unlike to the fox-glove. It is cultivated in the Levant as a pulse, and indeed in all the eastern countries. It is the seed which is eaten. They are first parched over the fire, and then stewed with other ingredients in water. In the Talmud, and various Rabbinical tracts, the gith, cummin, and sesamum are mentioned in connection 98. BAT. OTHELAPH. Occ. Levit. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18; and Isai. ii. 20; Baruch, vi. 22. Referring the reader to the volume of "Scripture Illustrated," for a curious description of the bat, accompanied by a plate; I shall only remark that the Jewish legislator, having enumerated the animals legally unclean, as well beasts as birds, closes his catalogue with a creature, whose equivocal properties seem to exclude it from both those classes: it is too much a bird, to be properly a mouse, and too much a mouse, to be properly a bird. The Bat is, therefore, extremely well described in Deut. xiv. 18, 19, as the passage should be read-" Moreover the othelaph, and every creeping thing that flieth, is unclean to you: they shall not be eaten." This character, which fixes to the bat the name used in both places, is omitted in Leviticus; nevertheless it is very descriptive, and places this creature at the head of a class of which he is a clear and well known instance. The distinguished properties of the bat are thus represented by Scaliger: "Miræ sanè conformationis est animal; bipes, quadrupes, ambulans non pedibus, volans non pennis; videns sine luce, in luce cæcus; extra lucem luce utitur, in luce luce caret; avis cum dentibus, sine rostro, cum mammis, cum lacte, pullos etiam inter volandum gerens.' It has feet or claws growing out of its pinions, and contradicts the general order of nature by creeping with the instruments of its flight. The Hebrew name of the bat is from by darkness, and by to fly, as if it described "the flier in darkness." So the Greeks called the creature vunтegis, from vu, night; and the Latius vespertilio from vesper, evening. According to Ovid99, Nocte volant, seroque trahant a vespere nomen." It is prophesied, Isai. ii. 20, “In that day shall they cast away their idols to the moles and to the bats;" that is, they shall carry them into the dark caverns, old ruins, or desolate places to which they shall fly for refuge, and so shall give them up, and relinquish them to the filthy animals that frequent such places, and have taken possession of them as their proper habitation. 98 Tr. Oketz, c. iii. § 3. Edajoth. c. v. § 3. Tibbul. Jom. c. 1. § 5. and Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. p. 2101. 99 Metam. lib. iv. v. 415. Bellonius, Greaves, P. Lucas, and many other travellers, speak of bats of an enormous size as inhabiting the great pyramid; and it is well known that their usual places, of resort are caves and deserted buildings. In Baruch, vi. 22, is a description of the idols, calculated to disgust the Jews in their captive state in Babylon, with the worship paid to such senseless statues. "Their faces are blacked through the smoke that comes out of the temple. Upon their bodies and heads sit bats, swallows, and birds, and the cats also. By this ye may know they are no gods; therefore, fear them not.” BAY-TREE. .ESRACH אזרח It is mentioned only in Psal. xxxvii. 35, 36. "I have seen the ungodly in great power, and flourishing like a green bay-tree. Yet he passed away, and lo! he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, Jerom, and some others say that the original may mean only "a native tree," a tree growing in its native soil, not having suffered by transplantation. Such a tree spreads itself luxuriantly. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it" cedars;" but the High Dutch of Luther's Bible, the old Saxon, the French, the Spanish, the Italian of Diodati, and the version of Ainsworth, make it the laurel; and Sir Thomas Browne says, 66 as the sense of the text is sufficiently answered by this, we are unwilling to exclude that noble plant from the honour of having its name in Scripture. The word flourishing is also more applicable to the laurel, which in its prosperity abounds with pleasant flowers." But Isidore de Barreira1, while he expresses a wonder that no mention is made of the laurel in the Scripture, adds, "Non debuisse cœlestem scripturam contaminari mentione illius arboris quam in tanto pretio haberent Gentiles, ad fabulas et fictiones poeticas adhiberent, Apollini Delphici cum maxima superstitione sacram facerent, in eam fingerent Daphnem conversam, eaque se et falsa numina coronarent." In reply to this Celsius very candidly remarks that, "The abuse of a thing is no discredit to its proper use; and if this mode of reasoning were just, there would be no mention in the Bible of trees, plants, or herbs, which were applied by the Gentiles to idolatrous purposes, or were honoured by them for superstitious reasons." A similar metaphor to that of the Psalmist, is used by Shakspeare in describing the uncertainty of human happiness, and the end of human ambition. 1 De Significationibus Plantarum, Florum, et Fructuum, quæ in Scripturis memorantur, p. 274. BDELLIUM. BEDOLAH. Numb. xi. 7. Occ. Gen. ii. 12; and Interpreters seem at a loss to know what to do with this word, and have rendered it variously. Many suppose it a mineral production. The Septuagint translates in the first place avegana a carbuncle, and in the second quotaλλov a crystal. The Rabbins are followed by Reland in calling it a crystal; but some instead of bedolah read berolah2, changing the 7 into, which are not always easily distinguished, and are often mistaken by transcribers; and so render it the beryl, which, say they, is the prime kind of crystal. The very learned Bochart 3 considers it as the pearl; and to his elaborate disquisition I refer the curious reader who delights in accumulated erudition and ingenious conjecture. Of the same opinion is Dr. Geddes, who produces a passage from Benjamin of Tudela, who says that "in the month of March the drops of rain-water which fall on the surface of the sea are swallowed by the mothers of pearl, and carried to the bottom of the sea; where being fished for and opened in September, they are found to contain pearls." "It is remarkable, says Dr. GEDDES, that the author uses both the Hebrew name bedolah, and the Arabic lulu, one at the beginning of his narration, the other at the end of it." But it may be objected, that this story of the formation of pearls is false, and therefore no authority. Besides, the Hebrew has another name for pearls, The BEDOLAH, in Genesis, is undoubtedly some precious stone; and its colour, mentioned in Numbers, where the manna is spoken of, is explained by a reference to Exod. xvi. 14 and 31, where it is likened to hoar-frost, which being like little fragments of ice, may confirm the opinion that it is the beryl, perhaps that pellucid kind called by Dr. Hill the ellipomacrostyla," or beryl crystal. .PENINIM פנינים As there is a gum brought from Arabia and the East Indies, bdellium, some critics have supposed this to be the bedolah of the Scripture; but this opinion, however ingeniously supported, cannot be correct 4. BEAN. 28; PHUL. and Ezek. iv. 9. A common legume. Arabic, PHOULON 5. Occ. 2 Sam. xvii. Those most usually cultivated in Syria are the white horse-bean, "faba rotunda oblonga," and the kid 2 Onkelos and the Targums. 3 Hieroz. part ii. lib. v. c. 5. 4 Cocquius, Phytol. Sacr. p. 87. Celsius. Hierobot. p. 1. p. 324, and Hiller, Hierophyt, 1. lxv. p. 127. From the Hebrew phul is derived pulse, the common name for leguminous plants. ney-bean, "phaseolus minimus, fructu viridi ovato," called by the natives masch6. Browne, Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria, p. 310, describes a kind of legumen, called Fúl, bean. The prophet Ezekiel was directed to take "wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and panic, and spelt, and put them into a vessel and make food." With this may be compared the remark of Pliny", "Inter legumina maximus honos fabæ; quippe ex qua tentatus etiam sit panis. Frumento etiam miscetur apud plerasque nationes." The Arabic Ban, the name of the coffee-berry, corresponds with our bean, and is probably its etymon. BEAR. 17 DOB. Arabic, dub; Persic, deeb; and Æthiopic, dob3. Occ. 1 Sam. xvii. 34, 36, 37; 2 Sam. xvii. 8; 2 Kings, ii. 24; Prov. xvii. 12; xxviii. 15; Isai. xi. 7; lix. 11; Lament. iii. 10; Hosea, xiii. 8; and Amos, v. 199. A fierce beast of prey, with a long head, small eyes, and short ears, rounded at the top. Its limbs are strong, thick, and clumsy. Its feet are large, and its tail very short. The colour of the animal is black or brown. The body is covered with long shaggy hair. "Various conjectures have been formed," says Jackson in his History of Morocco, p. 34, "whether this animal is a native of Africa. From the concurrent testimony of the inhabitants, I am of opinion that it does not exist in West Barbary; it may however have been seen (as I have heard it has) in the upper regions of Atlas, which are covered with snow during the whole year. The name given by the Arabs to this animal is Dubb." The Hebrew name of this animal is taken from his growling; so Varro deduces his Latin name "ursus" by an onomatopæia from the noise which he makes. "Ursi Lucania origo, vel, unde illi nostri ab ipsius voce 10" David had to defend his flock against bears as well as lions. 1 Sam. xvii. 34. And Dr. Shaw gives us to understand that these rugged animals are not peculiar to the bleak regions of the north, being found in Barbary; and Thevenot informs us that they inhabit the wilderness adjoining the Holy Land, and that he saw one near the northern extremities of the Red Sea. The ferocity of the bear, especially when hungry or robbed of its whelps, has been mentioned by many authors. Jerom, on Hosea xiii. 8, observes, " Aiunt, qui de bestiarum scripsere naturis, inter omnes feras nihil esse ursa sævius, cum perdideret catu 6 Russell's Nat. History of Aleppo, p. 16. 7 Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. c. 12. 8 Paraph. Æthiop. in Cantic. iv. 16. 9 The bear, APKTOƐ, is mentioned Wisdom xi. 17; and Ecclus. xlvii. 3. 10 See also Bochart, Hieroz. vol. ii. lib. iii. c. 9. p. 129. Eichorn, Algem. Biblioth. T. vi. fasc. ii. p. 206. los, vel indiguerit cibo." The Scripture alludes in three places to this furious disposition. The first is, 2 Sam. xvii. 8, "They be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field:" The second, Prov. xvii. 12, “Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly:" and the third, Hosea, xiii. 8. "I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart." BEASTS. When this word is used in opposition to man (as Psal. xxxvi. 5), any brute creature is signified; when to creeping things (as Levit. xi. 2. 7. xxix. 30), four-footed animals, from the size of the hare and upwards, are intended; and when to wild creatures (as Gen. i. 25), cattle, or tame animals, are spoken of. In Isaiah, xiii. 21, several wild animals are mentioned as dwelling among the ruins of Babylon. "Wild beasts of the desert," YTZIIM, those of the dry wilderness, as the root of the word implies, "shall dwell there. Their houses shall be full of doleful creatures," ' ACHIM, marsh animals. "Owls shall dwell there," ostriches, " and satyrs," Y SHOARIM, shaggy ones, "shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands," " AIIM, oases of the desert, "shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons," TANIM, crocodiles, or amphibious animals, "shall be in their desolate places 11." Babylon being seated on a river, land animals might have access to it; yet marsh or water animals were not excluded, because they might come either from the sea, or they might be such as love fresh water lakes for their residence. Had Babylon been on the sea, as Tyre, or in a sandy desert, as Palmyra, or on a rocky mountain, as Jerusalem, the mixture or consociation of animals so contrary in their habits, would have been altogether unnatural ; but, adverting to the situation of the place, we discover the correctness of the sacred writer. BEE. "For there the wild beast of the desert 'bides, The daughter of the ostrich there resides, And satyrs riot in a lawless home. Wolves all about the formidable space Roam, and along the vaulted ruins cry; DEBURAH. Occ. Deut. i. 44; Jud. xiv. 8; Psal. cviii. 12; Isai. vii. 18. "In Aurivilius, "Dissertationes ad sacras litteras et philol. orient. pertinentes," p. 298, is a Dissertation on the Names of Animals, mentioned in Isai. xiii. 21. 12 Butt's translation. |