American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

28

Barabbas

A noted robber in Christ’s time, who was imprisoned and awaiting death for the crimes of sedition and murder. It was a custom of the Roman government, for the sake of conciliati...

29

Barak

The son of Abinoam, of Kedesh in the tribe of Naphtali. God summoned him, by means of Deborah the prophetess, to release Israel from the yoke of Jabin king of Canaan. Having fir...

30

Barbarian

According to the Greek idiom, all other nations, however learned and polite they might be, were "barbarians." Hence Paul comprehends all mankind under the names of "Greeks and b...

31

Barley

Sown in Palestine in autumn, and reaped in the spring, that is, at the Passover. The Hebrews frequently used barley bread, 2Sa 1:27; 2Ki 4:42; Joh 6:9. Barley also was much used...

32

Barnabas

Son of consolation, orJOSES, a disciple of Jesus, and a companion of the apostle Paul. He was a Levite, and a native of the isle of Cyprus, and is said to have sold all his prop...

33

Barrenness

An affliction peculiarly lamented throughout the East, Ge 16:1 30:1-23 1Sa 1:6,19Isa 47:9 49:21 Lu 1:25, especially by the Jewish women, who remembered the promised Messiah, Ge ...

34

Barsabas

1. Joseph Barsabas, surnamed The Just, was one of Christ’s early disciples, and probably among the seventy. He was on of the two candidates nominated to fill the vacancy left by...

35

Bartholomew

One of the twelve apostles, Mt 10:3Mr 3:18Lu 6:14Ac 1:13. He is named in connection with Philip, and seems to have been the same person, whom John calls Nathanael, Joh 1:45-51, ...

36

Bartimeus

Son of Timeus, a blind man, to whom Christ gave sight, by the wayside near Jericho, Mt 20.29-34; Mr 10.46-52; Lu 18.35-43. There were two healed, according to Matthew; but Mark ...

37

Baruch

1. The son of Neriah, of a distinguished family in the tribe of Judah. He was the faithful friend of Jeremiah. About 605 B. C. he wrote down, from the lips of Jeremiah, all the ...

38

Barzillai

1. Of Meholah in Simeon; father of Adriel, who married Merab, the daughter of Saul, 1Sa 18:192Sa 21:82. An aged and wealthy Gileadite, a friend of David when he was in exile dur...

39

Bashan

Fat, fruitful, Nu 21:33, a rich hilly district lying east of the Jordan, and between the mountains of Hermon on the north, and those of Gilead and Ammon on the south. The countr...

40

Bath-Sheba

The wife of Uriah, and probably granddaughter of Atithophel which see. David first committed adultery with her, then caused her husband to be slain, and afterwards took her to w...

41

Bath, Or Ephah

A Hebrew measure, containing seven gallons, four pints, liquid measure; or three pecks, three pecks, three pints, dry measure.

42

Battering-Ram

A military engine for battering walls. A long and solid beam, armed at one end with a metallic ram’s-head, was suspended by the middle, and swung violently and repeatedly agains...

43

Battlement

A balustrade around the roofs of ancient houses, which were flat, and were much, resorted to for fresh air, amusement, or retirement by day and for sleep at night. The Mosaic la...

44

Bay-Tree

The bay tree is the Laurel of North America and the south of Europe; an evergreen tree, a wreath from which has been from time immemorial the symbolical crown of poets and warri...

45

Bdellium

Commonly supposed to mean the aromatic gum of a tree growing near the Persian gulf, etc. It is transparent, and bitter to the taste, yet very fragrant while burning. But the sub...

46

Bear

That bears were common in Palestine appears from several passages in the Old Testament, 1Sa 17:34,36,37; 2Sa 17:8; 2Ki 2:24. The species known in Syria resembles the common brow...

47

Beard

The Hebrews regarded a thin, scanty beard as a great deformity; while a long, full, flowing beard was esteemed the noblest ornament of personal beauty and dignity. A man’s honor...

48

Beasts

This word, used in contradistinction to man, denotes all animals besides, Ps 36:6, sometimes it means quadrupeds, and not creeping things, Le 11:2-7; and sometimes domestic catt...

49

Bed

In the East, is, and was anciently, a divan, or broad low step around the sides of a room, like a sofa, which answered to purpose of a sofa by day for reclining, and of a bed by...

50

Bee’roth

Wells, a city of Benjamin, near Gibeon, Jos 9:17. It is now El- Bireh, a village of 700 inhabitants, on a ridge seven miles north of Jerusalem.

51

Beelzebub

"the prince of the devils," Mt 12:24. This name is derived from Baal-zebub, an idol deity among the Ekronites, signifying lord of flies, fly-baal, fly-god, whose office was to p...

52

Beer

A well,1. A station of the Hebrews in Moab, where God gave them water, Nu 21:16-18; Isa 15:8.2. A town in Judah, according to Eusebius and Jerome a few miles west of Jerusalem, ...

53

Beer-Lahai-Roi

Wells of him living, and seeing me, on the southwest border of Canaan, where Hagar was visited by an angel, Ge 16:14.

54

Beer-Sheba

The well of the oath, Ge 21:31; 26:31,33, a city twenty-eight miles southwest of Hebron, at the southern extremity of the Holy Land. Dan lay at the northern extremity; so that t...