Shechem, AT) sought refuge in the vault of the house of El-berith (Baal-berith), only to perish in the conflagration when Abimelech and his men set the vault on fire.​—Jg 9:46-49.

BAALE-JUDAH

See KIRIATH-JEARIM.

BAAL-GAD

(Baʹal-gad) [Owner of Gad (Good Fortune)].

A town in the valley plain of Lebanon at the base of Mount Hermon, on its W side. It is used to describe the most northerly point of Joshua’s conquest of the land of Canaan, as compared with the southerly point of Mount Halak in the Negeb. (Jos 11:17; 12:7; 13:5) The exact location is uncertain, but it is generally identified with Hasbaiya in the Wadi et-Teim or a site nearby.

BAAL-HAMON

(Baʹal-haʹmon) [Owner of a Crowd (Multitude)].

A place mentioned at Song of Solomon 8:11 as the location of a productive vineyard of King Solomon. No indication is given as to its site. While many view it as a literal location, some suggest that it is used in this poetic writing figuratively to represent the realm over which Solomon ruled and which produced great wealth.​—Compare 1Ki 4:20, 21.

BAAL-HANAN

(Baʹal-haʹnan) [Baal Has Shown Favor; Baal Is Gracious].

1. Son of Achbor; the seventh of eight kings of Edom who ruled “before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.”​—Ge 36:31, 38, 39; 1Ch 1:49, 50.

2. The Gederite whom David made chief “over the olive groves and the sycamore trees that were in the Shephelah.”​—1Ch 27:28, 31.

BAAL-HAZOR

(Baʹal-haʹzor) [Owner of the Courtyard (Settlement)].

A place near “Ephraim” (perhaps the city of Ephrain[m] mentioned at 2Ch 13:19; compare Joh 11:54) that served as the site of Absalom’s sheepshearing festival in which he maneuvered the death of his brother Amnon. (2Sa 13:23, 28) It is identified with the 1,032-m-high (3,386 ft) mountain Jebel ʽAsur (Baʽal Hazor), about 8 km (5 mi) NE of Bethel. From Baal-hazor Absalom fled to the small kingdom of Geshur, E of the Sea of Galilee.

BAAL-HERMON

(Baʹal-herʹmon) [Owner of Hermon].

This name appears at Judges 3:3 and 1 Chronicles 5:23. In the first instance it describes a point in the region inhabited by the Sidonians and the Hivites who remained unconquered by the Israelites, and it is here referred to as “Mount Baal-hermon.” It is usually identified with Mount Hermon itself but may refer to the Anti-Lebanon Range in general or to some portion thereof. At 1 Chronicles 5:23 “Baal-hermon” is used along with Senir and Mount Hermon and the region of Bashan to outline the territory occupied by the half tribe of Manasseh. While it may refer to a town or place near Mount Hermon, it may likewise be a designation for the mountainous region of Hermon.​—See HERMON.

BAALIS

(Baʹa·lis).

King of Ammon, who reportedly sent Ishmael to murder Governor Gedaliah of Judah in 607 B.C.E. The Greek Septuagint spells this name “Belisa.”​—Jer 40:14.

A seal impression bearing the name Baʽalyishʽa was discovered in 1984 in the excavations at Tell el-ʽUmeiri in Jordan. This seal impression was dated paleographically to the latter part of the seventh century B.C.E. The inscription on it, written in ancient Ammonite characters, reads: “Belonging to Milkomʼor [or, Milkomʼur], servant of Baʽalyishʽa.” Baʽalyishʽa is possibly the Baalis of the Bible.

BAAL-MEON

(Baʹal-meʹon) [shortened form of Beth-baal-meon].

A prominent town on the tableland of N Moab assigned to the tribe of Reuben along with Nebo, Kiriathaim, and other towns of the region. (Nu 32:37, 38; 1Ch 5:8) The Reubenites, desiring the region for its good grazing land, evidently rebuilt and renamed the towns. In the earlier list at Numbers 32:3, 4, Baal-meon may be represented by the name “Beon.” Joshua thereafter refers to it as Beth-baal-meon, likely the full name of the place.​—Jos 13:17.

Baal-meon seems to have been retaken by the Moabites during the reign of King Mesha of Moab, evidently in the latter part of the tenth century B.C.E. The Moabite Stone inscription (line 9) states that Mesha “built [perhaps, fortified] Baal-meon, making a reservoir in it,” and on line 30 he refers to it by the fuller name Beth-baal-meon. Additionally, on a piece of inscribed pottery found in Samaria (Ostraca 27 of Samaria) mention is made of a certain “Baala the Baal-meonite.”

In the seventh century B.C.E. the prophet Jeremiah issued a divine warning to Moab foretelling the despoiling of the land by Babylon, specifically mentioning certain towns, including Beth-meon (likely Baal-meon). (Jer 48:20-23) Ezekiel includes Baal-meon as one of the Moabite sites to be possessed by the “Orientals” (or, “sons of the East”). (Eze 25:9, 10) Secular history and archaeological investigation confirm the fulfillment of these prophecies.​—See MOAB, MOABITES No. 2.

Baal-meon is identified with the ruins of Maʽin, forming a mound of considerable size about 6 km (3.5 mi) WSW of Medeba and 12 km (7 mi) E of the Dead Sea. The plateau on which Maʽin lies is about 800 m (2,600 ft) in elevation.

BAAL OF PEOR

(Baʹal of Peʹor).

The particular Baal worshiped at Mount Peor by both Moabites and Midianites. (Nu 25:1, 3, 6) It has been suggested that Baal of Peor may actually have been Chemosh, in view of the fact that the latter deity was the chief god of the Moabites. (Nu 21:29) As with Baalism generally, grossly licentious rites were probably connected with the worship of Baal of Peor. The Israelites, while encamped at Shittim on the high plains of Moab, were enticed into immorality and idolatry by the female worshipers of this god.​—Nu 25:1-18; De 4:3; Ps 106:28; Ho 9:10; Re 2:14.

Israel’s sin in connection with Baal of Peor resulted in Jehovah’s sending a death-dealing scourge that killed thousands of Israelites. A question arises as to the number of those actually killed by the scourge in view of a seeming discrepancy between Numbers 25:9 and 1 Corinthians 10:8. Apparently 23,000 were directly killed by the scourge, whereas 1,000 “head ones” or ringleaders were killed by the judges of Israel and then hung up, exposed to public view.​—Nu 25:4, 5; see BAAL No. 4.

BAAL-PERAZIM

(Baʹal-pe·raʹzim) [Owner of Breakings Through].

The site of a complete victory by King David over the combined forces of the Philistines, sometime after David’s conquest of the stronghold of Zion. (2Sa 5:9, 17-21) The record states that, upon hearing of the Philistines’ aggressive approach, David and his men “went down to the place hard to approach,” while the Philistines were “tramping about in the low plain of Rephaim.” Receiving assurance from Jehovah of his support, David attacked, and the Philistines fled, leaving their idols behind. Attributing the victory to Jehovah, David said: “Jehovah has broken through my enemies ahead of me, like a gap made by waters”; and for this reason he “called the name of that place Baal-perazim.” The account at 2 Samuel 5:21 says that David and his men ‘took the Philistines’ abandoned idols away.’ The parallel account at 1 Chronicles 14:12 shows the final action taken, stating: “Then David said the word, and so they [the idols] were burned in the fire.”

Mount Perazim referred to by Isaiah (28:21) is considered to be the same location. Its use in his prophecy recalls Jehovah’s victory through David at Baal-perazim, cited as an example of the strange deed due to be effected, in which, Jehovah declares, he will break in upon his enemies like an overflowing flash flood.

The Low Plain of Rephaim is considered to be the Plain of the Baqaʽ to the SW of the Temple Mount, which, after sloping downward for about 1.5 km (1 mi), contracts into a narrow valley, the Wadi el Werd (Nahal Refaʼim). On this basis, some scholars suggest Baal-perazim to be a site in the vicinity of this valley. However, on the basis of the parallel with “the low plain near Gibeon” drawn by Isaiah (28:21), some scholars suggest a site to the NW, possibly Sheikh Bedr, about 4 km (2.5 mi) WNW of the Temple Mount. (Jos 15:8, 9) This would be in harmony with the fact that the escape route of the Philistines who were pursued by David was in the direction of Gibeon and Gezer.​—2Sa 5:22, 25; 1Ch 14:16.

BAAL-SHALISHAH

(Baʹal-shalʹi·shah) [Owner of Shalishah].

A place from which a man brought 20 barley loaves of the firstfruits of his harvest and some fresh grain to present to the prophet Elisha. (2Ki 4:42-44) It was a time of famine, and Elisha was at Gilgal. The humble supply proved sufficient for the hundred “sons of the prophets” there, with leftovers.​—2Ki 4:38, 43; compare Mt 14:20; Mr 8:8.

Baal-shalishah is considered to have been near Gilgal and probably in “the land of Shalishah,” through which Saul passed when searching for his father’s she-asses. (1Sa 9:4) There is a reference to Baal-shalishah in the Babylonian Talmud describing it as a place where the fruits ripened especially early. (Sanhedrin 12a) A suggested location is that of Kafr Thulth in the foothills of Ephraim, the name Thulth being the precise equivalent in Arabic of the Hebrew Shalishah. Kafr Thulth is located about 46 km (29 mi) NNW of Jerusalem.

BAAL-TAMAR

(Baʹal-taʹmar) [Owner of the Palm Tree].

A site near Gibeah where Israelite fighting men drew up in formation against the tribe of Benjamin in a costly battle provoked by a revolting sex crime. Some of Israel’s forces were massed at Baal-tamar, while others were placed as an ambush against the Benjamites. (Jg 19:25-28; 20:33) The location of Baal-tamar is uncertain.

BAAL-ZEBUB

(Baʹal-zeʹbub) [Owner of the Flies].

The Baal worshiped by the Philistines at Ekron. There are indications that it was a common practice among the Hebrews to change the names of false gods to something similar but degrading. Hence, the ending “zebub” may be an alteration of one of the titles of Baal shown in the Ras Shamra texts as “Zabul” (“Prince”), or Zebul. Some scholars, however, suggest that the name was given to the god by his worshipers because of his being viewed as the producer of flies and therefore able to control this common pest of the Middle East. Since the giving of oracles was associated with Baal-zebub, others favor the view that Baal-zebub was a god who was regarded as giving oracles by the flight or buzzing of a fly.​—2Ki 1:2.

Ahaziah the king of Israel sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub as to whether he would recover from his serious injury or not. Through his prophet Elijah, Jehovah rebuked Ahaziah, saying: “Is it because there is no God at all in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore, as regards the couch upon which you have gone up, you will not come down off it, because you will positively die.”​—2Ki 1:2-8; see BEELZEBUB.

BAAL-ZEPHON

(Baʹal-zeʹphon) [Owner of the North (North Boundary)].

A geographic point used to define or give the situation of the camping site of the Israelites at Pihahiroth prior to their crossing the Red Sea. (Ex 14:2; Nu 33:1-7) Having left Rameses, they first camped at Succoth, then at Etham “at the edge of the wilderness.” (Ex 13:20) At this point Jehovah told them to “turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth between Migdol and the sea in view of Baal-zephon.” It was here that Pharaoh’s charioteers, cavalry, and military forces began to overtake them.​—Ex 14:2, 9.

The location of Baal-zephon is uncertain. It was evidently a familiar place at that time. The major factor is, of course, the Israelite’s crossing of the Red Sea, the account of which shows that they went through a body of water of considerable depth. Such situation is found only when reaching as far S as the northern end of the Gulf of Suez. On this basis some scholars associate Baal-zephon with the mountains in that region. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Brown, Driver, and Briggs (1980, p. 128), says: “near Red Sea in Egypt, prob[ably] Mt. ʽAtaka.” This mountain lies near the head of the Gulf of Suez, a short distance to the SW of the present city of Suez. Others suggest Jebel el Galala, some 40 km (25 mi) or so farther S. Those favoring this site believe that Migdol, mentioned along with Baal-zephon in the accounts, was a watchtower located strategically on Jebel (Mount) ʽAtaqah.​—See EXODUS; PIHAHIROTH.

BAANA

(Baʹa·na).

1. One of the 12 deputies whom Solomon appointed to secure food for the king’s household. Baana’s assignment was the fifth-listed district, primarily the fertile valleys of Megiddo and Jezreel. Son of Ahilud; possibly the brother of Solomon’s recorder Jehoshaphat.​—1Ki 4:3, 7, 12.

2. Another of Solomon’s 12 food deputies, responsible for the ninth-listed district, in northern Palestine. Son of Hushai, David’s companion.​—1Ki 4:7, 16; 2Sa 15:32-37.

3. Father of the Zadok who assisted Nehemiah to repair Jerusalem’s walls, 455 B.C.E.​—Ne 3:3, 4.

BAANAH

(Baʹa·nah).

1. A son of Rimmon the Benjamite. He and his brother Rechab were chiefs of marauding bands belonging to Saul’s son Ish-bosheth. Baanah and his brother murdered Ish-bosheth while he was taking a siesta, but when they brought his head to David, who had recently been installed as king, he ordered them killed, had their hands and feet cut off, and had them hanged by the pool in Hebron.​—2Sa 4:2-12.

2. A Netophathite, father of one of David’s mighty men, Heleb (Heled).​—2Sa 23:29; 1Ch 11:30.

3. One who was possibly a leader of those returning from Babylonian exile with Zerubbabel.​—Ezr 2:2; Ne 7:7.

4. One of “the heads of the people” whose descendant, if not he himself, attested to Nehemiah’s “trustworthy arrangement.” (Ne 9:38; 10:14, 27) He may be the same as No. 3, above.

BAARA

(Baʹa·ra).

One of the wives of Shaharaim the Benjamite.​—1Ch 8:1, 8.

BAASEIAH

(Ba·a·seʹiah).

A descendant of Levi through Gershom; ancestor of temple musician Asaph.​—1Ch 6:39, 40, 43.

BAASHA

(Baʹa·sha).

Third king of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel; son of Ahijah of the tribe of Issachar and of insignificant background. He usurped the throne by killing his predecessor Nadab, after which he struck down the entire house of Jeroboam, as had been prophesied. (1Ki 15:27-30; 14:10) Baasha, however, continued Jeroboam’s calf worship, and extermination was also promised for his own house for this. (1Ki 16:1-4) When he waged war against Judah, Asa induced the king of Syria to harass Baasha from the N. The fortified city of Ramah, which Baasha was building, Asa then razed. (1Ki 15:16-22; 2Ch 16:1-6; see ASA No. 1 [Intrigue and Warfare Against Baasha].) After having ruled from about 975 to 953 B.C.E., Baasha died and was buried in his capital, Tirzah. His son Elah became king in the 26th year of Asa the king of Judah (1Ki 16:8), but in the 27th year of Asa (1Ki 16:15) Zimri rebelled and wiped out Baasha’s house, fulfilling Jehovah’s decree.

BABEL

(Baʹbel) [Confusion].

One of the first cities to be built after the Flood. Here God “confused the language of all the earth.” (Ge 11:9) The name is derived from the verb ba·lalʹ, meaning “confuse.” Local citizens, thinking of their city as God’s seat of government, claimed that the name was compounded from Bab (Gate) and ilu (God), signifying “Gate of God.”

The beginning of the kingdom of wicked Nimrod, the “mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah,” was here at Babel, “in the land of Shinar,” on the alluvial plain built up by silt from the flooding Euphrates and Tigris rivers. (Ge 10:9, 10) Stones were not available for construction, so the builders made use of the great deposits of clay. “Let us make bricks and bake them with a burning process,” they said. Because of an absence of lime, the mortar consisted of bitumen.​—Ge 11:3.

Babel’s God-defying program centered around construction of a religious tower “with its top in the heavens.” It was not built for the worship and praise of Jehovah, but was dedicated to false man-made religion, with a motive of making a “celebrated name” for the builders.​—Ge 11:4.

The approximate time of such building may be drawn from the following information: Peleg lived from 2269 to 2030 B.C.E. His name meant “Division,” for “in his days the earth [that is, “earth’s population”] was divided”; Jehovah “scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth.” (Ge 10:25; 11:9) A text of Sharkalisharri, king of Agade (Accad) in patriarchal times, mentions his restoring a temple-tower at Babylon, implying that such a structure existed prior to his reign.

BABYLON

(Babʹy·lon) [Confusion].

1. The later name given to Babel. This city of renown was located along the Euphrates River on the Plains of Shinar approximately 870 km (540 mi) E of Jerusalem and some 80 km (50 mi) S of Baghdad. The ruins of Babylon extend over a vast area in the form of a triangle. Several mounds are scattered over the area. Tell Babil (Mujelibe), in the northern part of the triangle, preserves the ancient name and is located about 10 km (6 mi) N of Hilla, Iraq.​—See BABYLON No. 2; SHINAR.

The city lay on both sides of the Euphrates River. A double system of walls surrounded Babylon, making it seemingly impregnable.

The inner rampart, constructed of crude bricks, consisted of two walls. The inner wall was 6.5 m (21.5 ft) thick. The outer wall, situated 7 m (23 ft) away, was about 3.5 m (11.5 ft) thick. These walls were buttressed by defense towers, which also served to reinforce the walls structurally. About 20 m (66 ft) outside the outer wall was a quay made of burnt brick set in bitumen. Outside this wall was a moat connected with the Euphrates to the N and S of the city. It provided both water supply and protection against enemy armies. Babylonian documents indicate that eight gates gave access to the interior of the city. So far, four of Babylon’s gates have been discovered and excavated.

The outer rampart E of the Euphrates was added by Nebuchadnezzar II (who destroyed Solomon’s temple), thus enclosing a large area of the plain to the N, E, and S for the people living nearby to flee to in case of war. This outer rampart also consisted of two walls. The inner wall, made of unbaked bricks, was about 7 m (23 ft) thick and was buttressed with defense towers. Beyond this, about 12 m (40 ft) away, was the outer wall of baked bricks, made in two parts that were interlocked by their towers: one was almost 8 m (26 ft) thick, and the adjoining part was about 3.5 m (11.5 ft) thick.

Nabonidus joined the ends of the outer rampart by constructing a wall along the eastern bank of the river. This wall was about 8.5 m (28 ft) wide and also had towers as well as a quay 3.5 m (11.5 ft) wide.

Herodotus, Greek historian of the fifth century B.C.E., says that the Euphrates River was flanked on either side with a continuous quay, which was separated from the city proper by walls having gateways. According to him, the city walls were about 90 m (295 ft) high, 26.5 m (87 ft) thick, and about 95 km (59 mi) long. However, it appears that Herodotus exaggerated the facts regarding Babylon. Archaeological evidence shows that Babylon was much smaller in size, with the outer rampart much shorter in length and height. No evidence has been found to verify the existence of a quay lining the immediate western bank of the river.

Streets ran through the city from the gates in the massive walls. The Processional Way, the main boulevard, was paved and the walls alongside it were decorated with lions. (PICTURE, Vol. 2, p. 323) Nebuchadnezzar II repaired and enlarged the old palace and built a summer palace some 2 km (1.5 mi) to the north. He also built a great structure of vaulted archways, tier upon tier, known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and famed as a “wonder of the ancient world.”

This sprawling metropolis astride the watercourse of the Euphrates was a commercial and industrial center of world trade. More than an important manufacturing center, it was a commercial depot for trade between the peoples of the East and the West, both by land and by sea. Thus her fleet had access to the Persian Gulf and the seas far beyond.

History. Nimrod, who lived in the latter part of the third millennium B.C.E., founded Babylon as the capital of man’s first political empire. Construction of this city, however, suddenly came to a halt when confusion in communication occurred. (Ge 11:9) Later generations of rebuilders came and went. Hammurabi enlarged the city, strengthened it, and made it the capital of the Babylonian Empire under Semitic rule.

Under the control of the Assyrian World Power, Babylon figured in various struggles and revolts. Then with the decline of the second world empire, the Chaldean Nabopolassar founded a new dynasty in Babylon about 645 B.C.E. His son Nebuchadnezzar II, who completed the restoration and brought the city to its greatest glory, boasted, “Is not this Babylon the Great, that I myself have built?” (Da 4:30) In such glory it continued as the capital of the third world power until the night of October 5, 539 B.C.E. (Gregorian calendar), when Babylon fell before the invading Medo-Persian armies under the command of Cyrus the Great.

That fateful night in the city of Babylon, Belshazzar held a banquet with a thousand of his grandees. Nabonidus was not there to see the ominous writing on the plaster wall: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL and PARSIN.” (Da 5:5-28) After suffering defeat at the hands of the Persians, Nabonidus had taken refuge in the city of Borsippa to the SW. But Jehovah’s prophet Daniel was on hand in Babylon on that night of October 5, 539 B.C.E., and he made known the significance of what was written on the wall. The men of Cyrus’ army were not sleeping in their encampment around Babylon’s seemingly impregnable walls. For them it was a night of great activity. In brilliant strategy Cyrus’ army engineers diverted the mighty Euphrates River from its course through the city of Babylon. Then down the riverbed the Persians moved, up over the riverbanks, to take the city by surprise through the gates along the quay. Quickly passing through the streets, killing all who resisted, they captured the palace and put Belshazzar to death. It was all over. In one night Babylon had fallen, ending centuries of Semitic supremacy; control of Babylon became Aryan, and Jehovah’s word of prophecy was fulfilled.​—Isa 44:27; 45:1, 2; Jer 50:38; 51:30-32; see PICTURE, Vol. 2, p. 325; CYRUS.

From that memorable date, 539 B.C.E., Babylon’s glory began to fade as the city declined. Twice it revolted against the Persian emperor Darius I (Hystaspis), and on the second occasion it was dismantled. A partially restored city rebelled against Xerxes I and was plundered. Alexander the Great intended to make Babylon his capital, but he suddenly died in 323 B.C.E. Nicator conquered the city in 312 B.C.E. and transported much of its material to the banks of the Tigris for use in building his new capital of Seleucia. However, the city and a settlement of Jews remained in early Christian times, giving the apostle Peter reason to visit Babylon, as noted in his letter. (1Pe 5:13) Inscriptions found there show that Babylon’s temple of Bel existed as late as 75 C.E. By the fourth century C.E. the city was in ruins, and eventually passed out of existence. It became nothing more than “piles of stones.”​—Jer 51:37.

Today nothing remains of Babylon but mounds and ruins, a veritable wasteland. (PICTURE, Vol. 2, p. 324) The book Archaeology and Old Testament Study states: “These extensive ruins, of which, despite Koldewey’s work, only a small proportion has been excavated, have during past centuries been extensively plundered for building materials. Partly in consequence of this, much of the surface now presents an appearance of such chaotic disorder that it is strongly evocative of the prophecies of Isa. xiii. 19–22 and Jer. l. 39 f., the impression of desolation being further heightened by the aridity which marks a large part of the area of the ruins.”​—Edited by D. W. Thomas, Oxford, 1967, p. 41.

Religion. Babylon was a most religious place. Evidence from excavations and from ancient texts points to the existence of more than 50 temples. The principal god of the imperial city was Marduk, called Merodach in the Bible. It has been suggested that Nimrod was deified as Marduk, but the opinions of scholars as to identifications of gods with specific humans vary. Triads of deities were also prominent in the Babylonian religion. One of these, made up of two gods and a goddess, was Sin (the moon-god), Shamash (the sun-god), and Ishtar; these were said to be the rulers of the zodiac. And still another triad was composed of the devils Labartu, Labasu, and Akhkhazu. Idolatry was everywhere in evidence. Babylon was indeed “a land of graven images,” filthy “dungy idols.”​—Jer 50:1, 2, 38.

The Babylonians believed in the immortality of the human soul.​—The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, by M. Jastrow, Jr., 1898, p. 556.

The Babylonians developed astrology in an effort to discover man’s future in the stars. (See ASTROLOGERS.) Magic, sorcery, and astrology played a prominent part in their religion. (Isa 47:12, 13; Da 2:27; 4:7) Many heavenly bodies, for example, planets, were named after Babylonian gods. Divination continued to be a basic component of Babylonian religion in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who used it to reach decisions.​—Eze 21:20-22.

Israel’s Age-Old Enemy. The Bible makes many references to Babylon, beginning with the Genesis account of the original city of Babel. (Ge 10:10; 11:1-9) Included in the spoil taken by Achan from Jericho was “an official garment from Shinar.” (Jos 7:21) After the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 740 B.C.E., people from Babylon and other areas were brought in to replace the captive Israelites. (2Ki 17:24, 30) Hezekiah made the mistake of showing messengers from Babylon the treasures of his house; these same treasures as well as some of Hezekiah’s “sons” were later taken to Babylon. (2Ki 20:12-18; 24:12; 25:6, 7) King Manasseh (716-662 B.C.E.) was also taken captive to Babylon, but because he humbled himself, Jehovah restored him to his throne. (2Ch 33:11) King Nebuchadnezzar took the precious utensils of Jehovah’s house to Babylon, along with thousands of captives.​—2Ki 24:1–25:30; 2Ch 36:6-20.

The Christian Greek Scriptures tell how Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), taken prisoner to Babylon, was a link in the lineage to Jesus. (Mt 1:11, 12, 17) The apostle Peter’s first canonical letter was written from Babylon. (1Pe 5:13; see PETER, LETTERS OF.) That “Babylon” was the city on the Euphrates, and not Rome as claimed by some.

See BABYLON THE GREAT.

2. The Babylonian Empire was also referred to by the name of its capital city, Babylon, and was centered in the lower Mesopotamian valley.​—MAP, Vol. 2, p. 321.

Sometimes historians subdivide Babylonia, calling the northern part Akkad (Accad) and the southern part Sumer or Chaldea. Originally this territory was designated in the Scriptures as “the land of Shinar.” (Ge 10:10; 11:2; see SHINAR.) Later, when dominating rulers made Babylon their capital, this area was known as Babylonia. Because Chaldean dynasties sometimes held sway, it was also called “the land of the Chaldeans.” (Jer 24:5; 25:12; Eze 12:13) Some of the ancient cities in Babylonia were Adab, Akkad, Babylon, Borsippa, Erech, Kish, Lagash, Nippur, and Ur. The Babylonian Empire, of course, extended beyond Babylonia, taking in Syria and Palestine down to the border of Egypt.

About the first half of the eighth century B.C.E., an Assyrian king by the name of Tiglath-pileser III (Pul) ruled Babylonia. (2Ki 15:29; 16:7; 1Ch 5:26) Later a Chaldean called Merodach-baladan became the king of Babylon, but after 12 years he was ousted by Sargon II. Sennacherib, in succeeding Sargon II, faced another Babylonian revolt led by Merodach-baladan. After Sennacherib’s unsuccessful attempt to capture Jerusalem in 732 B.C.E., Merodach-baladan sent envoys to Hezekiah of Judah possibly to seek support against Assyria. (Isa 39:1, 2; 2Ki 20:12-18) Later Sennacherib drove out Merodach-baladan and crowned himself ruler of Babylon, a position he held until death. His son Esar-haddon rebuilt Babylon. The Babylonians rallied around Nabopolassar and bestowed the kingship on him. With him began the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that was to continue until Belshazzar. That dynasty from Nabopolassar’s son Nebuchadnezzar on to Belshazzar is represented in Bible prophecy by the head of gold of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image (Da 2:37-45) and, in a dream-vision of Daniel, by a lion that had the wings of an eagle and the heart of a man.​—Da 7:4.

In 632 B.C.E. Assyria was subdued by this new Chaldean dynasty, with the assistance of Median and Scythian allies. In 625 B.C.E., Nabopolassar’s eldest son, Nebuchadnezzar (II), defeated Pharaoh Necho of Egypt at the battle of Carchemish, and in the same year he assumed the helm of government. (Jer 46:1, 2) Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon was “a golden cup” in the hand of Jehovah to pour out indignation against unfaithful Judah and Jerusalem. (Jer 25:15, 17, 18; 51:7) In 620 B.C.E. he compelled Jehoiakim to pay tribute, but after about three years Jehoiakim revolted. In 618 B.C.E., or during Jehoiakim’s third year as tributary ruler, Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem. (2Ki 24:1; 2Ch 36:6) However, before he could be taken by the Babylonians, Jehoiakim died. Jehoiachin, having succeeded his father, quickly surrendered and was taken captive along with other nobility to Babylon in 617 B.C.E. (2Ki 24:12) Zedekiah was next appointed to the throne of Judah, but he too rebelled; and in 609 B.C.E. the Babylonians again laid siege to Jerusalem and finally breached its walls in 607 B.C.E. (2Ki 25:1-10; Jer 52:3-12) That year, 607 B.C.E., when Jerusalem was laid desolate, was a significant one in the counting of time until Jehovah, the Universal Sovereign, would set up the world ruler of his choice in Kingdom power.​—See APPOINTED TIMES OF THE NATIONS (Beginning of ‘trampling’).

One cuneiform tablet has been found referring to a campaign against Egypt in Nebuchadnezzar’s 37th year (588 B.C.E.). This may be the occasion when mighty Egypt was brought under Babylonian control, as foretold by the prophet Ezekiel evidently in the year 591 B.C.E. (Eze 29:17-19) Finally, after a 43-year reign, which included both conquest of many nations and a grand building program in Babylonia itself, Nebuchadnezzar II died in October of 582 B.C.E. and was succeeded by Awil-Marduk (Evil-merodach). This new ruler showed kindness to captive King Jehoiachin. (2Ki 25:27-30) Little is known about the reigns of Neriglissar, evidently the successor of Evil-merodach, and of Labashi-Marduk.

More complete historical information is available for Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar, who were evidently ruling as coregents at the time of Babylon’s fall.

By now the Medes and Persians under command of Cyrus the Great were on the march to take over control of Babylonia and become the fourth world power. During the night of October 5, 539 B.C.E. (Gregorian calendar), Babylon was seized, and Belshazzar was slain. In the first year of Cyrus, following the conquest of Babylon, he issued his famous decree permitting a group of 42,360 Israelites, besides many slaves and professional singers, to return to Jerusalem. Some 200 years later, Persian domination of Babylonia came to an end when Alexander the Great captured Babylon in 331 B.C.E. By the middle of the second century B.C.E. the Parthians, under their king Mithradates I, were in control of Babylonia.

Since Jewish communities had been flourishing in this land, Peter the apostle to the Jews went to Babylon, and it was from there that he wrote at least one of his inspired letters. (Ga 2:7-9; 1Pe 5:13) Jewish leaders in these Eastern communities also developed the Babylonian Targum, otherwise known as the Targum of Onkelos, and produced a number of manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Petersburg Codex of the Latter Prophets, dated 916 C.E., is noteworthy because it embodies a mixture of both Eastern (Babylonian) and Western (Tiberian) readings.

BABYLON THE GREAT

Among John’s visions recorded in the book of Revelation appear pronouncements of judgment against “Babylon the Great,” as well as a description of her and of her downfall.​—Re 14:8; 16:19; chaps 17, 18; 19:1-3.

In Revelation 17:3-5, Babylon the Great is described as a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, richly adorned, and sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast having seven heads and ten horns. Upon her forehead a name is written, “a mystery: ‘Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.’” She is also depicted as sitting on “many waters” representing “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.”​—Re 17:1-15.

The luxury and the dominion attributed to Babylon the Great do not allow for simply equating her with the literal city of Babylon in Mesopotamia. After ancient Babylon fell to Cyrus the Persian in 539 B.C.E., it lost its position as a dominant world power, its captives, including the Jews, being freed. Although the city continued to exist even beyond the days of the apostles, and hence existed in John’s day, it was no longer a city of world importance, and it eventually fell into decay and utter ruin. Thus, Babylon the Great must be viewed as a symbolic city, one of which the literal city of Babylon was the prototype. Because the ancient city gives the mystic city its name, it is helpful to consider briefly the outstanding features of Babylon on the Euphrates, features that provide clues as to the identity of the symbolic city of John’s vision.

Characteristics of Ancient Babylon. The founding of the city of Babylon on the Plains of Shinar was concurrent with the attempt at building the Tower of Babel. (Ge 11:2-9) The popular cause to be advanced by the tower and city construction was, not the exaltation of God’s name, but that the builders might “make a celebrated name” for themselves. The ziggurat towers uncovered not only in the ruins of ancient Babylon but elsewhere in Mesopotamia would seem to confirm the essentially religious nature of the original tower, whatever its form or style. The decisive action taken by Jehovah God to overthrow the temple construction clearly condemns it as of a false religious origin. Whereas the Hebrew name given the city, Babel, means “Confusion,” the Sumerian name (Ka-dingir-ra) and the Akkadian name (Bab-ilu) both mean “Gate of God.” Thus the remaining inhabitants of the city altered the form of its name to avoid the original condemnatory sense, but the new or substitute form still identified the city with religion.

The Bible lists Babel first when giving the ‘beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom.’ (Ge 10:8-10) Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the ancient city of Babylon is featured prominently as the longtime enemy of Jehovah God and his people.

Though Babylon became the capital of a political empire in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., it was outstandingly prominent during its entire history as a religious center from which religious influence radiated in many directions.

Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., in his work The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (1898, pp. 699-701), says regarding this: “In the ancient world, prior to the rise of Christianity, Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion. . . . In Persia, the Mithra cult reveals the unmistakable influence of Babylonian conceptions; and if it be recalled what a degree of importance the mysteries connected with this cult acquired among the Romans, another link will be added connecting the ramifications of ancient culture with the civilization of the Euphrates Valley.” In conclusion he refers to “the profound impression made upon the ancient world by the remarkable manifestations of religious thought in Babylonia and by the religious activity that prevailed in that region.”

Babylon’s religious influence is traced eastward to India in the book New Light on the Most Ancient East, by archaeologist V. Childe (1957, p. 185). Among other points he states: “The swastika and the cross, common on stamps and plaques, were religious or magical symbols as in Babylonia and Elam in the earliest prehistoric period, but preserve that character also in modern India as elsewhere.” Thus, ancient Babylon’s religious influence spread out to many peoples and nations, much farther and with greater potency and endurance than did her political strength.

Like mystic Babylon, the ancient city of Babylon, in effect, sat on the waters, located, as it was, astride the Euphrates River and having various canals and water-filled moats. (Jer 51:1, 13; Re 17:1, 15) These waters served as a defense to the city, and they provided the thoroughfares upon which ships brought wealth and luxuries from many sources. Notably, the water of the Euphrates is depicted as drying up prior to Babylon the Great’s experiencing the wrath of divine judgment.​—Re 16:12, 19.

Distinguishing Features of Mystic Babylon. The symbolic woman bearing the name Babylon the Great is “the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth,” a kingdom that allows her, in effect, to sit on “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.” (Re 17:1, 15, 18) A kingdom over other kingdoms and nations is what is defined as an “empire.” Babylon the Great places herself above earthly kings, exercising power and influence over them. She rides the symbolic seven-headed beast, beasts being used elsewhere in the Bible as symbols of political world powers.​—See BEASTS, SYMBOLIC.

Some scholars assume that Babylon the Great is a political empire, either Babylon or Rome. We have already seen that Babylon as a political empire had long since ceased to exist when John received his prophetic vision. As to Rome, the nature of its political rule does not harmonize with the description of Babylon the Great’s course and her methods of dominating. She is a harlot, committing fornication with the kings of the earth, making them drunk with the wine of her fornication, misleading the nations by her “spiritistic practice.” (Re 17:1, 2; 18:3, 23) Rome’s dominion, by contrast, was gained and maintained by its ironlike military might and its firm application of Roman law among its provinces and colonies. Recognizing this fact, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says: “It is not sufficient to identify Rome and Babylon. Babylon embraces more than one empire or culture. It is defined rather by dominant idolatries than by geographical or temporal boundaries. Babylon is coextensive with the kingdom of that beast which has corrupted and enslaved mankind, and whom the Lamb must conquer (Rev. 17:14) if mankind is to be freed.”​—Edited by G. Buttrick, 1962, Vol. 1, p. 338.

The symbol of a harlot or a fornicatrix is used frequently in the Hebrew Scriptures. The nation of Israel was warned against entering into covenant relations with the nations of Canaan because this would lead them to commit “immoral intercourse [“play the harlot,” RS] with their gods.” (Ex 34:12-16) Both Israel and Judah apostatized from the true worship of Jehovah God and were condemned by him as having engaged in harlotry, prostituting themselves to the political nations and their gods. (Isa 1:21; Jer 3:6-10, 13; Eze 16:15-17, 28, 29, 38; Ho 6:10; 7:11; 8:9, 10) It may be noted here that God was not viewing Israel or Judah as mere political entities entering into relations with other political governments. Instead God reprimanded them on the basis of their being in a sacred covenant with him, hence responsible to be a holy people devoted to him and his pure worship.​—Jer 2:1-3, 17-21.

A similar usage of this figure is found in the Christian Greek Scriptures. The Christian congregation is likened to a virgin espoused to Christ as her Head and King. (2Co 11:2; Eph 5:22-27) The disciple James warned Christians against committing spiritual adultery through friendship with the world. (Jas 4:4; compare Joh 15:19.) The fornications of Babylon the Great and her “daughters” are of a similar nature and not some unique exception. (The term “daughters” at times is employed in the Bible to refer to the suburbs or surrounding towns of a city or metropolis, as the “dependent towns” [literally, “daughters” in Hebrew] of Samaria and Sodom; see Eze 16:46-48.)

An additional significant factor is that when Babylon the Great goes down under the devastating attack of the ten horns of the symbolic wild beast, her fall is mourned by her companions in fornication, the kings of the earth, and also by the merchants and shippers who dealt with her in supplying luxurious commodities and gorgeous fineries. While these political and commercial representatives survive her desolation, notably no religious representatives are depicted as still on the scene to share in mourning her downfall. (Re 17:16, 17; 18:9-19) The kings of the earth are shown as having judgment executed upon them sometime after mystic Babylon’s annihilation, and their destruction comes, not from the “ten horns,” but from the sword of the King of kings, the Word of God.​—Re 19:1, 2, 11-18.

A further distinguishing characteristic of Babylon the Great is her drunkenness, she being pictured as “drunk with the blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” (Re 17:4, 6; 18:24; 19:1, 2) She thus is the spiritual counterpart of the ancient city of Babylon, expressing the same enmity toward the true people of God. Significantly, it was to the charge of religious leaders that Jesus laid the responsibility for “all the righteous blood spilled on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah.” While those words were addressed to religious leaders from among Jesus’ own race, the Jewish nation, and while persecution against Jesus’ followers was particularly intense from that sector for a time, history shows that thereafter the opposition to genuine Christianity came from other sources (the Jews themselves suffering considerable persecution).​—Mt 23:29-35.

All the above factors are significant, and they must all be considered in arriving at a true picture of symbolic Babylon the Great and what it represents.

BACA

(baʹca) [Heb., ba·khaʼʹ].

The plant that played an important role in David’s encounter with the Philistines “in the low plain of Rephaim.” (2Sa 5:22-25; 1Ch 14:13-16) The only other reference to the plant is at Psalm 84:6: “Passing along through the low plain of the baca bushes, they turn it into a spring itself.” This may refer to the same “low plain of Rephaim” where David’s fight took place and which plain is believed to be SW of Jerusalem.

The Hebrew word used comes from a root meaning “weep.” (Compare Ge 21:16.) It therefore seems to indicate a plant, shrub, or tree that exudes tears of gum or perhaps a milky sap. Its identification is uncertain; the name baca is simply a transliteration of the Hebrew word. There is no apparent foundation for the rabbinic view that relates it to the mulberry tree (as also translated in KJ). Since balsam trees (of which there are several in the different tree families) exude gum or resin, these have been suggested by many scholars. A balsam tree of the poplar family (Populus euphratica) is recommended by some botanists, primarily because of the ease with which its leaves are stirred by any breeze, producing a rustling sound. However, the Bible does not specify how “the sound of a marching” was produced (whether by means of the leaves, the branches, or some other part of the plant) and simply indicates that it occurred in “the tops” of the plants. It could have been a mere rustling sound that served as a signal, or as suggested by some, it may have been a noise of some volume produced by a rushing wind that served to cover up or even to simulate the sound of a marching army.​—2Sa 5:24; 1Ch 14:15.

BACKBITING

This is a rendering of the Greek term ka·ta·la·li·aʹ. The related verb ka·ta·la·leʹo literally means “speak against,” doing so without justification and usually in a malicious or hostile manner. (1Pe 2:12; 3:16) The disciple James linked the expression with wrongful judging or condemning, thus conveying the sense of unjustifiably censuring.​—Jas 4:11; compare Ps 50:20.

Backbiters, or persons who speak against others maliciously behind their back, are among those against whom Jehovah’s wrath is directed, and his Word shows that all who continue as such are deserving of death. (Ro 1:18, 28-30, 32) The apostle Paul expressed grave concern that, in addition to other serious wrongs, he might find members of the congregation at Corinth engaging in backbiting. (2Co 12:20) For God’s Word or message to have its full effect on new disciples of Jesus Christ, they must rid themselves of backbiting and all other forms of badness. Only then can the “milk belonging to the word,” Scriptural truths suited to their needs, promote growth to salvation.​—1Pe 2:1, 2.

BAG

Composed of various types of skins, cloth, and woven materials, bags in ancient times were used to hold grains and food, stone weights, valuables, lumps of gold and silver, and in later periods, minted coins. Bags used for water and wine were usually made from tanned skins of animals.​—Jos 9:4; Mt 9:17.

The English word “sack” is derived from the Hebrew saq and, though used in the Bible primarily with reference to sackcloth (Le 11:32), this Hebrew word is also used as today to refer to containers for food and grains. (Ge 42:25, 27, 35) The Hebrew word ʼam·taʹchath (“bag,” NW; “sack,” KJ; derived from a verb meaning “spread out” [Isa 40:22]) is employed in the account concerning the visit of Joseph’s brothers to Egypt and appears to be more or less synonymous with saq, perhaps describing the form of the bag rather than the material from which it was made.​—Ge 42:27, 28; 43:18-23.

When preparing for his encounter with Goliath, David placed five stones in his shepherds’ “bag” (Heb., keliʹ), which receptacle is suggested to have been a sort of haversack carried across the shoulder and usually made from undressed skins of animals. (1Sa 17:40, 49) The Hebrew word here used is of very general meaning and more frequently refers simply to a receptacle, vessel, or utensil of earthenware, wood, metal, or skin.​—Le 6:28; 11:32, 33; Nu 31:20; 1Ki 10:21.

Syrian army officer Naaman gave greedy Gehazi “two talents of silver in two bags [Heb., chari·timʹ], with two changes of garments, and gave them to two of his attendants, that they might carry them.” Since a talent was equal to about 34 kg (92 lb t), it is evident that such a container (cha·ritʹ) must have been of ample size and strength to hold a talent plus a change of garment and, hence, when filled was about as much as one man could carry. (2Ki 5:23) However, the same word is also used to refer to the “purses” used as articles of luxurious adornment by the haughty daughters of Zion.​—Isa 3:16, 22.

There was also the bag (Heb., kis) carried by merchants, doubtless much like those that have continued to be used in Oriental lands till recent times. Judging from these later types, they were likely made of woven cotton, of flexible rushes, or of leather. These bags were used by traders, or merchants, for carrying weights required in business transactions where products, grains, or precious metals had to be weighed out. Referring to the kis, a warning against fraudulent business practices in the Mosaic Law stated: “You must not come to have in your bag two sorts of weights.” (De 25:13) Through his prophet, Jehovah asked: “Can I be morally clean with wicked scales and with a bag of deceptive stone weights?” (Mic 6:11; Pr 16:11) The kis could also be used as a “bag” or “purse” for carrying money and valuables.​—Pr 1:13, 14; Isa 46:6.

The Hebrew word tserohrʹ is derived from a verb meaning “wrap up” (Ex 12:34) and describes a common form of receptacle tied with a cord or string, either as a “bundle” (Ge 42:35) or as a “bag” with only the neck being drawn together and tied. (Pr 7:20; Ca 1:13) It appears that the money received from the chest of temple contributions was bound into such bundles, doubtless of uniform quantities. (2Ki 12:10) In ancient times, in business transactions involving large sums of money, the pieces were at times weighed and then put in such bundles or bags, the knot thereafter being sealed. If desired, the bag could then pass from one person to another as warranted to contain the stipulated amount. The unbroken seal thus could vouch for the amount of silver, gold, or other metal contained. Job apparently uses such a figure at Job 14:17, saying to God: “Sealed up in a bag is my revolt, and you apply glue over my error.” Abigail expressed confidence in Jehovah’s protection of David, stating that when an enemy pursued David his soul would “prove to be wrapped up in the bag of life with Jehovah [his] God.”​—1Sa 25:29.

In the Christian Greek Scriptures reference is made to a “food pouch” (NW) or “bag” (AT, RS). (Mt 10:10; Lu 9:3) The Greek word peʹra is described in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 4, p. 196) as “a traveller’s leathern bag or pouch for holding provisions.”​—See FOOD POUCH.

At John 12:6; 13:29 in the King James Version, Judas is spoken of as carrying a “bag”; however, most modern translations render the Greek word glos·soʹko·mon as “box” or “money box.” Originally used to refer to a case for keeping the mouthpiece of a wind instrument, the Greek word came to stand for a small box used for any purpose, including the keeping of money. The translators of the Greek Septuagint used this word to refer to the chest mentioned at 2 Chronicles 24:8, 10. For the “purse” (Lu 10:4) or “girdle purses” (Mt 10:9), see PURSE.

BAGGAGE

See LUGGAGE.

BAGPIPE

Although the Aramaic word sum·pon·yahʹ, appearing in Daniel 3:5, 10, 15, has been translated “dulcimer” (a stringed instrument) (KJ, Kx) and “symphony” (Dy, Yg), modern Bible translations generally render the expression as “bagpipe.” Koehler and Baumgartner’s Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros gives the meaning “bagpipe.”​—Leiden, 1958, p. 1103.

Sum·pon·yahʹ may have resembled present-day simple Oriental bagpipes. The required airtight bag is made from a goatskin, without the feet, tail, or head, but many times with the hair still covering it. A tube to fill the bag with air is inserted into this bag and so are flutelike pipes that are made from reeds and the tips of cows’ horns.

BAHARUMITE

(Ba·haʹrum·ite) [Of (Belonging to) Bahurim].

A native of the village of Bahurim. Azmaveth, one of David’s mighty men, was from this place and is called both “the Baharumite” at 1 Chronicles 11:33 and “the Bar-humite” at 2 Samuel 23:31. Shimei, the reviler of fleeing King David, was also a Baharumite.​—2Sa 19:16; 1Ki 2:8; see BAHURIM.

BAHURIM

(Ba·huʹrim) [Chosen].

A village by the Mount of Olives, situated on the N side of an ancient road leading to Jericho and the Jordan. It is generally identified with Ras et-Tmim, 2 km (c. 1 mi) NE of the Temple Mount.

Weeping Paltiel walked after Saul’s daughter Michal as far as Bahurim when she was being returned to King David. General Abner’s order: “Go, return!” sufficed to turn him back at that point. (2Sa 3:16) Later, David, when abandoning Jerusalem because of his son Absalom’s conspiracy, crossed the torrent valley of Kidron, went up “the ascent of the Olives,” crossed beyond the summit, and came to Bahurim. (2Sa 15:23, 30; 16:1, 5) Here Shimei, the Benjamite relative of Saul, began walking along the mountainside, cursing David, throwing stones, and tossing dust. (2Sa 16:5-13; 19:15-23) Bahurim was also the point at which Ahimaaz and Jonathan, the sons of Zadok and Abiathar, had to hide in the well of a certain man when they were on their way to deliver a message to King David.​—2Sa 15:27; 17:17-20.

BAKBAKKAR

(Bak·bakʹkar) [possibly, Large Flask].

A Levite who dwelt in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.​—1Ch 9:3, 14, 15, 34.

BAKBUK

(Bakʹbuk) [Flask].

Forefather of certain Nethinim who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, 537 B.C.E.​—Ezr 2:43, 51; Ne 7:53.

BAKBUKIAH

(Bak·bu·kiʹah) [Flask of Jah].

1. A Levite who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and served as a guard. (Ne 12:1, 9) Possibly the same as No. 2 below.

2. A Levite guard recorded as the head of a paternal house.​—Ne 12:23, 25; see No. 1 above.

3. A Levite, possibly of the singers, selected to reside in Jerusalem under Nehemiah.​—Ne 11:17, 18.

BAKE, BAKER

“Bake” means cook (or dry out; harden) by dry heat. The most common Hebrew term for “bake” is ʼa·phahʹ, root of ʼo·phehʹ (baker). (Ge 19:3; 40:2) Another Hebrew word for “bake” (ʽugh; Eze 4:12) is evidently related to ʽu·ghahʹ, meaning “round cake.”​—Ge 18:6; see CAKE.

In the Hebrew home the baking of bread and cakes was a chief duty of the women, though slaves did the baking in some larger households. Speaking for Jehovah, Samuel told the Israelites, who had requested a human king: “Your daughters he will take for ointment mixers and cooks and bakers.” (1Sa 8:13) Yet, men might oversee the work or do some baking themselves, as is indicated by Lot’s actions when two angels visited him in Sodom. “He baked unfermented cakes, and they went to eating” the prepared feast.​—Ge 19:1-3.

Bread was generally baked in ovens in Bible times. (See OVEN.) Occasionally, however, baking was done by kindling a fire on stones that had been laid together. When they were well heated, the cinders were swept aside and dough was placed on the stones. After a while, the cake was turned and then left on the stones until the bread was thoroughly baked. (Ho 7:8) Travelers might bake coarse bread in a shallow pit filled with hot pebbles, upon which a fire had been built. After the embers were removed, dough was laid on the heated stones, perhaps being turned several times while the bread was baking.​—1Ki 19:6.

Grain offerings made by the Israelites were often “something baked in the oven,” came “from off the griddle,” or were from “out of the deep-fat kettle.” (Le 2:4-7) The griddle was a thick pottery plate having depressions (comparable to a modern waffle iron), though iron griddles were also used.​—Eze 4:3.

Professional bakers were in business in the cities. While Jeremiah was in custody in the Courtyard of the Guard in Jerusalem during the time of scarcity prior to that city’s overthrow in 607 B.C.E., he was given a daily ration of a round loaf of bread “from the street of the bakers,” as long as the supply lasted. (Jer 37:21) So, commercial bakers evidently occupied a particular street in Jerusalem. Years later, when Jerusalem’s walls were restored under Nehemiah’s supervision, “the Tower of the Bake Ovens” was also repaired. (Ne 3:11; 12:38) Just how the tower came to be named is uncertain, but it is possible that it was given its unusual name because the ovens of commercial bakers were located there.

The royal baker was evidently a man of some importance in ancient Egypt. A wall painting from the tomb of Ramses III in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes depicts an Egyptian royal bakery in full operation, showing the kneading of dough with the feet, the making of cakes of bread, and the preparing of the oven. As reported in Genesis, one Egyptian royal baker gained particular notoriety because he sinned against the king and was cast into prison. There he had a dream in which he saw himself carrying three baskets of bread on his head, with fowls eating from the topmost basket. This “chief of the bakers” was taken out on the third day and “hung up,” thus fulfilling Joseph’s interpretation: “The three baskets are three days. In three days from now Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you and will certainly hang you upon a stake; and the fowls will certainly eat your flesh from off you.”​—Ge 40:1-3, 16-22.

BALAAM

(Baʹlaam) [possibly, One Swallowing Down].

Son of Beor, of the 15th century B.C.E. He lived in the Aramaean town of Pethor in the upper Euphrates Valley and near the Sajur River. Though not an Israelite, Balaam had some knowledge and recognition of Jehovah as the true God, speaking of him on one occasion as “Jehovah my God.” (Nu 22:5, 18) This may have been because devout worshipers of Jehovah (Abraham, Lot, and Jacob) formerly lived in the vicinity of Haran, not far from Pethor.​—Ge 12:4, 5; 24:10; 28:5; 31:18, 38.

Balaam turned down the offer of the first delegation from the Moabite king Balak, who brought with them “payments for divination,” saying: “Jehovah has refused to let me go with you.” (Nu 22:5-14) When “other princes in greater number and more honorable” came (Nu 22:15), and Balaam again sought God’s permission to go, Jehovah said: “Get up, go with them. But only the word that I shall speak to you is what you may speak.”​—Nu 22:16-21; Mic 6:5.

On the way Jehovah’s angel three times stood in the road, causing Balaam’s ass first to turn into a field, then to squeeze Balaam’s foot against a wall, and at last to lie down. Three times Balaam beat the animal, which then miraculously uttered a spoken protest. (Nu 22:22-30) Finally, Balaam himself saw Jehovah’s angel, who announced: “I have come out to offer resistance, because your way has been headlong against my will.” Yet Jehovah once again allowed Balaam to continue in his chosen course.​—Nu 22:31-35.

From start to finish God unalterably disapproved any cursing of Israel, insisting that if Balaam went he would have to bless, not curse. (Jos 24:9, 10) However, God permitted him to go. It was as in the case of Cain, when Jehovah expressed his disapproval but at the same time allowed the individual personal choice, either to abandon his bad way or plunge ahead in his wicked course. (Ge 4:6-8) Balaam, then, like Cain, was headstrong in disregarding Jehovah’s will in the matter, and was determined to gain his own selfish objective. In Balaam’s case it was greed of reward that blinded him to the wrongness of his way, as Jude writes: ‘Balaam rushed into the erroneous course for reward.’ The apostle Peter comments: “Balaam, the son of Beor, . . . loved the reward of wrongdoing, but got a reproof for his own violation of what was right. A voiceless beast of burden, making utterance with the voice of a man, hindered the prophet’s mad course.”​—Jude 11; 2Pe 2:15, 16.

Upon reaching Moabite territory and meeting King Balak on the bank of the Arnon, Balaam wasted no time in going to work for these opposers of Jehovah’s people the next day. Balaam together with Balak offered up sacrifices, and then Balaam withdrew, hoping to “come upon any unlucky omens” (Nu 23:3; 24:1), but the only message received was a blessing for Israel from Jehovah. The same sacrificial procedure was again followed atop Pisgah, and again there was “no unlucky spell against Jacob,” only blessings. Finally, the performance was repeated atop Peor, and again for the third time “God changed the malediction into a benediction.”​—Nu 22:41–24:9; Ne 13:2.

At this turn of events, “Balak’s anger blazed against Balaam,” and, clapping his hands in a rage, he exclaimed: “It was to execrate my enemies that I called you, and, look! you have blessed them to the limit these three times. And now run your way off to your place. I had said to myself I was without fail going to honor you, but, look! Jehovah has held you back from honor.” (Nu 24:10, 11) Balaam tried to excuse himself, blaming Jehovah for his failure at cursing Israel, saying he was not “able to pass beyond the order of Jehovah,” and that ‘whatever Jehovah said is what he had to speak.’ So with a few more proverbial pronouncements against Israel’s enemies, “Balaam got up and went and returned to his place.”​—Nu 24:12-25.

When it says that Balaam “returned to his place” it does not necessarily mean he actually reached his home back in Pethor. The words themselves do not imply that Balaam left more than the immediate vicinity of Mount Peor. As Cook’s Commentary observes on Numbers 24:25: “Returned to his own place . . . Not to his own land, for he remained amongst the Midianites to plot by new means against the people of God, and to perish in his sin. . . . The phrase, which is of frequent recurrence (cf. e.g. Gen. xviii. 33, xxxi. 55; I S. xxvi. 25; 2 S. xix. 39), is idiomatic, meaning merely that Balaam went away whither he would.”

Balaam still entertained hope of having that rich reward for which he had come so far and for which he had worked so hard. If he could not curse Israel, he reasoned, perhaps God himself would curse his own people, if only they could be seduced to engage in sex worship of the Baal of Peor. So “Balaam . . . went teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.” (Re 2:14) “By Balaam’s word,” the daughters of Moab and Midian “served to induce the sons of Israel to commit unfaithfulness toward Jehovah over the affair of Peor, so that the scourge came upon the assembly of Jehovah.” (Nu 31:16) The result: 24,000 men of Israel died for their sin. (Nu 25:1-9) Neither Midian nor Balaam escaped divine punishment. Jehovah commanded that all the men, women, and boys of Midian be executed; only virgins were spared. “And they killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.” (Nu 25:16-18; 31:1-18) As for the Moabites, they were barred from the congregation of Jehovah “to the tenth generation.”​—De 23:3-6.

BALADAN

(Balʹa·dan) [from Akkadian, meaning “God Has Given a Son”].

The father of Merodach-baladan (Isa 39:1; “Berodach-baladan” at 2Ki 20:12). Baladan’s son Merodach-baladan was king of Babylon during at least part of the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah (745-717 B.C.E.).

BALAH

See BAALAH No. 3.

BALAK

(Baʹlak) [He Has Laid Waste].

Baal-worshiping king of Moab in the 15th century B.C.E.; son of Zippor. Balak’s people were frightened and filled with “a sickening dread” when they saw what Israel had done to the Amorites. In league with Midian, Balak sent to the town of Pethor by the Euphrates River for Balaam to come from Mesopotamia and curse Israel with “uncanny power,” hoping thereby to gain a military advantage. (Nu 23:21) “Look!” Balak said to Balaam, “[the Israelites] have covered the earth as far as one can see, and they are dwelling right in front of me.” At first Balaam declined to go, but after Balak sent a more honorable delegation of princes and raised his offer, the greedy prophet finally accepted, with Jehovah’s allowance. Upon coming to the bank of the Arnon, Balak chided him: “Why did you not come to me [at first]? Am I not really and truly able to honor you?”​—Nu 22:2-37.

Balak took Balaam to three vantage points from which to view the host of Israel. At each point the same sacrificial procedure was followed; Balak was directed to construct seven altars upon which seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. However, at each place, instead of cursing Israel, Balaam blessed them.​—Nu 22:41–24:9; Mic 6:5.

At this, “Balak’s anger blazed against Balaam.” Clapping his hands in a rage, he exclaimed: “It was to execrate my enemies that I called you, and, look! you have blessed them to the limit these three times. And now run your way off to your place.” But before this prophet from Pethor departed, he foretold the Messianic “star” coming through Jacob’s seed.​—Nu 24:10-17; Jos 24:9, 10; Jg 11:25.

Subsequent events show that Balaam also “went teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.”​—Re 2:14; Nu 25:1-18.

BALDNESS

The absence of hair on the head, although not necessarily a total loss of hair. Often baldness occurs in spots or patches, while on other parts of the head the hair grows normally. This kind of hair loss is called pattern baldness and accounts for about 90 percent of all cases. The Bible makes mention of “baldness” (Heb., qor·chahʹ), “baldness of the crown” (Heb., qa·raʹchath), and “forehead baldness” (Heb., gib·beʹach and gab·baʹchath). (Le 13:41-44; 21:5) The exact cause of baldness is unknown. Heredity is considered the primary contributing factor, while infection, hormone imbalance, aging, nervous disorders, even some medical treatments, and syphilis may be factors.

Baldness is a defect that interferes with personal attractiveness and so among peoples of ancient times was associated with shame, mourning, and distress. (Isa 3:24; 15:2; Jer 47:5; Eze 27:31; Am 8:10; Mic 1:16) However, under the Law of Moses, baldness was not considered as uncleanness. (Le 13:40) The Law given through Moses does not list baldness as a defect that would prevent one from being allowed to serve as priest. In the prophet Ezekiel’s vision the command was given that the priests should wear their hair neither loose nor shaved, but clipped.​—Eze 44:20.

Jehovah’s prophet Elisha was bald. After he had succeeded to the prophetic office of Elijah, he was proceeding uphill from Jericho toward Bethel when he was mocked by a mob of children who cried: “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” The primary reason for their jeers seems to have been not that Elisha was bald but that they saw a bald man wearing Elijah’s familiar official garment. They did not want any successor of Elijah around. He should either keep going his way up to Bethel or ascend in a windstorm to the heavens as the former wearer of that official garment had done. (2Ki 2:11) To answer this challenge of his being Elijah’s successor and to teach these young people and their parents proper respect for Jehovah’s prophet, Elisha called down evil upon the jeering mob in the name of the God of Elijah. It was a test of his prophetship. Jehovah manifested his approval of Elisha by causing two she-bears to come out of the nearby woods and to tear to pieces 42 of them.​—2Ki 2:23, 24.

Some peoples made a practice of artificially imposing baldness by shaving in time of sorrow at the death of a relative or for religious reasons, but the Israelites were forbidden to practice this. (De 14:1) Priests were given a specific command that they should not make themselves bald or shave the extremities of their beards for the dead. (Le 21:5) Israel was commanded that they should not cut the sidelocks or extremity of their beards.​—Le 19:27; Jer 9:26; see BEARD.

In Egypt, the men generally shaved their heads, and they looked upon beards as a sign of mourning or slovenliness. For this reason Joseph, when taken out of prison, shaved before being brought into the presence of Pharaoh. (Ge 41:14) However, the Egyptians covered baldness with wigs, and many who shaved their heads and beards wore wigs and tied on false beards. In the Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian medical treatise from the second millennium B.C.E., there are 11 prescriptions for preventing baldness.

In the Law, one with head leprosy was to shave his head at the beginning of his quarantine period, on the day of purification, and again on the seventh day. (Le 13:33; 14:8, 9) If a Nazirite became defiled, then at the time of establishing his purification he shaved his head. (Nu 6:9) A captive woman whom an Israelite soldier was to take as a wife had to shave her head.​—De 21:12.

Nebuchadnezzar’s troops experienced temporary baldness during the strenuous and difficult siege of the land city of Tyre. Jehovah said to Ezekiel that “every head was one made bald, and every shoulder was one rubbed bare” as Nebuchadnezzar’s military force performed “a great service” in rendering judgment on Tyre. Their heads were made bald by the chafing of helmets and their shoulders from the rubbing of materials (for the construction of towers and fortifications).​—Eze 26:7-12; 29:17, 18.

In some places in the days of the apostles, such as in the immoral city of Corinth, women caught committing adultery or fornication were punished by having their hair shaved off. Slave girls had their hair clipped short. Paul apparently draws on this circumstance for illustration, showing that a woman in the Christian congregation who would pray or prophesy with her head uncovered, even though she had her hair as a covering, might as well go the whole way and show her shame in disrespecting God’s headship principle by having her hair completely shaved off.​—1Co 11:3-10.

BALSAM, BALSAM OF GILEAD

The term “balsam” applies to any of the many plants, shrubs, and trees producing an aromatic and, commonly, oily and resinous substance. The same word applies also to the substance produced. There are balsamiferous trees among the fir, spruce, poplar, and other tree families. The balsamic oil is used medicinally (usually containing benzoic or cinnamic acid) and as a perfume.

Balsam plants and trees were always highly prized by the peoples of the Orient. The first mention of “balsam oil” (Heb., boʹsem, beʹsem, or ba·samʹ) occurs at Exodus 25:6 with reference to its use as an ingredient in the holy anointing oil of the tabernacle. (See also Ex 35:8, 28.) The Hebrew word is sometimes translated as “perfumes,” “sweet,” or “spice,” according to the context. (Ex 30:23; Ca 4:10, 14, 16; 5:13; 6:2; 8:14) At Isaiah 3:24 its aromatic fragrance is contrasted with “a musty smell.”

The balsam used for the tabernacle service in the wilderness evidently came from outside of Palestine, perhaps from Egypt. During King Solomon’s reign the preciousness of balsam oil caused it to be ranked along with the gold and precious stones among the treasures that the queen of Sheba brought as gifts; it was also included in the tribute paid by the kings of many lands to the wise king in Jerusalem. (1Ki 10:2, 10, 25; 2Ch 9:1, 9, 24) It was among the precious things stored in the king’s treasure-house that Hezekiah unwisely showed to the emissaries from Babylon. (2Ki 20:13; 2Ch 32:27; Isa 39:2) It was used in the embalming (though not in the Egyptian way) of King Asa’s body. (2Ch 16:14) The English word “embalm” appears to be originally derived from the Hebrew ba·samʹ. Esther was massaged with aromatic balsam oil during the final six-month period prior to her appearance before King Ahasuerus.​—Es 2:12.

The “balsam [Heb., tsoriʹ] in Gilead” appears to have been of a unique quality and possessed of special medicinal properties. (Jer 8:22; 46:11) This balsam is first mentioned as among the articles carried by the caravan of Ishmaelites from Gilead, E of the Jordan, and to whom Joseph was subsequently sold. (Ge 37:25-28) Jacob later included it in with “the finest products of the land” when sending a gift to Egypt with his returning sons. (Ge 43:11) According to Ezekiel 27:17, the wealthy merchants of Tyre imported it from the kingdom of Judah.

References to the healing virtues of balsam, chiefly as a cure for wounds, are common in ancient literature. All references to such healing properties in the Scriptures are made by Jeremiah. He uses these, however, in a figurative sense, first when lamenting the spiritual breakdown in Judah (Jer 8:14, 15, 21, 22; compare Jas 5:14, 15), then in chiding Egypt as to her vain efforts to avoid defeat by Babylon (Jer 46:11-13), and finally in pronouncing God’s judgment of calamity against Babylon.​—Jer 51:8-10.

Identification of the specific plants or trees represented by the Hebrew words boʹsem and tsoriʹ is not definite. The name “balsam of Gilead” has been applied to a shrublike evergreen tree called Commiphora opobalsamum (or, Commiphora gileadensis). Its greenish-yellow oily resin is gathered by making incisions in the stem and branches, and the little balls of sap that form are later collected. While this particular tree is found chiefly in S Arabia, the Jewish historian Josephus indicates that it was cultivated around Jericho in Solomon’s time, and the Greek geographer Strabo records that in Roman times it was also grown beside the Sea of Galilee.

It has been suggested that tsoriʹ may refer to the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus), which produces a pale-yellow fragrant gum called mastic, as well as an oil used for medicinal purposes obtained from the bark, leaves, and berries. The tree is common in Palestine, and its name in Arabic is very similar to the Hebrew tsoriʹ.

BAMOTH

(Baʹmoth) [High Places].

One of the encampment stages of the nation of Israel on its approach to the land of Canaan. (Nu 21:19, 20) Bamoth is listed as between Nahaliel and “the valley that is in the field of Moab, at the head of Pisgah.” It is probably a shortened form of Bamoth-baal.​—See BAMOTH-BAAL.

BAMOTH-BAAL

(Baʹmoth-baʹal) [High Places of Baal].

A town in Moab to which Balak, the king of Moab, conducted the prophet Balaam so that he might see the camp of Israel and call down a curse upon it. (Nu 22:41) Balak’s selection of this location for the enacting of the curse and the accompanying sacrifices may indicate that it was a center for Baal worship, evidently situated in an elevated place. (Nu 23:1-9) Thereafter, Bamoth-baal and other towns “on the tableland” were assigned to the tribe of Reuben as an inheritance. (Jos 13:15, 17) In the early part of the ninth century B.C.E., King Mesha of Moab states that he rebuilt “Beth-bamoth, for it had been destroyed.” (Line 27 of the Moabite Stone) It seems likely that Bamoth, Bamoth-baal, and Beth-bamoth were all names of the same place.​—Compare Baal-meon, Beon, Beth-baal-meon in the article on BAAL-MEON.

The description given in the Bible account indicates a place on the plateau region toward the NE corner of the Dead Sea. While the identification is only tentative, a suggested location is that of Khirbet Quweijiya, about 14 km (9 mi) E of the Dead Sea, near the probable location of Mount Nebo.

BAN

This word is used in certain modern translations (JB, NE, NW) to render the Hebrew cheʹrem, also rendered in the New World Translation as “thing devoted to destruction.” The Hebrew word refers to that which is irrevocably and irredeemably devoted to God and thus separated out for sacred use, but is most frequently used with reference to things thus separated for complete destruction. It can apply to an individual person. (Ex 22:20; JB here reads: “Anyone who sacrifices to other gods shall come under the ban [“be devoted to destruction,” NW]”; Le 27:29) Or it may apply to his possessions (Ezr 10:8); to an animal, to a field, or to any article so devoted to sacred use (Le 27:21, 28); or to an entire city and all things therein.​—De 13:15-17; Jos 6:17.

Sacred bans figured in certain prophecies. (Mic 4:13; Zec 14:11) For a complete discussion of the subject, see DEVOTED THING.

BANGLE

See ANKLET.

BANI

(Baʹni) [from a root meaning “build”].

1. A Levite in the line of Merari, and ancestor of the Ethan whom David appointed to temple service.​—1Ch 6:31, 44, 46.

2. One of David’s mighty men, a Gadite.​—2Sa 23:36.

3. A descendant of Judah through Perez, whose descendants lived in Jerusalem after the exile. (1Ch 9:3, 4) It is possible that this family head was the same as Nos. 4 and 5 or as 4 and 6 below.

4. A family head whose descendants, over 600 in number, returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. (Ezr 2:1, 10) He is called Binnui at Nehemiah 7:15.​—See No. 3 above.

5. A family head, six of whose descendants dismissed their foreign wives and sons in Ezra’s time. Not the same as No. 6 below.​—Ezr 10:29, 44; see No. 3 above.

6. A family head in Israel who apparently had 12 descendants who dismissed their foreign wives and sons in Ezra’s day. Not the same as No. 5 above.​—Ezr 10:34, 44; see No. 3 above.

7. A Levite whose son Rehum helped repair Jerusalem’s wall in 455 B.C.E. Compare Nos. 8-10, 12 below.​—Ne 3:17.

8. A Levite who assisted Ezra with reading and explaining the Law to the people.​—Ne 8:7; 9:4, 5; see No. 7 above.

9. The second-listed of two Levites named Bani who were on the platform when public confession of Israel’s sins was made in 455 B.C.E.​—Ne 9:4.

10. A Levite whose descendant, if not he himself, attested by seal to Nehemiah’s “trustworthy arrangement.”​—Ne 9:38; 10:13.

11. One of “the heads of the people” whose descendant, if not he himself, also attested to the “trustworthy arrangement.”​—Ne 9:38; 10:14.

12. A Levite descendant of Asaph whose son Uzzi was overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah.​—Ne 11:22; see No. 7 above.

BANK, BANKER

In Jesus’ parables of the talents and the minas he referred to bankers and to a bank as giving interest on money deposited with them. (Mt 25:27; Lu 19:23) Much like the English word “bank” (which derives from the Italian word banca for bench or counter), the Greek word translated bank, traʹpe·za, literally meant a “table” (Mt 15:27), or when associated with financial operations, as with the money changers, it referred to a counter for money.​—Mt 21:12; Mr 11:15; Joh 2:15.

The reference to the banker (Gr., tra·pe·zeiʹtes) as accepting deposits and paying interest indicates a larger operation than that generally performed by a money broker (Gr., ker·ma·ti·stesʹ), or money changer (kol·ly·bi·stesʹ), whose main operations were to exchange local money for foreign money and provide coins of lesser value in exchange for ones of greater value, receiving a certain fee for each such service. (See MONEY CHANGER.) Some of these men may also have done banking, accepting deposits and making loans, while in other cases these financial transactions were handled by men of wealth, such as merchants and owners of large estates.

Evidence of such banking activity goes back apparently to the time of Abraham, for the ancient Sumerians of the land of Shinar carried on “a surprisingly complex system of lending, borrowing, holding money on deposit, and providing letters of credit.” (The Encyclopedia Americana, 1956, Vol. III, p. 152) In Babylon, as later in Greece, the banking activities centered around the religious temples whose sacrosanct position in the minds of the people provided security against assault by thieves.

Inasmuch as the economy of the nation of Israel was fundamentally agricultural, the need for financial enterprises was considerably less than in such commercial centers as Babylon, Tyre, and Sidon. While the taking of any interest on loans made to their fellow Israelites is condemned at Deuteronomy 23:19, this appears to have been primarily in cases of borrowing done by needy and impoverished persons. (Compare Ex 22:25; Le 25:35-37; 2Ki 4:1-7.) Interest was specifically allowable on loans to non-Israelites. (De 23:20) Valuables were often left in the care of some trusted persons for safekeeping (Ex 22:7), while others resorted to burying them in the ground, as did the sluggish slave of Jesus’ parable. (Mt 25:25; compare Mt 13:44.) Evidence of this practice is seen in the large quantities of valuables and coins unearthed by both archaeologists and farmers in Bible lands.

Certain ones of the Israelites who returned from Babylon to the land of Judah were condemned for applying harsh banking practices toward their needy brothers, exacting security in the form of their homes, lands, vineyards, and even their children, and charging an interest rate of 12 percent annually (one hundredth part per month). Those debtors who defaulted because of insolvency thus suffered the loss of their properties. (Ne 5:1-11) Such improper action, however, did not place a blanket condemnation on the receiving of interest, as is evidenced by Jesus’ later expression of implied approval of the use of capital to obtain increased funds.​—See INTEREST.

BAPTISM

The Greek baʹpti·sma refers to the process of immersion, including submersion and emergence; it is derived from the verb baʹpto, meaning “dip.” (Joh 13:26) In the Bible, “to baptize” is the same as “to immerse.” In illustration of this, The Holy Bible, An Improved Edition, renders Romans 6:3, 4 as follows: “Or, are ye ignorant, that all we who were baptized (immersed) into Christ Jesus were baptized (immersed) into his death? We were buried therefore with him through our baptism (immersion) into his death.” (See also Ro; ED.) The Greek Septuagint uses a form of the same word for “dip” at Exodus 12:22 and Leviticus 4:6. (See NW ftns.) When one is immersed in water, one is temporarily “buried” out of sight and then lifted out.

We shall consider four different aspects of baptism, together with related questions: (1) John’s baptism, (2) water baptism of Jesus and his followers, (3) baptism into Christ Jesus and into his death, (4) baptism with fire.

John’s Baptism. The first human authorized by God to perform water baptism was John the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. (Lu 1:5-7, 57) The very fact that he was known as “John the Baptist” or “the baptizer” (Mt 3:1; Mr 1:4) implies that baptism or water immersion came to the attention of the people especially through John, and the Scriptures prove that his ministry and baptism came from God; they were not of John’s origin. His works were foretold by the angel Gabriel as from God (Lu 1:13-17), and Zechariah prophesied by holy spirit that John would be a prophet of the Most High to make Jehovah’s ways ready. (Lu 1:68-79) Jesus confirmed that John’s ministry and baptism were from God. (Lu 7:26-28) The disciple Luke records that “God’s declaration came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. So he came . . . preaching baptism.” (Lu 3:2, 3) The apostle John states of him: “There arose a man that was sent forth as a representative of God: his name was John.”​—Joh 1:6.

Further understanding of the meaning of John’s baptism is gained by comparing various translations of Luke 3:3. John came “preaching baptism in symbol of repentance for forgiveness of sins” (NW); “baptism conditioned on repentance” (CB); “baptism whereby men repented, to have their sins forgiven” (Kx); “baptism in token of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (NE); “Turn away from your sins and be baptized, and God will forgive your sins” (TEV). These renderings make plain that the baptism did not wash away their sins, but the repentance and changing of their ways did, and of this, baptism was a symbol.

The baptism performed by John was therefore not a special cleansing from God through his servant John, but a public demonstration and symbol of the individual’s repentance over his sins against the Law, which was to lead them to Christ. (Ga 3:24) John thereby prepared a people to “see the saving means of God.” (Lu 3:6) His work served to “get ready for Jehovah a prepared people.” (Lu 1:16, 17) Such a work had been prophesied by Isaiah and Malachi.​—Isa 40:3-5; Mal 4:5, 6.

Some scholars try to read anticipation of John’s baptism and the Christian baptism in ancient purification ceremonies under the Law (Ex 29:4; Le 8:6; 14:8, 31, 32; Heb 9:10, ftn) or in individual acts. (Ge 35:2; Ex 19:10) But these instances bear no analogy to the real meaning of baptism. They were washings for ceremonial cleanness. In only one instance is there anything approaching a dipping of the body completely under water. This is in the case of Naaman the leper, and the plunging into water was done seven times. (2Ki 5:14) It did not bring him into any special relationship with God, but it merely cured him of leprosy. Besides, Scripturally, proselytes were circumcised, not baptized. To partake of the Passover or engage in worship at the sanctuary one had to be circumcised.​—Ex 12:43-49.

Neither are there any grounds for the assertion made by some that John’s baptism was probably borrowed from the Jewish sect the Essenes or from the Pharisees. Both of these sects had many requirements for ablutions to be performed often. But Jesus showed such to be mere commandments of men who overstepped the commandments of God by their tradition. (Mr 7:1-9; Lu 11:38-42) John baptized in water because, as he said, he was sent by God to baptize in water. (Joh 1:33) He was not sent by the Essenes or by the Pharisees. His commission was not to make Jewish proselytes but to baptize those who were already members of the Jewish congregation.​—Lu 1:16.

John knew that his works were merely a preparing of the way before God’s Son and Messiah and would give way to the greater ministry of that One. The reason for John’s baptizing was that the Messiah might be made manifest to Israel. (Joh 1:31) According to John 3:26-30, the Messiah’s ministry would increase, but John’s ministry was to decrease. Those who were baptized by Jesus’ disciples during Jesus’ earthly ministry and who therefore also became Jesus’ disciples were baptized in symbol of repentance in the manner of John’s baptism.​—Joh 3:25, 26; 4:1, 2.

Jesus’ Baptism in Water. The baptism of Jesus himself as performed by John must of necessity have had a meaning and purpose quite different from John’s baptism, as Jesus “committed no sin, nor was deception found in his mouth.” (1Pe 2:22) So he could not submit to an act symbolizing repentance. Undoubtedly it was for this reason that John objected to baptizing Jesus. But Jesus said: “Let it be, this time, for in that way it is suitable for us to carry out all that is righteous.”​—Mt 3:13-15.

Luke states that Jesus was praying at the time of his baptism. (Lu 3:21) Further, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that when Jesus Christ came “into the world” (that is, not when he was born and could not read and say these words, but when he presented himself for baptism and began his ministry) he was saying, in accord with Psalm 40:6-8 (LXX): “Sacrifice and offering you did not want, but you prepared a body for me. . . . Look! I am come (in the roll of the book it is written about me) to do your will, O God.” (Heb 10:5-9) Jesus was by birth a member of the Jewish nation, which nation was in a national covenant with God, namely, the Law covenant. (Ex 19:5-8; Ga 4:4) Jesus, by reason of this fact, was therefore already in a covenant relationship with Jehovah God when he thus presented himself to John for baptism. Jesus was there doing something more than what was required of him under the Law. He was presenting himself to his Father Jehovah to do his Father’s “will” with reference to the offering of his own “prepared” body and with regard to doing away with animal sacrifices that were offered according to the Law. The apostle Paul comments: “By the said ‘will’ we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.” (Heb 10:10) The Father’s will for Jesus also involved activity in connection with the Kingdom, and for this service too Jesus presented himself. (Lu 4:43; 17:20, 21) Jehovah accepted and acknowledged this presentation of his Son, anointing him with holy spirit and saying: “You are my Son, the beloved; I have approved you.”​—Mr 1:9-11; Lu 3:21-23; Mt 3:13-17.

Water Baptism of Jesus’ Followers. John’s baptism was due to be replaced by the baptism commanded by Jesus: “Make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.” (Mt 28:19) This was the only water baptism having God’s approval from Pentecost, 33 C.E., forward. Some years after 33 C.E., Apollos, a zealous man, was teaching correctly about Jesus, but he had an understanding of only John’s baptism. On this matter he had to be corrected, as did the disciples whom Paul met at Ephesus. These men in Ephesus had undergone John’s baptism, but evidently after its valid performance had ended, since Paul’s visit to Ephesus was about 20 years after the termination of the Law covenant. They were then baptized correctly in the name of Jesus and received holy spirit.​—Ac 18:24-26; 19:1-7.

That Christian baptism required an understanding of God’s Word and an intelligent decision to present oneself to do the revealed will of God was evident when, at Pentecost, 33 C.E., the Jews and proselytes there assembled, who already had a knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, heard Peter speak about Jesus the Messiah, with the result that 3,000 “embraced his word heartily” and “were baptized.” (Ac 2:41; 3:19–4:4; 10:34-38) Those in Samaria first believed Philip’s preaching of the good news, and then they were baptized. (Ac 8:12) The Ethiopian eunuch, a devout Jewish proselyte who, as such, also had knowledge of Jehovah and the Hebrew Scriptures, heard first the explanation of the fulfillment of these scriptures in Christ, accepted it, and then wanted to be baptized. (Ac 8:34-36) Peter explained to Cornelius that “the man that fears [God] and works righteousness is acceptable” (Ac 10:35) and that everyone putting faith in Jesus Christ gets forgiveness of sins through his name. (Ac 10:43; 11:18) All of this is in harmony with Jesus’ command to “make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” Those who accept the teaching and who become disciples properly get baptized.​—Mt 28:19, 20; Ac 1:8.

At Pentecost, Jews who bore community responsibility for Jesus’ death, and who doubtless knew of John’s baptism, were “stabbed to the heart” by Peter’s preaching and asked: “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter answered: “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit.” (Ac 2:37, 38) Notice that Peter pointed out something new to them​—that, not repentance and baptism in John’s baptism, but repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ was necessary for forgiveness of sins. He did not say that baptism itself washed away sins. Peter knew that “the blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1Jo 1:7) Later, after speaking of Jesus as “the Chief Agent of life,” Peter said to Jews at the temple: “Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the person of Jehovah.” (Ac 3:15, 19) Here he instructed them that repenting of their bad deed against Christ and ‘turning around,’ to recognize him, was what brought forgiveness of sin; he did not at this point mention baptism.

As for the Jews, the Law covenant was abolished on the basis of Christ’s death on the torture stake (Col 2:14), and the new covenant became operative at Pentecost, 33 C.E. (Compare Ac 2:4; Heb 2:3, 4.) Nevertheless, God extended special favor to the Jews about three and a half years longer. During this time Jesus’ disciples confined their preaching to Jews, Jewish proselytes, and Samaritans. But about 36 C.E. God directed Peter to go to the home of the Gentile Cornelius, a Roman army officer, and by pouring out His holy spirit on Cornelius and his household, showed Peter that Gentiles could now be accepted for water baptism. (Ac 10:34, 35, 44-48) Since God no longer recognized the Law covenant with the circumcised Jews but now recognized only his new covenant mediated by Jesus Christ, natural Jews, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, were not considered by God as being in any special relationship with him. They could not attain to a status with God by observing the Law, which was no longer valid, nor by John’s baptism, which had to do with the Law, but were obliged to approach God through faith in his Son and be baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ in order to have Jehovah’s recognition and favor.​—See SEVENTY WEEKS (Covenant in force “for one week”).

Consequently, after 36 C.E., all, Jews and Gentiles, have had the same standing in God’s eyes. (Ro 11:30-32; 14:12) The people of the Gentile nations, except for those who had been circumcised Jewish proselytes, were not in the Law covenant and had never been a people having a special relationship with God the Father. Now the opportunity was extended to them as individuals to become God’s people. Before they could be baptized in water they, therefore, had to come to God as believers in his Son Jesus Christ. Then, according to Christ’s example and command, they would properly submit to water baptism.​—Mt 3:13-15; 28:18-20.

Such Christian baptism would have a vital effect on their standing before God. After referring to Noah’s constructing of the ark in which he and his family were preserved through the Flood, the apostle Peter wrote: “That which corresponds to this is also now saving you, namely, baptism, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the request made to God for a good conscience,) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1Pe 3:20, 21) The ark was tangible evidence that Noah had dedicated himself to do God’s will and had then faithfully done the work assigned by God. This led to his preservation. In a corresponding way, those who would dedicate themselves to Jehovah on the basis of faith in the resurrected Christ, get baptized in symbol of that, and do God’s will for his servants would be saved from the present wicked world. (Ga 1:3, 4) No longer would they be headed for destruction with the rest of the world. They would be saved from this and would be granted a good conscience by God.

No Infant Baptism. In view of the fact that ‘hearing the word,’ ‘embracing the word heartily,’ and ‘repenting’ precede water baptism (Ac 2:14, 22, 38, 41) and that baptism requires the individual to make a solemn decision, it is apparent that one must at least be of age to hear, to believe, and to make this decision. An argument is made by some in favor of infant baptism. They refer to the instances where ‘households’ were baptized, such as the households of Cornelius, Lydia, the Philippian jailer, Crispus, and Stephanas. (Ac 10:48; 11:14; 16:15, 32-34; 18:8; 1Co 1:16) They believe that this implies that small babies in those families were also baptized. But, in the case of Cornelius, those who were baptized were those who had heard the word and received the holy spirit, and they spoke in tongues and glorified God; these things could not apply to infants. (Ac 10:44-46) Lydia was “a worshiper of God, . . . and Jehovah opened her heart wide to pay attention to the things being spoken by Paul.” (Ac 16:14) The Philippian jailer had to “believe on the Lord Jesus,” and this implies that the others in his family also had to believe in order to be baptized. (Ac 16:31-34) “Crispus the presiding officer of the synagogue became a believer in the Lord, and so did all his household.” (Ac 18:8) All of this demonstrates that associated with baptism were such things as hearing, believing, and glorifying God, things infants cannot do. At Samaria when they heard and believed “the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, they proceeded to be baptized.” Here the Scriptural record specifies that the ones baptized were, not infants, but “men and women.”​—Ac 8:12.

The statement made by the apostle Paul to the Corinthians that children were “holy” by reason of a believing parent is no proof that infants were baptized; rather, it implies the opposite. Minor children too young to have the ability to make such a decision would come under a form of merit because of the believing parent, not because of any so-called sacramental baptism, imparting independent merit. If infants could properly be baptized, they would not need to have the merit of the believing parent extended to them.​—1Co 7:14.

It is true that Jesus said: “Stop hindering [the young children] from coming to me, for the kingdom of the heavens belongs to suchlike ones.” (Mt 19:13-15; Mr 10:13-16) But they were not baptized. Jesus blessed them, and there is nothing to indicate that his laying his hands upon them was a religious ceremony. He further showed that the reason ‘the kingdom of God belongs to such’ was not because they were baptized but because they were teachable and trusting. Christians are commanded to be “babes as to badness,” yet “full-grown in powers of understanding.”​—Mt 18:4; Lu 18:16, 17; 1Co 14:20.

The religious historian Augustus Neander wrote of the first-century Christians: “The practice of infant baptism was unknown at this period. . . . That not till so late a period as (at least certainly not earlier than) Irenaeus [c. 120/140-c. 200/203 C.E.], a trace of infant baptism appears, and that it first became recognised as an apostolic tradition in the course of the third century, is evidence rather against than for the admission of its apostolic origin.”​—History of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church by the Apostles, 1864, p. 162.

Complete Immersion. From the definition of baptism as stated earlier, it is clear that baptism is complete immersion or submersion in water, not a mere pouring or sprinkling. The Bible examples of baptism corroborate this fact. Jesus was baptized in a sizable river, the Jordan, and after being baptized he came “up out of the water.” (Mr 1:10; Mt 3:13, 16) John selected a location in the Jordan Valley near Salim to baptize, “because there was a great quantity of water there.” (Joh 3:23) The Ethiopian eunuch asked to be baptized when they came to “a body of water.” They both “went down into the water.” Afterward they came “up out of the water.” (Ac 8:36-40) All these instances imply, not a small ankle-deep pool, but a large body of water into and out of which they would have to walk. Further, the fact that baptism was also used to symbolize a burial indicates complete submersion.​—Ro 6:4-6; Col 2:12.

Historical sources show that the early Christians baptized by immersion. On this subject the New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967, Vol. II, p. 56) states: “It is evident that Baptism in the early Church was by immersion.” Larousse du XX^e Siècle, Paris, 1928, says: “The first Christians received baptism by immersion everywhere where water was found.”

Baptism Into Christ Jesus, Into His Death. Jesus knew at the time of his baptism in the Jordan River that he was entering upon a sacrificial course. He knew that his ‘prepared body’ must be put to death, that he must die in innocence as a perfect human sacrifice with ransoming value for mankind. (Mt 20:28) Jesus understood that he must be plunged into death but that he would be raised out of it on the third day. (Mt 16:21) So he likened his experience to a baptism into death. (Lu 12:50) He explained to his disciples that he was already undergoing this baptism during his ministry. (Mr 10:38, 39) He was baptized fully into death when he was plunged into death by being impaled on the torture stake on Nisan 14, 33 C.E. His resurrection by his Father Jehovah God on the third day completed this baptism, which includes a raising up. Jesus’ baptism into death is clearly distinct and separate from his water baptism, for he had completely undergone water baptism at the beginning of his ministry, at which time his baptism into death only began.

The faithful apostles of Jesus Christ were baptized in water by John’s baptism. (Joh 1:35-37; 4:1) But they had not yet been baptized with holy spirit when Jesus pointed out that they were also to be baptized in a symbolic baptism like his, a baptism into death. (Mr 10:39) So baptism into his death is something apart from water baptism. Paul expressed himself in his letter to the Christian congregation at Rome, saying: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”​—Ro 6:3.

It is Jehovah God who is responsible for the performing of such baptism into Christ Jesus as well as baptism into his death. He anointed Jesus, making him the Christ or Anointed One. (Ac 10:38) Thus God baptized Jesus with the holy spirit in order that, through Jesus, his followers might thereafter be baptized with holy spirit. Therefore, those who become joint heirs with him, with heavenly hopes, have to be “baptized into Christ Jesus,” that is, into the Anointed Jesus who, at the time of his anointing, became a spirit-begotten son of God. They thereby become united to him, their Head, and they become members of the congregation that is the body of Christ.​—1Co 12:12, 13, 27; Col 1:18.

The course of these Christian followers who are baptized into Christ Jesus is a course of integrity-keeping under test from the time they are baptized into Christ, a daily facing of death and finally a death of integrity, as described by the apostle Paul when he explained to the Roman Christians: “Therefore we were buried with him through our baptism into his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, we also should likewise walk in a newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.”​—Ro 6:4, 5; 1Co 15:31-49.

Clarifying the matter still further, Paul, in writing to the congregation at Philippi, described his own course as “a sharing in [Christ’s] sufferings, submitting myself to a death like his, to see if I may by any means attain to the earlier resurrection from the dead.” (Php 3:10, 11) Only the Almighty God the heavenly Father, who is the Baptizer of those who are baptized in union with Jesus Christ and into his death, can complete the baptism. This He does through Christ by raising them up out of death to be united with Jesus Christ in the likeness of his resurrection, which is to heavenly, immortal life.​—1Co 15:53, 54.

That a congregation of people can, so to speak, be baptized or immersed into a liberator and leader is illustrated by the apostle Paul when he describes the congregation of Israel as being “baptized into Moses by means of the cloud and of the sea.” There they were covered with a protecting cloud and with the walls of water on each side of them, being, symbolically speaking, immersed. Moses foretold that God would raise up a prophet like himself; Peter applied this prophecy to Jesus Christ.​—1Co 10:1, 2; De 18:15-19; Ac 3:19-23.

What is baptism “for the purpose of being dead ones”?

The passage at 1 Corinthians 15:29 is variously rendered by translators: “What shall they do which are baptized for the dead?” (KJ); “on behalf of their dead?” (AT); “on behalf of the dead?” (NE); “for the purpose of being dead ones?” (NW)

Many different interpretations have been offered for this verse. The most common interpretation is that Paul was referring to the custom of vicarious baptism in water, that is, baptizing living persons in behalf of dead ones in a substitutionary way in order to benefit the dead. The existence of such a practice in Paul’s day cannot be proved, nor would it be in accord with those scriptures that clearly state that “disciples,” those who themselves ‘embraced the word heartily,’ those who personally “believed,” were the ones that got baptized.​—Mt 28:19; Ac 2:41; 8:12.

A Greek-English Lexicon, by Liddell and Scott, includes “for,” “on behalf of,” and “for the sake of” among its definitions of the Greek preposition hy·perʹ, which is used with the genitive case in 1 Corinthians 15:29. (Revised by H. Jones, Oxford, 1968, p. 1857) In some settings the expression “for the sake of” is equivalent to “for the purpose of.” Already in 1728 Jacob Elsner noted cases from various Greek writers where hy·perʹ with the genitive has final meaning, that is, a meaning expressive of purpose, and he showed that in 1 Corinthians 15:29 this construction has such meaning. (Observationes Sacrae in Novi Foederis Libros, Utrecht, Vol. II, pp. 127-131) Consistent with this, in this verse the New World Translation renders hy·perʹ as meaning “for the purpose of.”

Where an expression can grammatically be translated in more than one way, the correct rendering is one that agrees with the context. In the context, 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4 shows that what is principally under discussion is belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The following verses then present evidence of the soundness of that belief (vss 5-11); they discuss the serious implications of denying belief in the resurrection (vss 12-19), the fact that the resurrection of Christ gives assurance that others will be raised from the dead (vss 20-23), and how all of this works toward the unification of all intelligent creation with God (vss 24-28). Verse 29 obviously is an integral part of this discussion. But whose resurrection is at issue in verse 29? Is it the resurrection of the ones whose baptism is referred to there? Or is it that of someone who died before that baptism took place? What do the following verses indicate? Verses 30 to 34 clearly show that the future life prospects of living Christians are there being discussed, and verses 35 to 58 state that those were faithful Christians who had the hope of heavenly life.

That agrees with Romans 6:3, which says: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” As this scripture makes plain, that is not a baptism that a Christian undergoes on behalf of someone already dead but is, instead, something that affects the person’s own future.

In what sense, then, were those Christians “baptized for the purpose of being dead ones,” or “baptized into his death”? They were immersed into a course of life that was to lead them as integrity-keepers to death, as was the case with Christ, and with the hope of a resurrection like his to immortal spirit life. (Ro 6:4, 5; Php 3:10, 11) This was not a baptism that was accomplished quickly, as water immersion is. More than three years after his immersion in water, Jesus spoke of a baptism that was not yet completed in his own case and that was yet future for his disciples. (Mr 10:35-40) Since this baptism leads to resurrection to heavenly life, it must begin with the operation of God’s spirit on the person in such a way as to engender that hope, and it must end, not at death, but with realization of the prospect of immortal spirit life by means of the resurrection.​—2Co 1:21, 22; 1Co 6:14.

A Person’s Place in God’s Purpose. It should be noted that the one being baptized in water enters a special relationship as Jehovah’s servant, to do His will. The individual does not determine what the will of God is for him, but it is God who makes the decision as to the use of the individual and the placing of such one in the framework of His purposes. For example, in times past, the entire nation of Israel was in special relationship with God; they were Jehovah’s property. (Ex 19:5) But only the tribe of Levi was selected to perform the services at the sanctuary, and out of this tribe only Aaron’s family constituted the priesthood. (Nu 1:48-51; Ex 28:1; 40:13-15) The kingship came to be established exclusively in the line of David’s family by Jehovah God.​—2Sa 7:15, 16.

Likewise those who undergo Christian baptism become God’s property, his slaves, to employ as he sees fit. (1Co 6:20) An example of God’s direction of such matters is found in Revelation, where reference is made to a definite number of persons finally “sealed,” namely, 144,000. (Re 7:4-8) Even before such final approval, God’s holy spirit serves as a seal that gives those sealed a token in advance of their inheritance, a heavenly one. (Eph 1:13, 14; 2Co 5:1-5) Those having such a hope are also told: “God has set the members in the body [of Christ], each one of them, just as he pleased.”​—1Co 12:18, 27.

Jesus called attention to another group when he said: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (Joh 10:16) These are not of the “little flock” (Lu 12:32), but they too must approach Jehovah through Jesus Christ and be baptized in water.

The vision given to the apostle John, as recorded in Revelation, harmonizes with this when, after showing John the 144,000 “sealed” ones, it turns his eyes to “a great crowd, which no man was able to number.” These are shown as having “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” indicating faith in the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God. (Re 7:9, 14) They are therefore given favorable recognition, “standing before [God’s] throne,” but are not those whom God selects to be the “sealed” 144,000. As to this “great crowd,” the vision goes on to point out that they serve God day and night and will be protected and will be cared for by him.​—Re 7:15-17.

Baptism With Fire. When many Pharisees and Sadducees came out to John the Baptizer, he called them “offspring of vipers.” He spoke of the coming One and said: “That one will baptize you people with holy spirit and with fire.” (Mt 3:7, 11; Lu 3:16) The baptism with fire is not the same as baptism with holy spirit. The fiery baptism could not be, as some say, the tongues of fire at Pentecost, for the disciples there were not immersed in fire. (Ac 2:3) John told his listeners that there would be a division, there would be a gathering of the wheat, after which the chaff would be burned up with fire that could not be put out. (Mt 3:12) He pointed out that the fire would not be a blessing or a reward but would be because ‘the tree did not produce fine fruit.’​—Mt 3:10; Lu 3:9.

Using fire as a symbol of destruction, Jesus foretold the execution of the wicked to take place during his presence, saying: “On the day that Lot came out of Sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. The same way it will be on that day when the Son of man is to be revealed.” (Lu 17:29, 30; Mt 13:49, 50) Other instances of fire representing, not a saving force, but a destructive one, are found at 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Jude 7; and 2 Peter 3:7, 10.

BARABBAS

(Bar·abʹbas) [Son of the Father; possibly, Son of the Teacher].

The imprisoned criminal guilty of robbery, sedition, and murder whom Pilate set free in place of Jesus. Pilate did this, “wishing to satisfy the crowd” who clamored for the release of Barabbas at the insistence of the chief priests and older men.​—Mt 27:15-26; Mr 15:6-15; Lu 23:16-25; Joh 18:39, 40; Ac 3:14.

This unique custom of releasing a prisoner at the Passover every year finds no basis or precedent in the Hebrew Scriptures, and there is no extrabiblical evidence of it as a Roman practice. It evidently was of Jewish origin, because Pilate said to the Jews: “You have a custom that I should release a man to you at the passover.”​—Joh 18:39.

BARACHEL

(Barʹa·chel) [God Has Blessed].

Father of Job’s friend Elihu; a Buzite, likely a descendant of Abraham’s nephew Buz.​—Job 32:2, 6; Ge 22:20, 21.

BARACHIAH

(Bar·a·chiʹah) [Jehovah Has Blessed].

Father of the Zechariah who was murdered “between the sanctuary and the altar.”​—Mt 23:35; Lu 11:50, 51.

As to the words “son of Barachiah,” they are not found in Luke’s account, and they are omitted from Matthew’s account in the Codex Sinaiticus (original scribe). It has been suggested that Jehoiada, the father of a Zechariah who was murdered, may have had two names, as is the case with other persons in the Bible.​—Compare Mt 9:9 and Mr 2:14; Mt 10:2, 3.

It is generally understood that Jesus here referred to Zechariah “the son of Jehoiada the priest.” (2Ch 24:20-22) This is the most logical conclusion, since Chronicles is listed last in the traditional Jewish canon, thereby making Abel the first and Zechariah the last righteous man recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures as having been murdered. According to 2 Chronicles 24:21, Zechariah was murdered “in the courtyard of Jehovah’s house.” The altar of burnt offering was in the inner courtyard, outside of and in front of the entrance to the sanctuary. This would correspond with Jesus’ location of the incident “between the sanctuary and the altar.”

Concerning both Abel and Zechariah a reckoning for the shedding of their blood was foretold. (Ge 4:10; 2Ch 24:22) Also, there is a strong parallel between the circumstances and events in the days of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada and those of the generation living when Jesus spoke these words. As Zechariah was dying he said: “Let Jehovah see to it and ask it back.” Very soon his prophetic words began to be fulfilled. A small Syrian force came up, and Jehovah delivered a great military force of Judah into their hand, the princes of Judah being greatly ruined and despoiled. The Syrians executed acts of judgment on Jehoash and left him with many diseases, after which he was murdered by his servants. (2Ch 24:23-25) After describing the bloodguilt of those to whom he was talking, Jesus said: “All these things will come upon this generation.” (Mt 23:36) Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled on Jerusalem and Judea in 70-73 C.E.

BARAK

(Baʹrak) [Lightning].

Son of Abinoam of Kedesh in the territory of Naphtali. During an early period in the time of the judges the Israelites fell away from true worship, and so for 20 years God permitted them to be oppressed by Jabin, the king of Canaan. They cried out to Jehovah for relief, and it was then that Barak became their God-appointed leader. (Jg 4:1-3) Whereas the Israelites’ Canaanite oppressors were heavily armed, “a shield could not be seen, nor a lance, among forty thousand in Israel.” (Jg 5:8) However, in Barak’s day, Jehovah gave Israel victory over their foes, a triumph that was not forgotten. (Ps 83:9) The two accounts of these matters in Judges (chapter 4, and in the exultant song of Deborah and Barak in chapter 5) complement each other and paint a vivid picture of what occurred at that time.

The prophetess Deborah, who was then judging Israel, spurs Barak to take the initiative in freeing his people. Barak consents, but on the condition that Deborah accompany him. She agrees, though telling Barak that Jehovah will sell Sisera, chief of Jabin’s forces, into the hand of a woman.​—Jg 4:4-9.

Barak recruits 10,000 men from Naphtali, Zebulun, and other tribes of Israel (Jg 4:6; 5:9-18) and ascends Mount Tabor. Hearing of this, Sisera and his forces, equipped with 900 chariots having iron scythes, advance toward the Israelites along the dry bed of the Kishon (in the Plain of Jezreel). With Barak in the lead, the Israelite army, being only lightly equipped, courageously descends from Mount Tabor, ready for the fray with the fully armored Canaanites. However, the Kishon became an overwhelming torrent, immobilizing the enemy chariots. Indeed, “from heaven did the stars fight, from their orbits they fought against Sisera. The torrent of Kishon washed them away.” Barak and his men press their advantage, and the account states: “All the camp of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not as much as one remained.”​—Jg 5:20-22; 4:10-16.

Sisera himself, having abandoned his chariot and his beleaguered army, flees and finds refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, a Kenite who is at peace with Jabin. Jael extends hospitality to Sisera, but while he sleeps, she kills him by driving a tent pin through his temples and into the earth. When Barak comes along, Jael invites him into the tent, where he sees that Jehovah’s word has come true; Sisera has actually been sold into the hand of a woman. (Jg 4:17-22; 5:24-27) Thereafter, the hand of the victorious Israelites “went on getting harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had cut off Jabin.” Consequently, that area of Israel “had no further disturbance for forty years.”​—Jg 4:23, 24; 5:31.

Barak is cited as a faithful example among those “who through faith defeated kingdoms in conflict, . . . became valiant in war, routed the armies of foreigners.”​—Heb 11:32-34.

Barak may be the “Bedan” of 1 Samuel 12:11 (if LXX and Sy are followed).​—See BEDAN No. 1.

BARBARIAN

(Bar·barʹian).

The repetition of “bar bar” in the Greek barʹba·ros conveyed the idea of stammering, babble, or unintelligible speech; hence the term “barbarian” was originally applied by the Greeks to a foreigner, particularly one speaking a different tongue. At that time it did not indicate lack of civilization, refinement, or good manners, nor did it convey any feeling of hostile contempt. “Barbarian” simply distinguished especially non-Greeks from Greeks, much the same as “Gentile” divides off non-Jews from Jews. These non-Greeks did not object or feel insulted because they were called barbarians. Some Jewish writers, including Josephus, recognized themselves as being designated by the term (Jewish Antiquities, XIV, 187 [x, 1]; Against Apion, I, 58 [11]); Romans called themselves barbarians until they adopted Greek culture. It is in this not unfavorable light, then, that Paul in writing to the Romans used an all-inclusive expression: “Both to Greeks and to Barbarians.”​—Ro 1:14.

The principal factor separating Greeks from the barbarian world was their language; hence the term had special reference to those who did not speak Greek, as, for example, the inhabitants of Malta who spoke an unrelated tongue. In this instance the New World Translation gives meaning to barʹba·roi by rendering it “foreign-speaking people.” (Ac 28:1, 2, 4) Writing on the gift of tongues, Paul twice calls one speaking in an unintelligible tongue barʹba·ros (“foreigner”). (1Co 14:11; see also Col 3:11.) Similarly, the Greek Septuagint uses barʹba·ros at Psalm 113:1 (114:1 in Hebrew and English versions) and Ezekiel 21:36 (21:31 in English).

Because the Greeks felt that their language and culture were superior to all others, and because they suffered indignities at the hand of their enemies, the term “barbarian” gradually assumed its common disparaging connotation.

BAR-HUMITE

(Bar-huʹmite).

A variant reading of Baharumite; a resident of the village of Bahurim.​—Compare 2Sa 23:31 and 1Ch 11:33; see BAHURIM; BAHARUMITE.

BARIAH

(Ba·riʹah) [Fugitive; Runaway].

Distant descendant of David through Solomon.​—1Ch 3:1, 10, 22.

BAR-JESUS

(Bar-Jeʹsus) [Son of Jesus].

A certain Jew of Paphos on the island of Cyprus in the first century C.E., who was “a sorcerer, a false prophet.” (Ac 13:6) He assumed the professional name or title Elymas, meaning “Sorcerer.”​—See ELYMAS.

It appears that Bar-Jesus held the influential position of court magician and adviser to Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul at Paphos. As a “priest” of the divination cult, Bar-Jesus was naturally against Christianity, and wanting to protect his own lucrative position, he was adamant in his opposition to the preaching of Paul and Barnabas. So, when Sergius Paulus “earnestly sought to hear the word of God,” Elymas “began opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.”​—Ac 13:7, 8.

Thereupon, Paul looked this Satanic sorcerer in the eye and, “filled with holy spirit,” responded: “O man full of every sort of fraud and every sort of villainy, you son of the Devil, you enemy of everything righteous, will you not quit distorting the right ways of Jehovah? Well, then, look! Jehovah’s hand is upon you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sunlight for a period of time.” Instantly Bar-Jesus was struck with blindness. The proconsul, upon witnessing this first recorded miracle of Paul, “was astounded at the teaching of Jehovah,” and he immediately accepted the message and “became a believer.”​—Ac 13:9-12.

BARKOS

(Barʹkos).

Forefather of some Nethinim who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel.​—Ezr 2:43, 53; Ne 7:46, 55.

BARLEY

(barʹley) [Heb., seʽo·rahʹ; Gr., kri·theʹ].

An important cereal of the genus Hordeum, widespread in its cultivation from ancient times till now. It was one of the valuable products awaiting the Israelites in the Promised Land, and that region continues to be “a land of wheat and barley” to this day.​—De 8:8.

The Hebrew name for barley (seʽo·rahʹ) is related to the word for “hair” (se·ʽarʹ) and is descriptive of the long slender bristles or awns forming the characteristic beard of the barley head. It is a very hardy plant, better able to withstand drought and adapt to a wider range of climates than any other grain. When mature it stands about 1 m (3 ft) high, with somewhat broader leaves than those of wheat.

The barley harvest figures prominently in the dramatic events of the book of Ruth. Sowing of barley was done in Israel during the month of Bul (October-November) after the early rains had begun to fall and the ground could be plowed. (Isa 28:24, 25) Barley matures more rapidly than wheat (Ex 9:31, 32), and the harvest began in the early spring during the month of Nisan (March-April), commencing in the hot Jordan Valley and continuing into the higher, more temperate sections until it reached the highland plateau region E of the Jordan in the month of Ziv (April-May). Barley harvest thus marked a definite time of the year (Ru 1:22; 2Sa 21:9), and its start corresponded to Passover time, the sheaf waved by the priest on the 16th day of Nisan being of the barley firstfruits.​—Le 23:10, 11.

Barley was esteemed as of less value than wheat, just one third that of wheat in John’s vision at Revelation 6:6. It was sufficiently common and abundant that it could be used as fodder for Solomon’s horses (1Ki 4:28), a purpose that it still serves in modern times. It was ground into flour and made into bread, often in the form of a round cake (2Ki 4:42; Eze 4:12; Joh 6:9, 13), and sometimes mixed with other grains.​—Eze 4:9.

Though undoubtedly more frequently used among the poor because of its lower cost, there is nothing to indicate that barley was viewed with disdain among the Israelites, even by those able to afford wheat. Thus, it was included in the provisions suitable for offering to King David’s company upon their arrival in Gilead during the time of Absalom’s revolt. (2Sa 17:27-29) Solomon provided 20,000 cor measures (4,400 kl; 125,000 bu) of barley, along with a corresponding quantity of wheat, and large amounts of oil and wine to Hiram as supplies for the Tyrian king’s servants who were preparing temple materials. (2Ch 2:10, 15) King Jotham of Judah exacted tribute of the king of Ammon that included 10,000 cor measures (2,200 kl; 62,500 bu) of barley. (2Ch 27:5) Men seeking to avoid death at the hands of assassin Ishmael after the fall of Jerusalem assured him they had “hidden treasures in the field, wheat and barley and oil and honey.”​—Jer 41:8.

Nevertheless, barley was a common and a lowly food, and some commentators suggest that these qualities are represented in the figure of “a round cake of barley bread” that was seen in the Midianite’s dream and that symbolized Gideon’s humble army.​—Jg 7:13, 14.

Hosea paid 15 silver pieces (if shekels, $33) and one and a half homer measures (330 L; 300 dry qt) of barley to buy back the adulterous woman Gomer as his wife (Ho 1:3; 3:1, 2), a price that some commentators consider to total the price of a slave, 30 silver shekels ($66). (Ex 21:32) The “offering of jealousy” required by the Law in the case of a man suspecting his wife of sexual infidelity was to be a tenth of an ephah (2.2 L; 2 dry qt) of barley flour. (Nu 5:14, 15) Barley was also used in measuring, the amount required for sowing a field being the legal means for determining the field’s value.​—Le 27:16.

BARNABAS

(Barʹna·bas) [Son of Comfort].

This prominent figure of first-century Christianity is first introduced to us in the Scriptures by Luke in Acts 4:34-36. There we learn that this devout man was a Levite and a native of the island of Cyprus, but at the time of his being introduced, he was in Jerusalem. Of the many believers who shortly after Pentecost sold their fields and houses and gave the price to the apostles for the advancement of the Christian work, this man was one mentioned by name. His given name was Joseph, but the apostles surnamed him Barnabas, meaning “Son of Comfort.” This practice of giving surnames in keeping with one’s characteristics was not uncommon.

He was a very warmhearted and generous person, one who did not hesitate to offer both himself and his material possessions willingly for the advancement of the Kingdom interests. He gladly ‘came to the aid’ of his brothers (Ac 9:27), and in the presence of newly interested persons “he rejoiced and began to encourage them all to continue in the Lord with hearty purpose.” Barnabas “was a good man and full of holy spirit and of faith” (Ac 11:23, 24), a prophet and teacher in Antioch. (Ac 13:1) The apostles referred to Barnabas as among their “loved ones” who had “delivered up their souls for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ac 15:25, 26) Although he was not one of the 12 apostles, he was properly called an apostle (Ac 14:14), for, indeed, he was one “sent out by the holy spirit.”​—Ac 13:4, 43.

The close association that Barnabas had with Paul, and that extended over the years, had its beginning about three years after Paul’s conversion when he wanted to get in touch with the Jerusalem congregation. How Barnabas first got to meet Paul is not revealed. But it was Barnabas who had the privilege of introducing Paul to Peter and to the disciple James.​—Ac 9:26, 27; Ga 1:18, 19.

In the meantime a great deal of interest in Christianity had been aroused in Antioch of Syria by certain Greek-speaking Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene. As a result, the governing body at Jerusalem sent Barnabas down to Antioch to encourage and build up these new believers further. The choice of Barnabas for this work was a good one, since he was a Greek-speaking Cypriot. When “a considerable crowd was added to the Lord” in Antioch, Barnabas hastened over to Tarsus and persuaded Paul to come and help out in the ministry. About that time divine warning of a coming famine caused the brothers in Antioch to gather many provisions that, in due time, were sent to the Jerusalem congregation by the hands of Barnabas and Paul.​—Ac 11:22-24, 27-30; 12:25.

This relief work accomplished, the two were back in Antioch by about 47 C.E. and from there left on a missionary assignment under the direction of the holy spirit. This took Barnabas and Paul first to Cyprus, where they were instrumental in bringing God’s truth to the proconsul Sergius Paulus. From there they traveled through the interior of Asia Minor. At times they were severely persecuted by mobs. Once, when they cured a lame man in Lystra, they had no sooner succeeded in restraining “the crowds from sacrificing to them” (thinking that Barnabas was the god Zeus and Paul, “the one taking the lead in speaking,” was Hermes, or Mercury), than the Jews “persuaded the crowds, and they stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city.”​—Ac 13:1-12; 14:1-20.

In about 49 C.E., Barnabas and Paul took the burning question of circumcision of non-Jews up to the governing body in Jerusalem, and with that settled, they were soon back in Antioch preparing for their next missionary tour. (Ac 15:2-36) However, because they could come to no agreement over taking John Mark along, they each departed for separate territories. Barnabas took his cousin Mark to Cyprus, and Paul took Silas through the districts of Syria and Cilicia. (Ac 15:37-41) Thus ends the record made of Barnabas in the Scriptures, except for brief mention of him in some of Paul’s letters.​—1Co 9:6; Ga 2:1, 9, 13; Col 4:10.

BARRENNESS

The idea of the inability to bring forth children is conveyed by the Hebrew words ʽa·qarʹ (“barren”; Ge 11:30) and gal·mudhʹ (“sterile”; Isa 49:21). Also, in Proverbs 30:16, barrenness is literally described as “restraint of the womb.” (NW ftn) The Greek word for “barren” is steiʹros. (Lu 1:7, 36) Barrenness is also spoken of as “deadness of the womb.”​—Ro 4:19.

Jehovah’s original mandate to Adam and Eve, later repeated to Noah’s sons, included the command, “Be fruitful and become many.” (Ge 1:28; 9:7) Failure on the part of a married woman to bring forth children was therefore viewed in ancient times as a reproach, an affliction, a punishment, one of the greatest misfortunes. “Give me children or otherwise I shall be a dead woman,” pleaded Rachel with her husband Jacob.​—Ge 30:1.

That Jehovah is capable of making a barren woman fruitful is shown by the words of Jacob to Rachel: “Am I in the place of God, who has held back the fruit of the belly from you?” Finally, we are told, “God remembered Rachel, and God heard and answered her in that he opened her womb. And she became pregnant and brought a son to birth.” (Ge 30:2, 22, 23) Other cases demonstrating Jehovah’s power to give children to women afflicted with natural barrenness over a long period of time may be cited: Sarah (Ge 11:30; 17:19; 21:1, 2); Rebekah (Ge 25:21); Samson’s mother (Jg 13:2, 3); Hannah (1Sa 1:10, 11; 2:5); a Shunammite woman (2Ki 4:14-17); and Elizabeth (Lu 1:7, 36). With Jehovah’s blessing, the Israelites during their sojourn in Egypt became so prolific that the Egyptians were alarmed, thinking they would soon be outnumbered. (Ex 1:7-12, 18-21) Jehovah was also given credit for granting conception to Ruth the ancestress of David.​—Ru 4:13.

When Jehovah withheld his blessing even the land would become a barren and desolate waste. On the other hand, with divine blessing, the land was capable of bringing forth much fruitage. (Le 26:3-5) Similarly, with Jehovah’s rich blessing, it was promised, “neither a woman suffering an abortion nor a barren woman will exist in your land.” (Ex 23:26; De 7:13, 14; 28:4, 11; Ps 127:3-5; 128:3) Conversely, Jehovah, on one occasion, “tightly shut up every womb” of Abimelech’s house when he contemplated taking Sarah as wife.​—Ge 20:17, 18.

Because of the terrible distress foretold to come on first-century Jerusalem, Jesus said “barren women” would be happy, relieved, not having the anguish of seeing their children suffer.​—Lu 23:29.

Isaiah and the psalmist prophesied of a barren woman whose reproach and shame are to be forgotten, for she will bring forth many sons, all of them taught by Jehovah. (Ps 113:9; Isa 54:1-15) The apostle Paul applies Isaiah’s words to “the free woman,” that is, “the Jerusalem above.”​—Ga 4:26-31.

BARSABBAS

(Barʹsab·bas).

This may have been a family name or just an added name given to two individuals: Joseph, surnamed Justus, who was the rejected candidate for the apostleship vacated by Judas Iscariot; and Judas, who accompanied Paul, Barnabas, and Silas from Jerusalem to Antioch in about 49 C.E. There is no evidence that the two men were brothers.​—Ac 1:23; 15:22; see JOSEPH No. 11; JUDAS No. 7.

BARTHOLOMEW

(Bar·tholʹo·mew) [Son of Tolmai].

One of Jesus’ 12 apostles, generally thought to be Nathanael. A comparison of the Gospel accounts shows that Matthew and Luke link Bartholomew and Philip together in the same way that John associates the name Nathanael with Philip. (Mt 10:3; Lu 6:14; Joh 1:45, 46) For details on this apostle’s activity, see NATHANAEL.

BARTIMAEUS

(Bar·ti·maeʹus) [Son of Timaeus (Honored)].

A blind beggar whose sight Jesus restored. Bartimaeus and an unidentified companion were sitting outside Jericho when Jesus and a crowd came along. Bartimaeus inquired what the excitement was, and when told, he began shouting: “Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!” Others sternly told him to be silent, but he was even more persistent. When Jesus called, he threw off his outer garment, hurried to the Master, and begged for recovery of his sight. Jesus, discerning the man’s faith and moved to pity, cured Bartimaeus, who then followed him, glorifying God.​—Mr 10:46-52; Mt 20:29-34; Lu 18:35-43.

In reporting this event, Mark and Matthew say it occurred when Jesus was “going out of Jericho,” but Luke says it was “as he [Jesus] was getting near to Jericho.” (Mt 20:29; Mr 10:46; Lu 18:35) Some have said that these refer to two separate incidents. On this, Joseph P. Free writes: “Archaeology, however, has thrown additional light on this apparent discrepancy. Early in the twentieth century A.D., excavations were made at Jericho by Ernest Sellin of the German Oriental Society (1907-1909). The excavations showed that the Jericho of Jesus’ time was a double city . . . The old Jewish city was about a mile away from the Roman city. In the light of this evidence, it is possible that Matthew is speaking of the Jewish city which Christ had left, whereas Luke is speaking of the Roman, at which Christ had not yet arrived. Thus, on His way from the old to the new city, Christ met and healed the blind Bartimaeus.”​—Archaeology and Bible History, 1964, p. 295.

BARUCH

(Barʹuch) [Blessed].

1. The scribal secretary of Jeremiah. Baruch was the son of Neriah and brother of Seraiah, Zedekiah’s quartermaster who read Jeremiah’s scroll alongside the Euphrates.​—Jer 32:12; 51:59-64.

In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim, 625 B.C.E., Baruch began writing in a scroll the prophetic message of Jerusalem’s doom, dictated by Jeremiah. In the late fall of the following year, 624 B.C.E., Baruch read the scroll aloud “in the ears of all the people” at the entrance of Jehovah’s house. He was then summoned to read it to an assembly of the princes, who, moved by what they heard and fearing the consequences when the word got to the king’s ears, urged Baruch and Jeremiah to hide. Jehoiakim, upon hearing the denunciation, burned the scroll piece by piece and commanded that Baruch and Jeremiah be brought before him, “but Jehovah kept them concealed.” At Jeremiah’s dictation, Baruch then wrote another scroll like the first, but containing “many more words” from the mouth of Jehovah.​—Jer 36:1-32.

Sixteen years later, in the tenth year of Zedekiah, only months before Jerusalem was sacked, Baruch took the deeds for the property Jeremiah had purchased from a cousin and put them in an earthenware vessel for preservation and safekeeping.​—Jer 32:1, 9-16.

At one point during the writing of the first scroll, when Baruch complained of his weariness, Jehovah warned him: ‘Do not keep on seeking great things for yourself.’ Nevertheless, because of his faithfulness he was promised preservation and safety ‘in all the places to which he might go,’ not only during the terrible siege of Jerusalem but also afterwards when the rebellious populace compelled him and Jeremiah to go down to Egypt with them.​—Jer 45:1-5; 43:4-7.

2. Son of Zabbai; Baruch “worked with fervor” assisting Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls. (Ne 3:20) Possibly the same as No. 3.

3. A priest whose descendant, if not he himself, attested to Nehemiah’s “trustworthy arrangement.” (Ne 9:38; 10:1, 6, 8) If Baruch himself was the one sealing this agreement, he may have been the same as No. 2.

4. Father or forefather of Maaseiah, who lived in Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time. A descendant of Judah.​—Ne 11:4-6.

BARZILLAI

(Bar·zilʹlai) [Of Iron].

1. A Meholathite whose son Adriel married Saul’s daughter Merab.​—1Sa 18:19; 2Sa 21:8.

2. A wealthy Gileadite, “a very great man,” of the town of Rogelim. Barzillai was one of three who assisted David and his army with supplies of food and bedding during Absalom’s rebellion. (2Sa 17:27-29) When David returned to Jerusalem, Barzillai escorted the party to the Jordan, but because of his age (“I am eighty years old today”), he declined David’s offer to become part of the royal court, sending Chimham in his place. In saying farewell, David kissed and blessed him. (2Sa 19:31-40) Shortly before dying, David remembered Barzillai and requested Solomon to show kindness toward his sons by arranging for them to ‘be among those eating at his table.’​—1Ki 2:7.

3. A priest who married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite (most likely No. 2) and adopted his father-in-law’s name. His descendants, on their return from Babylonian exile, were unable to find their registration in the genealogical records and so were disqualified from the priesthood.​—Ezr 2:61, 62; Ne 7:63, 64.

BASEMATH

(Basʹe·math) [Perfumed; Balsam Oil; Spicy].

1. A wife of Esau. She was a daughter of Elon the Hittite, therefore either the same person as Adah or her sister. Basemath was “a source of bitterness” to Isaac and Rebekah.​—Ge 26:34, 35; 27:46; 28:8; 36:2.

2. Another wife of Esau, possibly the same as Mahalath. She was a daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, sister of Nebaioth, and therefore Esau’s first cousin. Esau took her as wife after seeing his father’s great displeasure over his Canaanite wives. She bore his son Reuel.​—Ge 28:8, 9; 36:3, 4, 10.

3. A daughter of Solomon and wife of Ahimaaz, one of Solomon’s food deputies.​—1Ki 4:7, 15.

BASHAN

(Baʹshan) [possibly, Fertile (Stoneless) Plain].

A large region E of the Sea of Galilee. The approximate boundaries of Bashan were Mount Hermon on the N, the mountainous region of Mount Hauran (Jebel ed Druz) on the E, Gilead on the S, and the hills bordering the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee on the W.​—De 3:3-14; Jos 12:4, 5.

Bashan was located mainly on a high plateau, with an average height of about 600 m (2,000 ft). The land is generally flat, though containing some mountain ridges, and is of volcanic origin with much hard black basalt rock, which provides good retention of moisture. The soil is a mixture of tufa and red-brown earth. Water and melted snow flowing down from Mount Hermon helped to turn the entire region into an excellent agricultural area. The great fertility of this plain made the area a rich granary and provided fine pasture lands. This, in turn, contributed to the production of splendid strains of cattle and sheep. The bulls of Bashan and its male sheep were the subjects of song and poetry and were symbols of richness, strength, and prosperity.​—De 32:14; Eze 39:18; Ps 22:12.

The plains of Bashan appear to have been, in the main, treeless, but the mountain ridges were well wooded and contained massive trees, probably oaks (which are still to be found in that area today). In prophecy, these trees are used as symbols of great loftiness. (Isa 2:13; Zec 11:1, 2) Ezekiel 27:5, 6 indicates that the Phoenician boat builders of Tyre used the juniper trees of Senir for their planks and the tall cedars of Lebanon for their masts, but they fashioned their powerful oars from the sturdy trees of Bashan.

Bashan’s fertility and productivity are doubtless the reason for its being associated with other productive areas such as Carmel and Lebanon. (Jer 50:19; Isa 33:9) Jeremiah links the heights of Bashan with Lebanon as a vantage point from which to view the calamity due to come upon the land of the Israelites because of their forsaking Jehovah. (Jer 22:20) The mention of the “mountain of God” and the “mountain of peaks” of Bashan, at Psalm 68:15, 16, may refer to the mountainous region of Mount Hauran (Jebel ed Druz). Zalmon (mentioned in Ps 68:14) may have been its highest peak.

The region of Bashan apparently first enters the Bible record at Genesis 14:5 in the reference to the Rephaim (giants) in Ashteroth-karnaim, who were defeated by the invading kings of Abraham’s time (before 1933 B.C.E.). At the time of the Israelite invasion (c. 1473 B.C.E.), Og, the king of Bashan and the last remaining one of the giantlike men of that area, was defeated and slain, and the land was occupied by Israel. (Nu 21:33-35; De 3:1-3, 11; Jos 13:12) The tribe of Manasseh received Bashan as its inheritance, although it appears that later some from the tribe of Gad were living in the southern portion.​—Jos 13:29-31; 17:1, 5; 1Ch 5:11, 16, 23.

The principal cities of Bashan were: Ashtaroth (a city of Og and later a Levite city), Edrei (the frontier city where Israel defeated Og), Golan (which also became a Levite city and one of the three cities of refuge E of the Jordan), and Salecah. (De 4:41-43; Jos 9:10; 12:4, 5; 20:8, 9; 1Ch 6:64, 71) In the region of Argob alone there were 60 walled cities, and ruins of ancient towns still dot the entire area today.​—De 3:3-5; see ARGOB No. 2.

During Solomon’s reign one of the 12 commissariat districts placed under deputies and assigned to provide food for the royal tables included Bashan.​—1Ki 4:7, 13.

In the area E of the Jordan, the principal route from N to S, called “the king’s road,” ran through Bashan at the city of Ashtaroth, and this fact, together with Bashan’s great fertility and its proximity to Damascus, made it the goal of military conquest. King Hazael of Damascus captured Bashan during Jehu’s reign (c. 904-877 B.C.E.), but it was evidently recovered in the reign of Jehoash (2Ki 10:32, 33; 13:25) or at least by the time of Jeroboam II (c. 844-804 B.C.E.). (2Ki 14:25) Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria overran the whole area in the reign of Pekah (c. 778-759 B.C.E.).​—2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26.

In postexilic times Bashan came under Greek control and later became one of the major wheat granaries of the Roman Empire. It was divided into four districts, and with the exception of the NE district called Trachonitis, these districts preserved to some extent original names from the area: the district of Gaulanitis in the W drew its name from Golan, Auranitis in the S from Hauran, and central Batanaea from Bashan. Aside from a reference to Trachonitis (Lu 3:1), Bashan is not mentioned in the Christian Greek Scriptures.​—See HAURAN.

BASIN

The Scriptures do not provide a detailed description of basins used in ancient times, though such vessels were commonly earthenware or were made of wood or metal. Some basins served a domestic purpose, like those that were among the provisions brought to David and the people with him when they fled from Absalom. (2Sa 17:27-29) The Hebrew word saph is used for a basin of this kind. It is also employed for the basin into which the Israelites in Egypt put the blood of the Passover victim (Ex 12:22) and for the temple basins that Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon. (Jer 52:19) This word may also be rendered “bowl,” and thus Jehovah is represented as saying prophetically: “Here I am making Jerusalem a bowl [saph] causing reeling to all the peoples round about.” (Zec 12:1, 2) The Greek ni·pterʹ is used to refer to the “basin,” or “washbasin,” that Jesus used when he washed the feet of his disciples.​—Joh 13:5; compare Int.

Sanctuary Use. Basins were also used for sacred purposes in connection with Jehovah’s worship at the tabernacle and the later temples. As Jehovah instructed Moses, the tabernacle articles included a large basin that was to be filled with water. It was made of copper, rested on a copper stand, and was placed between the tent of meeting and the altar to provide the high priest and the other priests with water for washing their hands and feet either before entering the tent of meeting or before ministering at the altar. (Ex 30:17-21; 31:9; 40:30, 31) This basin, called a laver in some translations (AS; AT; KJ; RS), was made “by the use of the mirrors of the women servants who did organized service at the entrance of the tent of meeting.”​—Ex 38:8.

According to the Masoretic text, there is no specific instruction given on the transporting of the tabernacle basin. However, the Greek Septuagint (which agrees with the ancient Samaritan Pentateuch) adds to Numbers 4:14 the words: “And they will take a purple cloth and cover the basin and its stand and put them in a blue skin covering and put [them] upon poles.”

The Hebrew word ki·yohrʹ (or ki·yorʹ), meaning “basin” or “laver,” is used for the tabernacle basin. (Ex 35:16, ftn) It is also used to refer to the ten basins Solomon had made for temple use, in which things having to do with the burnt offering were rinsed.​—2Ch 4:6, 14.

Each of the ten copper basins (lavers, AT; RS) Hiram made for temple use could hold “forty bath measures,” or about 880 L (230 gal) of water. If these basins were hemispherical in shape this would mean that they had a diameter of perhaps 1.8 m (6 ft). Of course, if they bulged and tapered somewhat toward the top, the measurements would be different, and it must be observed that the Bible does not provide detailed information on their form, though it says that “each basin was four cubits.” Each basin was placed on a four-wheeled carriage skillfully made with ornamental work and engravings, five being placed on the right and five on the left side of the house.​—1Ki 7:27-39.

Another basin of great size was the large ornamented molten sea that stood upon 12 fashioned bulls and was “placed at the right side, to the east, toward the south” of the house. Stored therein was water the priests used. It was circular, 10 cubits (4.5 m; 14.6 ft) from brim to brim and 5 cubits (2.2 m; 7.3 ft) high.​—2Ch 4:2-6, 10.

Bowls. As with other vessels mentioned in the Scriptures, bowls were variously made of clay, wood, or metal. The Hebrew term miz·raqʹ denotes a metal vessel evidently used in connection with sacrifices in worship. (Ex 27:3; Nu 4:14; 7:13; 1Ki 7:50; 2Ch 4:8) Among the larger bowls used at meals was the tsal·laʹchath (“banquet bowl”; Pr 26:15) and the seʹphel (“large banquet bowl”; Jg 5:25). Gul·lahʹ is used to denote a “bowl” (Zec 4:2), but it is also rendered “bowl-shaped” and “round” to describe the capitals of the pillars standing before the temple in Solomon’s time. (1Ki 7:41) The two Greek terms for bowls are tryʹbli·on and phi·aʹle. Tryʹbli·on denotes a relatively deep bowl from which a meal was eaten (Mt 26:23), whereas phi·aʹle refers to a “bowl” often used for offering liquid sacrifices.​—Re 16:2-17.

BASKET

A container made of such materials as palm-leaf fibers, reeds, rushes, rope, twigs, and willows was often used by persons in ancient times for agricultural, domestic, or other purposes. Their baskets varied greatly in shape, size, and construction. There were those with an open weave and others with a close weave. Some had handles and lids, whereas other baskets lacked either or both of these things.

The Scriptures do not provide detailed descriptions of the different kinds of baskets used in antiquity in Bible lands, and various Hebrew and Greek words are used for baskets. The Hebrew word most often employed to denote a basket is sal. It is used for the three baskets containing white bread that Pharaoh’s chief of the bakers dreamed he was carrying on his head, a dream Joseph rightly interpreted as signifying death for the dreamer. (Ge 40:16-19, 22) Sal is also used for the basket in which unfermented bread, cakes, and wafers were placed for use when installing Israel’s priesthood, it further being called “the installation basket.” (Ex 29:3, 23, 32; Le 8:2, 26, 31) This same Hebrew term was used for the basket containing the unfermented cakes and wafers used ceremonially on the day that one’s Naziriteship came to the full. (Nu 6:13, 15, 17, 19) Also, it was into a sal that Gideon put the meat he set before Jehovah’s angel. (Jg 6:19) While the Scriptures do not describe the sal, it seems that this type of basket was of fine weave and, in later times at least, was made of peeled willows or palm leaves. It may have been fairly large and flat, thus being a type convenient for carrying bread, as in the royal baker’s prophetic dream. In the British Museum there is a painted wooden model of an Egyptian woman balancing on her head a large flat and open basket filled with food provisions supposedly for the dead.

During the Israelites’ bondage in Egypt and their “hard slavery at clay mortar and bricks” (Ex 1:14), they evidently used baskets to carry construction materials, clay for bricks, and bricks themselves. Reflecting on the way in which Jehovah effected the release of Israel from Egyptian slavery, the psalmist Asaph represents God as saying: “His own hands got to be free even from the basket [mid·dudhʹ].” (Ps 81:4-6) This same Hebrew term (dudh) is applied to a basket for carrying figs. (Jer 24:1, 2) It also denotes a type of cooking pot (“two-handled cooking pot” [1Sa 2:14]; ‘round-bottomed pot’ [2Ch 35:13]) and “a furnace.”​—Job 41:20.

The Hebrew teʹneʼ was the basket in which the harvest firstfruits were placed for presentation to God, being deposited before the altar of Jehovah. (De 26:2, 4) This basket served as a container for products of the soil and was probably a large, deep receptacle. Moses used the Hebrew term teʹneʼ for “basket” when he apprised Israel of the consequences of obedience and of disobedience to Jehovah. He said, “Blessed will be your basket and your kneading trough,” if a course of obedience was pursued, but, “Cursed will be your basket and your kneading trough,” if Israel was disobedient.​—De 28:5, 17.

The Hebrew word keluvʹ may denote a basket woven of rushes or leaves. This term is employed for “basket” at Amos 8:1, 2, where the prophet reports that Jehovah caused him to see “a basket of summer fruit.” It is also used to refer to “a cage” for birds in Jeremiah 5:27.

One other Hebrew word referring to a kind of basket is kar, rendered “woman’s saddle basket” in Genesis 31:34.

After Jesus Christ miraculously multiplied loaves and fishes to feed about 5,000 men, besides women and young children, there were 12 baskets full of surplus fragments. (Mt 14:20; Mr 6:43; Lu 9:17; Joh 6:13) For the type of basket used to gather the leftovers, all four Gospel writers use the Greek word koʹphi·nos. This type may have been a relatively small wicker hand basket in which one could carry provisions on a journey, or, possibly, it had a cord serving as a handle by which the basket could be carried on one’s back. Its general capacity may be deduced from the fact that this Greek term is also used for the Boeotian measure of approximately 7.5 L (2 gal).

After Matthew and Mark tell that Jesus fed about 4,000 men, besides women and young children, from the seven loaves and a few little fishes, they show that seven baskets of surplus fragments were collected. But they use a different Greek word, sphy·risʹ (or, spy·risʹ); this denotes a large provision basket or hamper. (Mt 15:37; Mr 8:8) Whereas the smaller koʹphi·nos would suffice when one was traveling in Jewish territory and away from home only a short time, a larger basket would be needed when going on an extended journey through foreign areas. At times this type was quite large, big enough to hold a man. Gospel writers draw a distinction between the koʹphi·nos and sphy·risʹ (NW using “baskets” for the former and “provision baskets” for the latter) when reporting Jesus Christ’s later references to his acts of miraculously multiplying food.​—Mt 16:9, 10; Mr 8:19, 20.

The sphy·risʹ is the kind of basket in which Paul was lowered to the ground through an opening in the wall of Damascus. (Ac 9:25) In telling the Corinthian Christians about this escape, the apostle used the Greek word sar·gaʹne, which denotes a plaited or “wicker basket” made of rope or entwined twigs. Both of these Greek terms can be used for the same type of basket.​—2Co 11:32, 33.

Jesus Christ, after identifying his disciples as “the light of the world,” told them: “People light a lamp and set it, not under the measuring basket, but upon the lampstand, and it shines upon all those in the house.” Such a “measuring basket” (Gr., moʹdi·os) was a dry measure that had a capacity of about 9 L (8 dry qt), but Christ used it illustratively as a covering. Jesus encouraged his disciples not to hide their spiritual light under a figurative “measuring basket.” Instead, he admonished them: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.”​—Mt 5:1, 2, 14-16; see also Mr 4:21; Lu 11:33.

BAT

[Heb., ʽatal·lephʹ].

A flying mammal that, apart from its large wings of membranous skin, resembles the mouse. The Scriptures classify the bat among the unclean flying creatures that were not to be eaten by the Israelites. (Le 11:19; De 14:18) About 20 different species of bats (Chiroptera) are found in Israel today.

During the daylight hours bats generally roost head downward in dark caves or deserted buildings, then they come forth at dusk to hunt for food during the hours of darkness. Where large numbers of them roost in one place, there is a repulsive, mousy odor. In some caves bat manure has built up into layers of considerable thickness, providing a valuable source of fertilizer. It is doubtless because of the bat’s habit of roosting in dark places that the prophet Isaiah speaks of throwing gods of gold and silver to the bats. A place of darkness and uncleanness is all such idols deserve, instead of the places of honor and prominence accorded them by their deceived worshipers.​—Isa 2:20.

BATH

A liquid measure amounting to a tenth of a homer (cor) and corresponding to the dry-measure ephah. (Eze 45:10, 11, 14) On the basis of jar fragments bearing the designation “bath” in ancient Hebrew characters, it has been estimated that the bath measure equaled 22 L (5.81 gal).

BATHING

The Hebrew word ra·chatsʹ is rendered either “bathe” or “wash” and applies to the human body and other objects that are cleansed by dipping or by having water poured over them. (Le 16:24; Ge 24:32) However, to describe the washing of clothes when they are pounded under water, Bible writers used the Hebrew word ka·vasʹ, related to the Arabic kabasa (knead; stamp) and the Akkadian kabasu (tread down). We, therefore, read in Leviticus 14:8: “And the one cleansing himself must wash [a form of ka·vasʹ] his garments and shave off all his hair and bathe [wera·chatsʹ] in water and must be clean.”​—See also Le 15:5-27; Nu 19:19.

The Greek word for “bath” is lou·tronʹ.​—Tit 3:5.

Physical cleanliness is required of those who worship Jehovah in holiness and purity. This was demonstrated in connection with the tabernacle arrangement and the later temple service. At their installation, High Priest Aaron and his sons bathed before donning the official garments. (Ex 29:4-9; 40:12-15; Le 8:6, 7) To wash their hands and feet, the priests used water from the copper basin in the courtyard of the tabernacle and, later, from the huge molten sea at Solomon’s temple. (Ex 30:18-21; 40:30-32; 2Ch 4:2-6) On the Day of Atonement the high priest bathed twice. (Le 16:4, 23, 24) Those who took the goat for Azazel, the remains of the animal sacrifices, and the sacrificial red cow outside the camp had to bathe their flesh and wash their garments before reentering the camp.​—Le 16:26-28; Nu 19:2-10.

Ceremonial bathing on the part of the Israelites in general was required for various reasons. Anyone who recovered from leprosy, anyone who contacted things touched by those with “a running discharge,” a man who had an emission of semen, a woman after menstruation or hemorrhaging, or anyone having sexual intercourse was “unclean” and had to bathe. (Le 14:8, 9; 15:4-27) One in a tent with, or touching, a human corpse was “unclean” and had to be purified with cleansing water. If anyone refused to comply with this regulation, he “must be cut off from the midst of the congregation, because it is Jehovah’s sanctuary that he has defiled.” (Nu 19:20) Appropriately, then, washing is used figuratively to denote a clean standing before Jehovah. (Ps 26:6; 73:13; Isa 1:16; Eze 16:9) Bathing with Jehovah’s word of truth, symbolized by water, has power to cleanse.​—Eph 5:26.

Passing references in the Bible are made to individuals bathing: Pharaoh’s daughter in the Nile (Ex 2:5); Ruth before presenting herself to Boaz (Ru 3:3); Bath-sheba unwittingly in the sight of David (2Sa 11:2, 3); David before prostrating himself in the house of Jehovah (2Sa 12:20); prostitutes at a pool in Samaria (1Ki 22:38). Leprous Naaman, at Elisha’s command, ‘Bathe and be clean,’ did so seven times in the Jordan River. (2Ki 5:9-14) It was a custom to bathe newborn babes and also to bathe the bodies of the dead before burial.​—Eze 16:4; Ac 9:37.

In the hot climate of the Middle East where people walked dusty roads in open sandals, it was a mark of hospitality and kindness to provide for washing the feet of one’s guests. Abraham extended this kindness to angels (Ge 18:1-4); other examples included Lot, Laban, and Abigail. (Ge 19:1, 2; 24:29-32; 1Sa 25:41; Lu 7:38, 44; 1Ti 5:10) Jesus also washed the feet of his disciples.​—Joh 13:5-17; see WASHING OF FEET.

The Pharisees washed “their hands up to the elbow,” not for hygienic reasons, but strictly because of rabbinic traditions.​—Mr 7:1-5; Mt 15:1, 2.

BATH-RABBIM

(Bath-rabʹbim) [Daughter of the Many].

In The Song of Solomon, the Shulammite maiden’s eyes are likened to “the pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim.” (Ca 7:4) Heshbon was a city in the territory of Gad but was assigned to the Levites. (Jos 21:38, 39) While some believe the name Bath-rabbim is the name of a gate of Heshbon facing toward the city of Rabbah (modern ʽAmman) to the NE, others suggest that Bath-rabbim (meaning “Daughter of the Many”) is used figuratively to mean the populous city of Heshbon itself and that the gate is so called because many people passed in and out of the city or gathered at the gate for assembly. Around the present ruins of the city, evidence remains of ancient pools as well as of a large reservoir. The poetic description gives an apt picture of limpid, serene beauty seen in the shining eyes of the Shulammite, the city gate perhaps representing the forehead.

BATH-SHEBA

(Bath-sheʹba) [Daughter of Plenty; possibly, Daughter [Born on] the Seventh [Day]].

Daughter of Eliam (Ammiel, 1Ch 3:5); possibly a granddaughter of Ahithophel. (2Sa 11:3; 23:34) First the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s mighty men; later married to David after being involved in one of the blackest episodes of David’s life.​—2Sa 23:39.

Late one spring day, Bath-sheba was bathing herself, when a neighbor, King David, on the rooftop of his palace, caught sight of this beautiful woman, described as “very good in appearance.” Upon learning that her husband was off to war, the passion-aroused king had Bath-sheba brought to the palace, where he had relations with her. “Later she returned to her house,” and after some time informed David that she was pregnant. Thereupon David plotted to have Uriah sleep with his wife as a cover-up for the adultery, but when this scheme failed, the king had Uriah killed in battle. As soon as her mourning period was over, Bath-sheba became David’s wife and bore the child.​—2Sa 11:1-27.

“But the thing . . . appeared bad in the eyes of Jehovah.” His prophet Nathan rebuked the king with an illustration in which he represented Bath-sheba as the “one female lamb” of the poor man, Uriah, that the rich man, David, took to entertain a visitor. In great sorrow David repented (Ps 51), but the adulterine child, which remains nameless, died. (See DAVID.) Years later, further distress came to David for his sin, his own concubines being defiled by his son Absalom.​—2Sa 11:27–12:23; 16:21, 22.

Bath-sheba found comfort in her repentant husband, repeatedly addressed him as “my lord,” as Sarah had done to her husband (1Ki 1:15-21; 1Pe 3:6), and in time she bore him a son named Solomon, whom Jehovah loved and blessed. (2Sa 12:24, 25) She also had three other sons, Shimea, Shobab, and Nathan, the latter being an ancestor of Jesus’ mother Mary. Since Joseph descended from Solomon, both of Jesus’ earthly parents traced their ancestry to Bath-sheba as well as David.​—1Ch 3:5; Mt 1:6, 16; Lu 3:23, 31.

Bath-sheba comes forward in the account again toward the close of David’s 40-year reign. David had sworn to her: “Solomon your son is the one that will become king after me.” So when Solomon’s older half brother Adonijah attempted to usurp the throne just before David’s death, Bath-sheba, on the suggestion of the prophet Nathan, reminded David of his oath. Immediately David put Solomon on the throne, and Bath-sheba thus became the queen mother.​—1Ki 1:5-37.

After Solomon’s throne was firmly established, Bath-sheba appeared before him as an influential intermediary with a request in behalf of Adonijah. Solomon immediately “rose to meet her and bowed down,” and ordered that a throne be placed for his mother, “that she might sit at his right.” However, her request only revealed Adonijah’s duplicity, so Solomon had him put to death.​—1Ki 2:13-25.

BATTERING RAM

An instrument of warfare used by besiegers to breach or break down the gates and walls of a city or fortress. In its simplest form, it was a heavy beam of timber with an iron tip resembling the head of a ram. Perhaps on account of this or because of its butting action when in use, it is designated by the same Hebrew word (kar) as the ram.​—Eze 4:1, 2; 21:22.

Besiegers would cast up a mound, or siege rampart, against the city walls to serve as an inclined plane on which battering rams and other engines of war might be brought. Towers as high as the city walls might be pushed up the rampart, thus placing attackers on the same level as defenders. The defending soldiers would endeavor to put the battering rams out of action by dropping firebrands on them or by catching them with chains or grapnels.

BAVVAI

(Bavʹvai).

A Levite worker on Nehemiah’s wall-rebuilding project in Jerusalem. He was from the district of Keilah; the son of Henadad and possibly a brother of Binnui.​—Ne 3:18, 24.

BAZLUTH

(Bazʹluth), Bazlith (Bazʹlith).

A family head whose descendants were among the Nethinim returning to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E.​—Ezr 2:1, 2, 52; Ne 7:54.

BDELLIUM GUM

[Heb., bedhoʹlach].

A fragrant resinous gum resembling myrrh in appearance and sometimes used to adulterate it. (See also MYRRH.) It is obtained from a tree (Commiphora africana) found in NW Africa and Arabia and also from a related type in NW India. This is a genus of small trees or bushes with a scrubby, spiny appearance and little foliage, growing in hot sunny places. When the bark is cut, a fragrant, resinous juice, or gum, oozes out. After the gum is removed from the tree it soon hardens, becomes waxlike and transparent, and is similar to a pearl in appearance.

In describing the land of Havilah encircled by the river Pishon (one of the four rivers branching off from the river issuing out of Eden), mention is made of its valuable things: gold, bdellium gum, and onyx stone. (Ge 2:11, 12) At Numbers 11:7 the manna that the Israelites gathered during the wilderness trek is said to have had “the look of bdellium gum.” Manna had previously been likened to “hoarfrost upon the earth.” (Ex 16:14) This corresponds with the near-white color of bdellium gum. Josephus, in discussing the provision of the manna, refers to bdellium as a “spicy herb.”​—Jewish Antiquities, III, 28 (i, 6).

BEADS

Small perforated ornaments made of such materials as glass, gems, gold, and silver. They are usually worn as necklaces and have been found on Egyptian mummies, in Greek and Roman graves, and in Assyrian temple ruins, as well as at Megiddo, Ashdod, and Beth-shemesh.

Concerning the lovely Shulammite girl of The Song of Solomon, it is said: “Your cheeks are comely among the hair braids, your neck in a string of beads.” (Ca 1:10) Clearly, then, strings of beads were among the articles of adornment used by Hebrew women of ancient times.​—See ORNAMENTS.

BEALIAH

(Be·a·liʹah) [Jah Is Owner].

A Benjamite warrior who joined up with David at Ziklag.​—1Ch 12:1, 2, 5.

BEALOTH

(Be·aʹloth) [Place of the Mistresses].

1. A city in the extreme S of Judah, referred to at Joshua 15:24. The location is unknown.

2. A district in the vicinity of Asher under Baana as Solomon’s commissariat. Called Aloth in the King James Version.​—1Ki 4:16.

BEAR

[Heb., dov or dohv; Gr., arʹkos].

The Syrian brown bear (Ursus arctos syriacus) is the animal formerly encountered in Palestine, and is still found in N Syria, NW Iran, and S Turkey. It is most often light brown in color and averages about 140 kg (310 lb) in weight. Despite seeming awkwardness, the bear can move with great rapidity even over rough ground, some varieties attaining a speed of nearly 48 km (30 mi) an hour for a short distance. Bears are also good swimmers, and most of them can climb.

The idea that bears hug or squeeze their victims to death is not borne out by the facts. When engaged in a struggle, the bear strikes with its huge paws, and its powerful, heavy arms drive the nonretractile claws deep into the body of its opponent. A single blow may be sufficient to kill an animal such as a deer. Most appropriately, therefore, the Scriptures allude to the bear’s dangerousness in parallel with that of the lion. (Am 5:19; La 3:10) Naturalists, in fact, consider the bear to be even more dangerous than the large cats. Usually, however, the bear, like other animals, does not molest humans but avoids them, although it may attack when provoked or surprised.

The ferocity of the female bear when its young are lost is mentioned several times in the Scriptures. (2Sa 17:8; Pr 17:12; Ho 13:8) Bears, on one occasion, served as God’s executioners against the delinquent youths who mocked the prophet Elisha.​—2Ki 2:24.

Bears subsist on a varied diet, feeding on leaves and roots of plants, fruits, berries, nuts, eggs, insects, fish, rodents, and the like, and have a special fondness for honey. Although there are exceptions, bears seem to prefer a vegetarian diet. Nonetheless, in ancient Israel, when fruits and other nonflesh items of the bear’s diet were scarce, herders of sheep and goats had to be on guard against the depredations of bears. In his youth David had to brave the attack of a bear in order to protect his father’s flock.​—1Sa 17:34-37.

When bears are hungry and get the scent of prey, they are known to make an impatient groaning sound. So the prophet Isaiah describes the Israelites as ‘groaning like bears’ in expectation of justice and salvation, only to be disappointed repeatedly. (Isa 59:11) An onrushing bear is also fittingly likened to a wicked ruler who harries and oppresses his lowly subjects.​—Pr 28:15.

In Daniel’s vision of terrible beasts symbolizing world powers of earth, the bear represented the Medo-Persian World Power and its greed for territorial conquest and pillage. (Da 7:5, 17) Rapacious like this, the wild beast out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, is seen in John’s vision to have feet “as those of a bear.” (Re 13:2) The peacefulness among Jehovah’s regathered people, under Messiah’s rule, is indicated by the prophecy that the bear will feed with the cow.​—Isa 11:7.

BEARD

The hair growing on a man’s chin and cheeks, sometimes including that growing on the upper lip. In the Hebrew Scriptures, za·qanʹ is the word for “beard,” while sa·phamʹ, pertaining to the lip, is variously rendered by translators as “beard,” “mustache,” and “upper lip.” In a few instances the word za·qanʹ refers not to the beard but to the “chin.”​—Le 13:29, 30; 14:9.

Among many ancient peoples of the East, including the Israelites, a beard was cherished as an evidence of manly dignity. God’s law to Israel prohibited the cutting off of the “sidelocks,” the hair between the ear and the eye, and the extremity of the beard. (Le 19:27; 21:5) This was doubtless because among some pagans it was a religious practice.

During extreme grief, shame, or humiliation, a man might pluck hairs from his beard, or he might leave the beard or the mustache untended. (Ezr 9:3) It may have been the untended beard of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, that indicated to David that Mephibosheth was perhaps telling the truth when he said that his servant Ziba had slandered him, and that Mephibosheth was actually mourning while David was a refugee from Absalom, contrary to what Ziba had reported. (2Sa 16:3; 19:24-30) The removing of the beard illustrated calamity or great mourning because of calamity.​—Isa 7:20; 15:2; Jer 48:37; Eze 5:1.

After the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria expressed their distress by shaving their beards, ripping their garments apart, and cutting themselves. Even though they were bringing offerings to the house of Jehovah, they were bloodless offerings, apparently to be offered at the place where the temple had been. (Jer 41:5) That the practices of these men were not fully in harmony with the law of God is shown by the fact that they made cuts upon themselves, a practice sternly prohibited by the Law.​—Le 19:28; 21:5.

The importance of the beard and its being well groomed played a part in the attitude of Achish the king of Gath toward David when the latter disguised his sanity by letting his saliva run down upon his beard. This served to help convince King Achish that David was insane. (1Sa 21:13) Later, when Hanun the king of Ammon grossly insulted David’s ambassadors by cutting off half their beards, David sympathetically told his men to stay in Jericho until their beards grew abundantly again. The Ammonites knew that it was a signal insult to David and that they had become foul-smelling in his eyes over the incident, and so they prepared for war.​—2Sa 10:4-6; 1Ch 19:1-6.

It was customary for men to wear beards, even before the Law covenant was made. While the Hebrews did not make monuments with figures of themselves, many monuments and inscriptions have been found in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other Middle Eastern lands, in which the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Canaanites are pictured with beards. Even some representations dated as far back as the third millennium B.C.E. show beards of varying styles. Among the above-named peoples, eunuchs were mainly the ones depicted beardless. The making of eunuchs was not a practice in Israel, however, because the Law excluded eunuchs from the congregation of Israel.​—De 23:1.

Since most Semites are pictured as wearing beards, even prior to the time of the Law, it would logically follow that the faithful men of the line of Shem, who continued to speak the language of Eden and who doubtless followed more closely the original customs from the time of their forefather Shem, possessed beards. Consequently, there is good reason to believe that Noah, Enoch, Seth, and Adam likewise were bearded men.

Herodotus (II, 36) says the Egyptians shaved the hair both of the face and of the head. For the men it was a sign of mourning or of slovenliness to let the hair and beard grow. For this reason Joseph, when taken out of prison, shaved before being brought into the presence of Pharaoh. (Ge 41:14) However, false beards as well as wigs were worn by the Egyptians.

Did Jesus, when on earth, wear a beard? Certainly it was a custom strictly held by the Jews. Jesus, born a Jew, “came to be under law” and he fulfilled the Law. (Ga 4:4; Mt 5:17) Like all other Jews, Jesus was dedicated to Jehovah God from his birth, by reason of the Law covenant, and was under obligation to keep the whole Law, including the prohibition on shaving the extremity of the beard. Also, at the time that Jesus was on earth, the Roman custom was beardlessness. Therefore, if Jesus had been beardless, he would have been challenged as being either a eunuch or a Roman. Significantly, a prophecy concerning Jesus’ suffering states: “My back I gave to the strikers, and my cheeks to those plucking off the hair.”​—Isa 50:6.

BEASTS, SYMBOLIC

From time immemorial, mankind has observed the characteristics and habits of animals and has applied them in a figurative or symbolic sense to persons, peoples, governments, and organizations. The Bible makes good use of this effective means of illustration. Examples pertaining to the figurative use of the qualities residing in an animal, or suggested by its characteristics, are listed in the accompanying charts.

Beasts as Symbols of Governments. Certain major world powers of history appear directly in the Biblical record, and all of these, as well as other nations, have used animals as symbols of their governments. In Egypt, the serpent figured prominently, the uraeus, the sacred asp, appearing on the headdress of the Pharaohs. However, Egypt was also represented by the bull, as was Assyria. Medo-Persia used the eagle (the shields of the Medes bore the golden eagle; the Persians bore an eagle fixed to the end of a lance). Athens was designated by the owl; Rome, the eagle; Great Britain is designated by the lion; the United States, the eagle. From the most remote times China has been symbolized by the dragon. Well known is the German “two-headed eagle.”

The Wild Beasts of Daniel and of Revelation. That the beasts described in these books represent political kingdoms or governments, exercising rulership and authority, is clearly stated. (Da 7:6, 12, 23; 8:20-22; Re 16:10; 17:3, 9-12) A consideration of the Biblical passages reveals that, while these political ‘wild beasts’ vary in symbolic form, yet all have certain characteristics in common. All are shown as standing in opposition to God’s rule by the Messianic Kingdom over mankind. They are also depicted as in opposition to God’s “holy ones,” his covenant people, first the Jewish nation, then the Christian congregation. Those specifically named (Medo-Persia and Greece) were major world powers, and the great size attributed to the others or the description of their actions indicates that these too were not minor kingdoms. (It may be noted that subordinate kingdoms are symbolized by horns in some cases.) All the beasts are represented as very aggressive, seeking the dominant position over the nations or peoples within the reach of their power.​—Compare Da 7:17, 18, 21; 8:9-11, 23, 24; Re 13:4-7, 15; 17:12-14.

Many commentators endeavor to limit the fulfillment of the visions of the beasts in the book of Daniel so that it does not extend beyond the time when Jesus Christ was on the earth, at which time the Roman Empire was the dominant power. The prophecies themselves, however, make plain that they extend beyond that time. The final forms of the beasts are shown as reaching down to the ‘arrival of the definite time for God’s holy ones to take possession of the kingdom’ in “the appointed time of the end.” Then the Messiah destroys such beastly opposition for all time. (Da 7:21-27; 8:19-25; compare also Re 17:13, 14; 19:19, 20.) It may be noted that Christ Jesus expressly foretold that opposition to the Messianic Kingdom would continue into the time of the end, so that his disciples then preaching that Kingdom would be “objects of hatred by all the nations.” (Mt 24:3, 9-14) This obviously does not allow for any nation, particularly world powers, to be excluded from possible identification with the final forms or expressions of the symbolic wild beasts.

Daniel’s vision of the beasts out of the sea. After Egypt and Assyria had finished their respective periods of dominance, and toward the close of the Babylonian Empire, Jehovah God gave Daniel a vision of “four huge beasts” coming up out of the vast sea. (Da 7:1-3) Isaiah 57:20 likens persons alienated from God to the sea, saying: “But the wicked are like the sea that is being tossed, when it is unable to calm down, the waters of which keep tossing up seaweed and mire.”​—See also Re 17:15.

Bible commentators regularly link this vision with that of the colossal image in the second chapter of Daniel. As a comparison of chapters 2 and 7 shows, there are definite similarities. The colossal image had four principal parts or sections, to compare with the four beasts. The metals of the image began with the most precious, gold, and became successively inferior, while the beasts began with the majestic lion. In both visions the fourth part, or “kingdom,” receives particular consideration, shows the greatest complexity of form, introduces new elements, and continues down till the time when divine judgment is executed upon it for standing in opposition to God’s rule.

Briefly the four beasts were: a lion, first having eagle’s wings, then losing them and taking on human qualities; a bear (a less majestic and more ponderous creature than the lion), devouring much flesh; a leopard with four wings (adding to its great speed) and four heads; and a fourth wild beast not corresponding to any actual animal, unusually strong, with large iron teeth, ten horns, and another horn developing with eyes and “a mouth speaking grandiose things.” Much of the chapter relates to the fourth beast and its unusual horn. While each beast was “different from the others,” this was especially true of the fourth one.​—Da 7:3-8, 11, 12, 15-26.

In the last quarter of the seventh century B.C.E., Babylon became the dominant power in the Middle East. The Babylonian kingdom swiftly extended its domain over Syria and Palestine, overthrowing the kingdom of Judah with its line of Davidic rulers who sat on the glorious throne of Jehovah in Jerusalem. (1Ch 29:23) It may be observed that, when warning Judah of its impending fall to Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah likened the future conqueror to ‘a lion going up out of a thicket.’ (Jer 4:5-7; compare 50:17.) After the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah said that Babylon’s forces had been “swifter than the eagles” in their pursuit of the Judeans. (La 4:19) History shows that Babylon’s expansion, at one time reaching as far as Egypt, before long came to a halt, and in the latter part of the empire, Babylon’s rulers showed little of the earlier aggressiveness.

Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian kingdom, with its heartland in the hills to the east of the plains of Mesopotamia. The Medo-Persian Empire was quite different from the Semitic Babylonian Empire, being the first Japhetic (or Aryan) power to gain the dominant position in the Middle East. The Jews, though allowed to return to Judah, continued as a subject people under the Medo-Persian yoke. (Ne 9:36, 37) This empire showed an even greater appetite for territory than had the Babylonian, extending its domain from “India to Ethiopia.”​—Es 1:1.

Medo-Persia’s domination was ended by the lightning conquest of the Grecian forces headed by Alexander the Great. In a few short years he built up an empire that embraced parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. This was the first European-based power to hold such a position. After Alexander’s death his generals struggled for control of the empire, four of them eventually gaining the rulership of different sections. Palestine was fought over by the rival Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms.

The Grecian Empire was eventually taken over completely by Rome. The Roman Empire surpassed all the preceding empires not only in the extent of its domain (covering the entire Mediterranean area and in time reaching to the British Isles) but also in the efficiency of its military machine and the firmness of its application of Roman law to the provinces of its far-flung empire. Rome, of course, was the political instrument used to execute the Messiah, Christ Jesus, as well as to persecute the early Christian congregation. The empire extended for nearly a thousand years thereafter in different forms but eventually broke up into various nations, with Britain finally gaining the dominant position.

Historian H. G. Wells makes the following interesting observations on the distinctiveness of the Roman Empire: “Now this new Roman power which arose to dominate the western world in the second and first centuries B.C. was in several respects a different thing from any of the great empires that had hitherto prevailed in the civilised world. It was not at first a monarchy, and it was not the creation of any one great conqueror. . . . It was the first republican empire that escaped extinction and went on to fresh developments. . . . Its population was less strongly Hamitic and Semitic than that of any preceding empire. . . . It was so far a new pattern in history, it was an expanded Aryan republic. . . . It was always changing. It never attained to any fixity. In a sense the [administrative] experiment failed. In a sense the experiment remains unfinished, and Europe and America to-day are still working out the riddles of world-wide statecraft first confronted by the Roman people.”​—The Pocket History of the World, 1943, pp. 149-151.

The ram and the male goat. In the vision Daniel received two years later (Da 8:1), the powers represented by the two symbolic beasts involved are clearly named. The kingdom of Medo-Persia is here pictured as a male sheep (a ram) having two horns, the taller horn coming up afterward. History shows that the Medes first were the stronger, and the Persians thereafter gained the ascendancy, though both peoples remained united in a dual power. A he-goat, moving very fast across the earth, symbolized the world power of Greece. (Da 8:3-8, 20, 21) The prophetic vision shows that the goat’s “great horn” located between its eyes, representing the first king, was broken “as soon as it became mighty,” and four kingdoms resulted, though of inferior strength. (Da 8:5, 8, 21, 22) The rapid conquest of the Medo-Persian Empire by Alexander has already been commented on, as well as the division of his kingdom among four of his generals.

It is worthy of mention here that the same nation or its rulers may be represented by different animal symbols in different prophecies. Thus, the kings of Assyria and Babylon are represented by lions at Jeremiah 50:17, while at Ezekiel 17:3-17 the rulers of Babylon and Egypt are pictured by great eagles. Ezekiel elsewhere likens Egypt’s Pharaoh to a “great sea monster” lying in the Nile canals. (Eze 29:3) Hence the fact that Medo-Persia and Greece are represented by certain symbolisms in Daniel chapter 8 does not eliminate the possibility of their being represented by other symbolisms in the earlier vision (Da 7) nor in subsequent prophecies.

The seven-headed wild beast out of the sea. In the vision had by the apostle John and recorded at Revelation 13, a seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast comes up out of the sea, leopardlike, yet with feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. It is thus a composite form of several of the symbols appearing in Daniel’s vision of the four beasts. The dragon, identified at Revelation 12:9 as Satan the Devil, gives the beast its authority and power. (Re 13:1, 2) This beast’s seven heads (bearing ten horns) distinguish it from the one-headed beasts of Daniel’s vision. Seven (and ten) are commonly acknowledged as Biblical symbols of completeness. (See NUMBER, NUMERAL.) This is corroborated by the extent of this beast’s domain, for it exercises authority, not over one nation or a group of nations, but “over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” (Re 13:7, 8; compare 16:13, 14.) Noting these factors, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible comments: “The first of these beasts [of Re 13] combines in itself the joint characteristics of the four beasts of Daniel’s vision . . . Accordingly, this first beast represents the combined forces of all political rule opposed to God in the world.”​—Edited by G. Buttrick, 1962, Vol. 1, p. 369.

Two-horned beast. Then John saw a beast out of the earth with two horns like those of a harmless lamb, yet speaking as a dragon, exercising the full authority of the first wild beast, just described. It directs making an image of the globally ruling seven-headed beast, putting all persons under compulsion to accept its “mark.”​—Re 13:11-17.

It may be recalled that the two-horned ram of Daniel chapter 8 represented a dual power, Medo-Persia. Of course, that power had long since disappeared by the apostle John’s day, and his vision was of things yet future. (Re 1:1) Other dual powers have existed since John’s day, but among these the historical association of Britain and the United States is particularly notable and of long duration.

The other notable characteristic of the two-horned beast, its speaking like a dragon, recalls the “mouth speaking grandiose things” on the outstanding horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 (vss 8, 20-26); while its ‘misleading’ earth’s inhabitants compares with the deception practiced by the ‘fierce king’ described at Daniel 8:23-25.​—Re 13:11, 14.

The scarlet-colored wild beast. At Revelation 17 the apostle records his vision of a scarlet-colored beast with seven heads and ten horns, mounted by the symbolic woman “Babylon the Great.” This beast thus resembles, or is in the image of, the first beast of Revelation 13 but is distinct because of its scarlet color and the fact that no crowns are seen on its ten horns. Beholding the beast, John is told that five of the seven kings represented by the seven heads had already fallen, while one existed at that time, and the seventh was yet to come. The scarlet-colored beast itself is an eighth king but springs from or is a product of the previous seven. The “ten kings” represented by the ten horns exist and exercise authority in association with the scarlet beast for a short time. Warring against the Lamb, Jesus Christ, and those with him, they go down in defeat.​—Re 17:3-5, 9-14.

Some scholars would apply this vision to pagan Rome, and the seven heads to seven emperors of Rome, followed by an eighth emperor. They disagree, however, as to which emperors should be included. The Bible itself does not mention more than three Roman emperors by name, with a fourth (Nero) being mentioned under the title of “Caesar.” Other scholars understand the “heads” or “kings” to represent world powers, as in the book of Daniel. It is noteworthy that the Bible does name five world powers in the Hebrew Scriptures, namely, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece, while the Greek Scriptures name a sixth, Rome, ruling in John’s day. While this would leave the seventh ‘king’ unnamed, the fact that it had not yet appeared when John recorded the Revelation would allow for such anonymity. The eighth king, the symbolic scarlet beast, in some way unites in itself these seven heads while at the same time springing from them.

[Chart on page 268]

SYMBOLISM OF DESIRABLE THINGS

ANIMAL

CHARACTERISTIC OR QUALITY

SYMBOLISM

Ass

Ability to do hard work

Tribe of Issachar lending itself to labor (Ge 49:14, 15)

Bull

Strength, power (Job 39:9-11)

Power, attribute of “living creature” near Jehovah’s throne (Re 4:7)

Bull, young (calf)

Sacrificial animal

Fruit of lips, sacrifices of praise (Ho 14:2; Heb 13:15)

Jesus Christ as a sacrifice (Heb 9:11-14)

Dove (turtle-dove)

Lovableness, beauty, innocence

Shulammite girl (Ca 1:15; 5:2)

God’s servants innocent, not lawbreakers (Mt 10:16)

Homing quality

Jehovah’s people being gathered (Isa 60:8)

Eagle

Farsightedness

Wisdom, attribute of “living creature” near Jehovah’s throne (Re 4:7)

Discernment, spiritual forevision of God’s servants (Mt 24:28; Lu 17:37)

Eagle’s wings

Power of flight

Refreshing vigor, endurance (Ps 103:5; Isa 40:31)

Care, protection

Jehovah’s care for Israel (Ex 19:4) and for his “woman” (Re 12:14)

Fish

Some fish clean according to the Law (Le 11:9)

People fine, righteous, suitable for the Kingdom (Mt 13:47-50)

Gazelle (and related animals)

Beauty, lovableness

Shepherd lover of the Shulammite (Ca 2:9)

Speed

Speed of Gadite warriors (1Ch 12:8)

Goat

Sacrificial animal

Jesus Christ as a sacrifice (Heb 9:11-14)

Hen

Protectiveness of young

Jesus’ tender care (Mt 23:37; Lu 13:34)

Hind

Swiftness

Tribe of Naphtali swift in battle (Ge 49:21)

Surefootedness

Stability and guidance of one’s steps by Jehovah (2Sa 22:34; Ps 18:33)

Lovableness

One’s own wife (Pr 5:19)

Horned snake (serpent)

Dangerousness

Tribe of Dan, competent rear guard of Israel (Ge 49:17)

Horse (white)

War mount

Righteous warfare (Re 19:11, 16)

Lion

Majesty, courage, destructiveness to enemies

Justice, attribute of “living creature” near Jehovah’s throne (Re 4:7)

Jesus as royal majesty, King, executor of justice (Ge 49:9; Re 5:5)

Jehovah (Isa 31:4; Ho 11:10)

Jehovah’s people (Mic 5:8)

Serpent

Cautiousness (Ge 3:1)

God’s servants cautious (Mt 10:16)

Sheep

Sacrificial animal; meekness, docility, gregariousness

Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God” (Joh 1:29; Re 5:6; 14:1; 22:3)

Jehovah’s flock of people (Ps 79:13; Joh 10:7; Heb 13:20)

Persons who do good toward Christ’s spiritual brothers, and who enter into Kingdom blessings (Mt 25:32-34)

Wolf

Fighter

Tribe of Benjamin, fighter against God’s enemies (Ge 49:27)

[Chart on pages 270-271]

SYMBOLISM OF THAT WHICH IS BAD AND UNDESIRABLE

ANIMAL

CHARACTERISTIC OR QUALITY

SYMBOLISM

Animals in general

Lack of reasoning

Wicked men (2Pe 2:12; Jude 10)

Ass

Strong sexual desire

Faithless Judah in turning to Assyria and Egypt (Eze 23:20)

Bear

Ferocity

Wicked rulers (Pr 28:15)

Medo-Persian World Power (Da 7:5)

Bull

Ferocity

Wicked enemies of David (Ps 22:12)

Camel (female)

Aimless seeking of fulfillment of desire

Israel’s unfaithful seeking after pagan nations and their gods (Jer 2:23)

Dog

Viciousness, uncleanness, operating in packs, unsatisfied in sexual desire

Wicked enemies of David (Ps 22:16; 59:6, 14)

Sexual pervert (De 23:18; Php 3:2; Re 22:15)

Worthless individual (2Sa 16:9)

Wicked shepherds of Israel (Isa 56:10, 11)

Ancient Jewish view of uncircumcised Gentiles (Mt 15:26, 27)

Apostates (2Pe 2:22)

Dove

Easily distracted, unstable, simpleminded

Ten-tribe kingdom of Israel (Ho 7:11)

Dragon

Devouring, crushing, swallowing

Satan the Devil (Re 12:9)

King of Babylon (Jer 51:34, ftn)

Eagle

Rapacious, predatory

Kings of Babylon and Egypt (Eze 17:3, 7, 12, 15)

Fish

Some fish unclean according to the Law (Le 11:10-12)

Wicked persons, unsuitable for Kingdom (Mt 13:47-50)

Fox

Craftiness, slyness

Treacherous King Herod Antipas (Lu 13:32)

Goat

Stubbornness, independent disposition, tendency to butt

Persons not friendly toward Christ’s spiritual brothers, “cursed” ones going into destruction (Mt 25:32, 41, 46)

Grecian World Power (Da 8:5, 21)

Horse

Usefulness in battle (Job 39:19-25)

Warfare, war equipment (Ps 33:17; 147:10; Isa 31:1; Jer 4:13)

Strong sexual desire

Sex-mad Israelites of Jeremiah’s day (Jer 5:8)

Leopard

Speed

Rapidity of Chaldean conquest (Hab 1:8)

Grecian World Power (Da 7:6)

Lion

Fierce, rapacious, predatory

Wicked enemies of David (Ps 22:13)

Babylonian World Power (Da 7:4)

Kings of Assyria and Babylon (Jer 50:17)

Devil (1Pe 5:8)

Serpent

Cunning, deceptiveness (2Co 11:3)

Satan the Devil (Re 12:9)

Sheep (male)

Butting

Medo-Persian World Power (Da 8:3, 4, 20)

Sow

Uncleanness

Apostates (2Pe 2:22)

Wolf

Ferocity, rapacity, viciousness, craftiness

False prophets (Mt 7:15)

Wicked, false Christians; false teachers (Ac 20:29)

Wicked men of the world (Mt 10:16)

Worm

Low, weak, insignificant

God’s nation Israel (Jacob) weak in itself, strong by Jehovah’s power (Isa 41:13-15)

Zebra (female)

Craving sexual satisfaction from any quarter

Israel unfaithfully seeking after pagan nations and their gods (Jer 2:24)

BEATING

The Mosaic Law provided for punishment by beating. This was with a stick or a rod. The judges were to decide the number of strokes to be given according to the misdeed committed, considering also the motive, circumstances, and so forth. The position was prescribed: “The judge must also have him laid prostrate and given strokes before him by number to correspond with his wicked deed.” The punishment was limited to 40 strokes. (De 25:2, 3) The reason given for such limitation was that more than this would disgrace the person in the eyes of his fellow countrymen. This is one of the examples showing that the Law given through Moses allowed for no cruel or unusual punishment. The purpose of the punishment was corrective, not vindictive and vicious as were the punishments meted out by other nations. The one administering the beating would be punished if he exceeded the legal number of strokes. Therefore, the Jews restricted the strokes to 39, so as not to go beyond the limit by mistake and thereby violate the law.​—2Co 11:24.

A Hebrew slave owner was permitted to strike his slave man or slave girl with a stick if the slave was disobedient or rebellious. But if the slave died under the beating, the slave owner was to be punished. If the slave lived for a day or two afterward, however, this would be evidence tending to indicate that the slave owner did not have murder in his heart. He had the right to mete out disciplinary punishment, for the slave was “his money.” A man would be very unlikely to want to destroy completely his own valuable property, thereby suffering a loss. Also, if the slave died after the passage of a day or more, it might not be certain whether death was from the beating or from some other cause. So if the slave continued alive a day or two, the master would not be punished.​—Ex 21:20, 21.

If a man charged his wife with deceptively claiming to be a virgin at the time of marriage and his charge was false, the older men of the city, as judges, were to discipline him and also impose a fine because he brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. This discipline might have been the administering of a certain number of strokes.​—De 22:13-19.

The Scriptures repeatedly emphasize the value of strokes as a disciplinary measure. Proverbs 20:30 shows that discipline can go very deep, resulting in good to the individual. It reads: “Bruising wounds are what scours away the bad; and strokes, the innermost parts of the belly.” The person being disciplined in this way should recognize that he has acted foolishly and should change. (Pr 10:13; 19:29) A really wise person can be corrected by words and will avoid the need of strokes.

Since all mankind are brought forth “with error” and conceived “in sin” (Ps 51:5), the Scriptures counsel that the parental rod of authority must be strictly exercised, sometimes in the form of the literal rod. (Pr 22:15) Thereby the child may be saved from disfavor and death.​—Pr 23:13, 14.

It appears that the Jews did not continue to confine themselves to the rod but later used the scourge. (Heb 11:36) This is a more severe punishment than beating with rods, and while it was a legalized punishment during the time Jesus was on earth, it was not based on the Law. (Mt 10:17; 23:34) The Mishnah, which is supposed to be a development of the oral tradition, describes the procedure of scourging:

“They bind his two hands to a pillar on either side, and the minister of the synagogue lays hold on his garments​—if they are torn they are torn, if they are utterly rent they are utterly rent—​so that he bares his chest. A stone is set down behind him on which the minister of the synagogue stands with a strap of calf-hide in his hand, doubled and re-doubled, and two [other] straps that rise and fall [are fastened] thereto.

“The handpiece of the strap is one handbreadth long and one handbreadth wide; and its end must reach to his navel. He gives him one-third of the stripes in front and two-thirds behind; and he may not strike him when he is standing or when he is sitting, but only when he is bending low, for it is written, The judge shall cause him to lie down. And he that smites, smites with his one hand with all his might.

“ . . . If he dies under his hand, the scourger is not culpable. But if he gave him one stripe too many and he died, he must escape into exile because of him.”

“How many stripes do they inflict on a man? Forty save one, for it is written, By number forty; [that is to say,] a number near to forty.”​—Makkot 3:12–14, 10; translated by H. Danby.

An unusual form of scourging was adopted by Gideon toward the 77 princes and older men of Succoth, who refused to give provision to his men when he was chasing after the kings of Midian. He apparently made scourges of the thorns and briers of the wilderness to thresh them. It is said that he put them “through an experience.”​—Jg 8:7, 14, 16.

Other nations used a more severe form of beating, and they did not limit themselves to 40 strokes. The Israelites in Egypt were beaten by their Egyptian overseers, no doubt very severely.​—Ex 5:14, 16; 2:11, 12.

Romans used rods for beating, the outer garments first being stripped off. (Ac 16:22, 23) The Greek word translated ‘beat with rods’ in Acts 16:22 is rha·bdiʹzo, related to rhaʹbdos (rod; staff). (Compare 1Co 4:21, Int.) Both these Greek words are related to rha·bdouʹkhos, translated ‘constable’ in Acts 16:35, 38 and literally meaning “rod bearer.”​—Compare Int.

The Romans also used the scourge. The victim was stretched out, apparently having his hands tied to a post with thongs. (Ac 22:25, 29) The number of strokes administered was altogether up to the commander. The punishment of scourging usually preceded impaling. The account says that after Pilate gave in to the Jews’ insistent cry for Jesus’ impalement, and he released Barabbas to them, “at that time, therefore, Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.” (Joh 19:1; Mt 20:19) The Romans used the scourge at times to ‘examine’ victims in order to obtain confessions or testimony. (Ac 22:24, 25) Two Greek verbs for “scourge” are ma·sti·goʹo (Mt 10:17) and ma·stiʹzo (Ac 22:25). Both are related to maʹstix, which can mean “scourging” in the literal sense (Ac 22:24; Heb 11:36) and, metaphorically, “grievous disease (sickness).” (Mr 3:10; 5:34) However, to scourge a Roman citizen was illegal. The Lex Valeria and the Lex Porcia, enacted at various times between 509 and 195 B.C.E., exempted Roman citizens from scourging​—the Lex Valeria, when the citizen appealed to the people; the Lex Porcia, without such appeal.

The most terrible instrument for scourging was known as the flagellum. It consisted of a handle into which several cords or leather thongs were fixed. These thongs were weighted with jagged pieces of bone or metal to make the blow more painful and effective. The Greek noun phra·gelʹli·on (“whip”; Joh 2:15) was drawn from the Latin flagellum. The related verb phra·gel·loʹo means “whip.”​—Mt 27:26; Mr 15:15.

Jesus told his disciples that for his name’s sake they would be beaten in the synagogues. (Mr 13:9) This prophecy was fulfilled numerous times. Some of the apostles were arrested and brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin and were flogged after they had refused to agree to stop their preaching work. (Ac 5:40) Saul, who afterward became the apostle Paul, was a fierce persecutor of Christians before his conversion, imprisoning them and flogging them in one synagogue after another. (Ac 22:19) The Greek verb used in these accounts (deʹro) is related to derʹma (‘skin’; Heb 11:37, Int) and basically means “flay.”​—Compare Lu 12:47, Int.

Paul was flogged with rods in the city of Philippi. He turned this incident against his persecutors, using the opportunity to defend and legally establish the good news that he preached. He had been publicly beaten and thrown into prison, but when the magistrates found out that he was a Roman citizen, they were very fearful, for they not only had flogged a Roman citizen but had done so even before he had been condemned by trial. In this case too, Paul and Silas had been publicly displayed as malefactors. So when the magistrates ordered the jailer to release Paul and Silas, Paul replied: “They flogged us publicly uncondemned, men who are Romans, and threw us into prison; and are they now throwing us out secretly? No, indeed! but let them come themselves and bring us out.” The magistrates had to personally acknowledge their error. “So the constables reported these sayings to the civil magistrates. These grew fearful when they heard that the men were Romans. Consequently they came and entreated them and, after bringing them out, they requested them to depart from the city.” (Ac 16:22-40) Thereby, the preaching of the good news was vindicated as being no violation of the law, for the magistrates themselves, by taking this action, made it a matter of public record that Paul and Silas had done no wrong. Paul acted in this way because it was his desire ‘legally to establish the good news.’​—Php 1:7.

Figurative Usage. King Rehoboam compared his intended way of ruling with the rule of his father Solomon by metaphorically referring to the more serious punishment of the scourge as contrasted with whips. (In the Hebrew, the word for “scourges” [ʽaq·rab·bimʹ] literally means “scorpions” and apparently was a type of whip with knots, or with barbed ends like a scorpion’s stinger, or perhaps with knotted or thorny twigs.)​—1Ki 12:11-14, ftn.

When Jehovah made a covenant with David for a kingdom, He told David that the throne would be established in his line but that if his dynasty or any of his line of descent should do wrong, Jehovah would “reprove him with the rod of men and with the strokes of the sons of Adam.” (2Sa 7:14; Ps 89:32) This did take place when Jehovah allowed the kings of the Gentile nations to defeat the kings of Judah, particularly when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, removed Zedekiah from the throne in Jerusalem.​—Jer 52:1-11.

Jehovah said that the nations the Israelites failed to dispossess would become ‘a scourge on their flanks.’ (Jos 23:13) Isaiah 10:24-26 shows that, while the Assyrian used the rod to strike Zion unjustly, Jehovah was to brandish “a whip” against the Assyrian. A plague, disease, or calamity sent out from Jehovah as a punishment was referred to as a scourge. (Nu 16:43-50; 25:8, 9; Ps 106:29, 30) Discipline from Jehovah is likened to scourging.​—Heb 12:6.

Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would bear the sicknesses and pains of those who would exercise faith in him. He said: “Because of his wounds there has been a healing for us.” (Isa 53:3-5) Peter applies this prophecy to Jesus Christ, saying: “He himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that we might be done with sins and live to righteousness. And ‘by his stripes you were healed.’”​—1Pe 2:24.

BEAUTIFUL GATE

See GATE, GATEWAY.

BEBAI

(Beʹbai).

1. A household head whose descendants, over 600, returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E. (Ezr 2:1, 2, 11; Ne 7:16) Twenty-nine more came with Ezra in 468 B.C.E. (Ezr 8:11) Four of the first group had taken foreign wives, which they put away at the insistence of Ezra.​—Ezr 10:28, 44.

2. A prominent man or a representative of the sons of Bebai (No. 1), who attested to Nehemiah’s agreement of faithfulness.​—Ne 9:38; 10:1, 15.

BECHER

(Beʹcher) [Young Male Camel].

1. The second-named son of Benjamin in the list of Jacob’s descendants at Genesis chapter 46. (See Ge 46:21; 1Ch 7:6.) Becher is omitted in the genealogical lists at Numbers 26:38 and 1 Chronicles 8:1, 2. His descendants through his nine sons as family heads numbered 20,200 “valiant, mighty men,” according to the account recorded at 1 Chronicles 7:8, 9.

2. Family head of Becherites (Bachrites, KJ) of the tribe of Ephraim.​—Nu 26:35.

BECHERITES

(Beʹcher·ites) [Of (Belonging to) Becher].

An Ephraimite family descended from Becher.​—Nu 26:35.

BECORATH

(Be·coʹrath) [Firstborn].

Ancestor of King Saul; of the tribe of Benjamin.​—1Sa 9:1.

BED

During Bible times, as today, the facilities for sleeping varied in type, style, and structure, according to the people’s wealth, status in life, and customs. The bare ground, sometimes cushioned with a pad or pallet, often sufficed for the poor, the herdsman, and the traveler; very costly and ornate furnishings were used by rulers and the rich in their permanent dwellings.

The common Hebrew term for “bed” is mish·kavʹ, from the root sha·khavʹ (lie down). (Ge 49:4; Le 26:6) The usual Greek term is kliʹne, from kliʹno (incline). (Mt 9:2; Lu 9:58, Int) Another Greek term for “bed,” koiʹte, which basically denotes a place to lie down (Lu 11:7), is also used to refer to the “marriage bed” (Heb 13:4) and “illicit intercourse” (Ro 13:13); by metonymy it refers to conceiving a child. (Ro 9:10) Other Hebrew terms for places for lying down are mit·tahʹ (couch), ʽeʹres (divan), and ya·tsuʹaʽ (lounge). The Greek kraʹbat·tos refers to a cot. (Mr 2:4) Bible writers did not always make a distinction between these various terms and frequently used two or more of them for the same thing, calling a bed a divan (Job 7:13), a bed a cot (Mt 9:6; Mr 2:11), a couch a divan (Ps 6:6), a bed a lounge (Ge 49:4). These were used by those sleeping at night or taking a siesta (2Sa 4:5-7; Job 33:15), by those sick, by ones having intercourse (Ps 41:3; Eze 23:17), and as a resting-place for the dead in a grand tomb (2Ch 16:14). The custom of reclining at a meal required couches. (Es 7:8; Mt 26:20; Lu 22:14) A couch especially designed to carry one about in regal style was called a litter.​—Ca 3:7-10; see LITTER.

Certain accessories are usually associated with beds, for example, a pillow. Jesus, when crossing the Sea of Galilee, fell asleep “upon a pillow” in the stern of the boat. (Mr 4:38) During the colder season a “woven sheet” or other covering was used (Isa 28:20), but it was common to sleep in everyday garments; hence the Mosaic Law forbade keeping another person’s garments after sunset: “It is his only covering. . . . In what will he lie down?”​—Ex 22:26, 27.

The Oriental bed was often a simple mat made of straw or rushes, with perhaps quilting or a mattress of some sort for added comfort. When not in use, these were rolled up and stored away. A more permanent arrangement employed a wooden frame or bedstead that elevated the sleeper off the ground or floor. (Mr 4:21) These served as couches or divans upon which to sit during the daytime. The simplest cotlike beds were lightweight, easily picked up and carried about.​—Lu 5:18, 19; Joh 5:8; Ac 5:15.

The wealthy had beds draped with elegant decorations of rich embroidery. “With coverlets I have bedecked my divan, with many-colored things, linen of Egypt. I have besprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon,” the seductive prostitute declared. (Pr 7:16, 17) Like the “couches of gold and silver” of a Persian palace, so also “a splendid couch,” “a Damascene divan,” and “couches of ivory,” were described by the prophet as the furnishings of rebellious Israel.​—Es 1:6; Am 3:12; 6:4.

Separate bedrooms or inner bedrooms were used by those who could afford large houses. (Ex 8:3; 2Ki 6:12; 11:2) During the hot summer, the cooler rooftops frequently served as sleeping quarters.

Also in a figurative sense, beds, couches, and lounges are referred to in the Scriptures. The state of the dead, for example, is as those lying in a bed. (Job 17:13; Eze 32:25) Jehovah’s loyal ones “cry out joyfully on their beds,” in contrast with wayward ones who keep howling and scheming what is bad while lying in bed. (Ps 149:5; Ho 7:14; Mic 2:1) Unlike Reuben, who with reckless license had relations with his father Jacob’s concubine and in this sense profaned his father’s bed (Ge 35:22; 49:4), Christians must not defile the sacred marital arrangement, “the marriage bed,” in any way.​—Heb 13:4.

BEDAD

(Beʹdad).

Father of Edomite King Hadad, who ruled in Avith before any king ruled over Israel.​—Ge 36:31, 35; 1Ch 1:43, 46.

BEDAN

(Beʹdan).

1. Listed with Gideon (Jerubbaal), Jephthah, and Samuel as delivering Israel from enemies. (1Sa 12:11) However, nowhere else in the Bible nor in secular history is mention made of such a Bedan. Regarding this text, C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch remark: “It is extremely improbable that Samuel should have mentioned a judge here, who had been passed over in the book of Judges on account of his comparative insignificance.”​—Commentary on the Old Testament, 1973, Vol. II, 1 Samuel, p. 118.

Bedan is by some understood to refer to Barak. The context of 1 Samuel 12:11 denotes a major deliverer and recalls the oppression by Sisera and the deliverance that followed, a deliverance in which Jehovah used Barak. Barak is named along with Gideon and Jephthah in Hebrews 11:32. The Greek Septuagint and Syriac Peshitta read “Barak” at 1 Samuel 12:11. Others believe Bedan refers to Judge Abdon.​—See BARAK.

2. A descendant of Manasseh.​—1Ch 7:17.