List of Canonical Books. Melito . . c. 180 Is, Jer, XII. Proph. Origen , . t 253 Jer, Lara, Ep, but quotes Bar as Jer. Cone. Laod. . 363 Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep (of Jeremy). Hilary . . t 367 Jer, Lam, Ep, but quotes Bar as Jer. Athanasius . t 373 Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep. Cvril Jer. , i SStJ Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep. Cone. Carth. . 3:>7 Jer (but see Buhl, 61-62). Gre^. Naz. . f 391 Jer, but quotes Bar S^"" as Scr. Epiphanius . t 403 Jer, Lam. Ep, Bar (Hcer. 8. 6). Kutinus . . i 410 Jer, but quotes Bar 3*5 as Scr. Jerome . . t 420 Jer, first to reject Bar. Auffustine . t 430 Jer, but quotes Bar often. Codex K • . Jer, Lara, Ep, fragraentary.
B . , Jer, Bar, Lara, Ep.
A . . Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep.
D . . Jer.
Casaiodorua . c. 640 Jer. Quotes Bar as Jer. Anast. .Sin. . c. 650 Jer. Quotes Bar as Jer. John Damage, t 750 Jer. Quotes Bar often.
From the last quarter of the 2nd cent, to the time of the Reformation, Jerome's is almost the only discordant note in the harmony of universal acceptance in the Christian Church. Wyclif in the
Sreface to his Bible inserted the statement from erome, that in UT nothing but the Heb. Canon is of divine authority, but published all the Apocr. Luther and the other Reformers removed Bar from the Canon ; but, though Ximenes and Erasmus were both disposed to draw a line of demarcation between canon, and apocr. books, the Council of Trent peremptorily included Bar and the rest of the Apocr. among the sacred books of Scripture.
LITERATURE.— Codices and Vkrsions. — Of Gr. uncials Bar la found in A, B, Q, otherwise known as iii., ii., xii. The palimpsest T contains 112-23 and 312-48. (See, for description of these .MSS.Swete's or in ffr. iii., Jntrod.) There are also 22 Gr. cursives, named and classitled by Kneucker, pp. 91-97. Further, there are two Lat. VSS, a and b". a is that found in Clementine edd. of the Vulg., of which Vercellone'a is perhaps the most accurate. Bar is realty the old Lat. unrevised by Jerome, for he himself says ' Librum Baruch . . . pnetermisimus.' b is a recension of a, improving its Latinitj-, altering: some of its readings to agree with B, and indulging in explanatory com- ments (Kneucker 141-163). b was edited bv Jos. Caro, Rome, l^■>.s^; uy Sabatier; and in Blbtwtheia Citsinensis, vol. i. (lt^i;ii. Theie »re also two Syr. VSS : ( 1 i 'Ihe I'eshitta, which is most aco.-ssible in Lagarde'a Libr. Apocr. Syr., and (2) the Syr.-Kcxap. My ed. is the one in Ceriani's Mon. sae. et prof. tom. i. fasc. i. 1861. Since then, however, the work has been reproduced by photo-lithography. (Swete, op. cit. xiii.)
ExROKTlCAt IlKLPS.— The most thorough comm. ia Kneucker's Dat Btich Barurli, Leipzig, 1879. Other uaeful works are : GilTorfl in Sjxaher'K Apocr. vol. ii. ; Bisaell in Langc's aeries; Zockler, Apok. in the Kg/. Kom. 1891 ; Ewald, Dve jiingtlm Prnphftm. 1868; Fritzsche, llandbuch z. d. Apocr. vol. i. Leipzig, 18.'il ; Reusch, ErkUtr. d. Bucks Baruch, Freiburg, 1853 ; Rcuss, AT, vol. i-i. 18!)4; Hiivernick, De lib. Bar., Konigsberr, 1861. Isagogic material is also to be found in Schiirer, liJP ii. iii. 188 f., and Ilil-enfeld's ZnUchriH for 186(1, where Hitzig deals with Bar, p. 262 ff., Kneucker in 1880, and Ililgenfeld in 1879-80.
J. T. Marshall. BARZILLAI C^n? 'man of iron'?, BepffU/).— 1. A wealthy Gileadite of Rogelim, who came to David's aid during his flight from Absalom (2 S 17""). He refused to accompany the king to Jerusalem on his return, on the nlea of his great age and unsuit- ability for the life of the court, but sent his son Chimham in his stead (19"" ). And to him, in grati-
tude for his father's services, David would seem to have "ranted a ' lodging place,' or caravanserai for travellers, out of his own patrimony in Bethlehem, which 400 years later still bore his name (Jer 41"). Dean Stanley even favours the con- jecture that, in accordance with the immovable usages of the East, it was probably the same whose stable at the time of the Christian era furnished shelter for two travellers with their infant child, when ' there was no room in the inn ' {Hist, of the Jew. Ch. vol. ii. p. 154). Other sons of B. must have followed, if they did not accompany, Chimham over Jordan, and all were specially commended by David, on his deathbed, to the care of Solomon (1 K 2'). Of B. himself we hear nothing further beyond the mention, so late as the return from the Captivity in Babylon, of a family of priests who traced their descent to a marriage with the Gileadite's daughter (Ezr 2'\ Neh 7'^). 2. A Meholathite whose son Adriel married Michal the daughter of Saul (2 S 21*). G. MiLLlGAN.
BASALOTH (A BaaXiiB, B BaaaXdii), 1 Es 5".— Bazluth, Ezr 2*- ; Bazlith, Neh 7".
BASCAMA {ii BatTKaiui), 1 Mac IS^a.— An un- known town of Gilead.
BASE (see also Abase, Debase). — The adj. 'base' (from Fr. bos, 'shallow,' 'low,' but prob. of Celtic origin) is used to express — 1. That which is literally ' low,' not high, as Spenser, FQ I. v. 31, ' An entraunce, dark and base . . . Descends to Hell.' Of this use we still have ' base ' of sounds (though we spell it ' bass ') ; cf. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV. II. iv. 5, ' I have sounded the very base string of humility.' There is no example of this meanin" in the Bible. 2. Figuratively, low in the social scale, of lowly birth or station, then unassuming, humble. This is the meanin" of b. in AV : Is 3° 'the b. against the honourable' (i.e. the low-born against tne nobles) ; Ezk 17" ' that the kinj^dom might be b., that it might not lift itself up ' (Heb. S:v ; so 291*- '», 2 S 6» Mai '2?, Dn 4" ' the most High . . . setteth up . . . the basest of men ') ; Job 30* ' children of b. men ' (cif^'^ "J?, lit. ' sons of no name,' i.e. sons of him who has no name = the ignoble). In NT: 1 Co 1** ' b. things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen ' (d7ei'7js, ' of low birth ') ; 2 Co 10' ' Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentle- ness of Christ, who in presence am b. among you ' (RV 'in your presence am lowly'; the Gr. is TairfLvbs, which in NT signifies ' lowly, either in position, as Ja 1' ' let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate' ; or in heart, as Mt ll" ' I am meek and lowly in heart '). 3. Morally low, mean, contemptible, the meaning of the word in mod. English. This meaning was known in 1611, and it is probable that there is at least soine moral reprobation in Ac 17' ' certain lewd fellows of the baser sort ' (RV ' certain vile fellows of the rabble ' ; Gr. ayopatoi, lit. ' of the market place,' i.e. loungers). RV has introduced 'b,ase' in this sense in Wis 2" ' We were accounted by him as b. metal ' (AV ' counterfeits,' Gr. ».i,i5>)Xos) ; and Dt 13" ' Certain b. fellows are gone out ' (AV ' certain men, the children of Belial,' Heb. cvjn ''i:^?"i3 = ' men, sons of worthlessness ' ; elsewhere Eng. RV retains the AV rendering of this phrase, 'son of Belial,' 'man of Belial,' etc., though belial (wh. see) is not a proper name ; but Amer. RV always changes it into ' base fellow,' except 1 S 1" ' wicked woman ' (AV ' daughter of Belial ).