A large graceful beard is a coveted distinction in the East, often securing respect for its pos- sessor. Carefully tended, it may yet in grief be neglected, and actually plucked (2 S 19**). The Arab who shaves disgraces his family, who for
fenerations are called 'sons of the shaven one.' o injure a man's beard is a deep insult (2 S 10* etc. ). When a Greek priest is deposed, the heaviest humiliation is the cutting of hia beard. Deliberate defilement of the beard would be accepted as clear proof of madness (1 S 21"). It is common to swear by the beard ; and in pressing a suit, success is greatly facilitated by placing a hand, if possible, under the beard of him who is addressed.
W. EwiNO. BEAST. — Three words in Heb. are so translated in AV and RV. 1. ncn^i bihJ'mAh, the Arab. blhimah, which is defined as ' any quadraped, even if it live in water, or any animal not endowed with reason.' In the sense of a quadruped, we have
BEATING
BEATITUDE
261
clean beasts (Gn 7') ; in contradistinction to nvM (Gn 6', Ex 9* "^ ") ; animals to be eaten (L» \1=); mammalia, as constituting or* of the t'jui prin- cipal clajises of the vertebrates, beasts, fowls, creep- ing things, and fishes (1 K 4"); in the sense of the animai kingdom (Pr 30*) ; of domestic ani- mtalt (1 K 18»), esp. riding animals (Neh 2"); of uiild animals (Dt 32^*). This word is arbitrarily tr. in both AV and RV cattle (Gn I"-" 2» 3" 7"-'^ »» Ps W etc. ). See Cattle.
2. i-r? be'ir (Ex 22», Nu 20»- " AV • beasta,' bnt t.« of the same chapter 'cattle.' 'Cattle' is read by RV in Nu 20<- »• ", and by AV, RV in Fs 78". Both give ' beasts ' in Gn ib", the only other occurrence of the word.
3. n'fj hayyah (?iaytho, poetic form, with old case ending, Gn I", Ps SO"* 79' etc.). It is used
(1) of animals in general (Gn 8", Lv U' etc.);
(2) in contradistinction to behemdh, i.e. xcUd b. (Gn 7" 8' 9" etc.), specialised in the b. of the reed (marg. AV. text RV Ps es^") ; tvil b. (Gn 37*- ■* etc.); 6. 0/' the field (Ex 23" etc.); ravenous b. (Is 35'). "The word hayyah is tr. in other places living creatures (Ezk'l» etc.); life (Ps 143', Is 57'°, RV quickening, etc.); appetite (Job 38**); living thing (Gn i'* etc.) = Arab. hayaw&n, 'animal.'
The words for beast in NT are chiefly : 1. Bijptor, Ac 28* of a viper ; Tit 1" of the Cretans ; more generally in He 12*', Ja 3'. It is the word used more than 3U times in Rev for the Beast of the Apocalypse (on which see Number, Revela- tion). 2. The word [uoy is used in Rev 4" foil, of the ' living ones ' who were round about the throne ( AV * beasts,' RV more soitably ' living creatures '). G. E. Post.
BEATINO. — See Crimes aito PtmiSHMKNTa.
BEATITUDE.— The word ' beatitude ' does not occur in the English Bible. In Biblical Theology it signifies either (1) the joys of heaven, or (2) one of the declarations of blessedness made by Christ as attached to certain virtues, or conditions, or persons. The word in this latter sense is the subject of this article.*
Several of Christ's declarations of blessedness are isolated beatitudes, called forth by special cir- cumstances : Mt U» = Lk 7», Mt 13'»=Lk 10=», Mt 24«« = Lk 12", Mt 16", Lk 11» 12", Jn 13" 20". There are no beatitudes in St. Mark, and the word tULKipios does not occur in his Gospel, bnt in the Catholic Epistles and the Apoc. there are several : 1 P 3" 4", Ja l"-». Rev 1» 14" 16" 19» 20" 22'-".
Bnt the term is most commonly used of those general declarations of blessedness made by Christ in the discourses recorded by St. Matthew (v.*'") and St. Luke (6"'''), which are sometimes dis- tinguished aa the 'Sermon on the Mount'
* BnUitvdo li aB«<] In thli setiM asearlynj AmbroM : Quatvnr Uintum l^utilyxiintt tanftus Lvtnt Df'minicas Jioiniit, octo vtro *inrtuj U'ltthtrus : tfd in hU orto UUz qwiiuor runt, tt in ijfis ipicUuor liifK veto. Hie tnim ouatuor vflut t-irtvUs amplenu at mrdinalu (F.rpot. BvarKg. tfc Lw. v 49, MiKnr, xiv. XT. 1M9). Id Or. fdmMMpifuii hu thin meAning In the Llturf^ of St. Chrrsostoiii fttnl elsewhere : the fd^m4tptrfjMi are Kiin^ od Satidiiys Invtoad of the thlrtl antlphnn. In Kn^liith tbi« uae of ' b«all- tada ' U perhapa not eu-llcr than IWO.
and the 'Sermon on the Plain.' The question whether the two evangelists give ns divergent records of the same discourse or records of two different but similar discourses, will probably never cease to be discussed, for proof is impossible. But the beatitudes as recorded by each are a consider- able element in the evidence. In Mt we have eight beatitudes and no woes ; in Lk four beati- tudes and four corresponding woes. Moreover, in the beatitudes which are common to both there are important differences. (1) Those in Mt are in the third person, and apply to all mankind : 'for theirs is, for <A«y shall,' etc. Those in Lk are in the second person, and apply primarily to those present : ' for yours is,' ' for ye shall,' etc. (2) In Lk the more spiritual words which occur in Mt are omitted, and the blessings are assigned to external conditions. Actual poverty, sorrow, and hunger are declared to be blessed, — no doubt as opportunities of internal graces ; and the corresponding woes are uttered against actual wealth, jollity, and fulness of bread, — as sources of grievous temptation. In the last beatitude there is less difference between the two. In Lk there is no blessedness assigned to unpopularity, unless it is incurred for the Son of Man's sake ; and there is no woe on popularity for His sake.