ftluch controversy has taken place over the swarm of bees in the carcase of the lion (Jg 14*). The simple fact is, that in a few hours after an animal is dead, jackals, dogs, and vultures often reduce the carcase to a ligamentous skeleton, which is soon dried in the fierce heat, and would make as savoury a hive as the cow-dung-plastered baskets which are used for raising bees, and the cow-dung trays on which silk-worms are developed.
Honey, Pj^ dibash, could not be used in burnt- offerings (Lv 2").
Honey is used to illustrate moral teachings. A man is exhorted to eat honey and the honcv comb (Pr 24'»), but warned against surfeit (Pr ij.^"-"). It was a simile for moral sweetness (Ezk 3'), and for the excellence of the law (Ps 19'°), of pleasant words (Pr 16"), and of the lips (Ca 4"), and as a figure for love (Ca 5').
The LXX adds to Pr 6» ' Go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and what a noble work she produces ; whose labour kings and private men use tor their health. She is desired and honoured by all, and, though weak in strength, yet since she values wisdom she prevails.' This passage exists in the Arabic version, and is quoted by ancient writers. G. E. Post.
BEELIADA (y:;H;3 ' Baal knows ').— A son oi David, 1 Ch 14', changed in conformity with later usage (see Ishbosheth) into Eliada (]>y^^ ' Ei knows ') in 2 S 5'^ J. A. Selbie.
BEELSARUS (BfAiropos), 1 Es 5«.— One of the leaders (TrpoTr(ovij.evoi) of those Jews who returned to Jerus. with Zerub., called BiLSHAN, Ezr 2', Neh 7'. The form in 1 Es appears not to have come through the Gr. of the canonical books, but to be due to a confusion of i and [ in the Heb.
H. St. J. Thackeray.
BEELTETHMUS (BeArf^Mos). — An officer of Artaxerxes residing in Pal., 1 Es 2'»-2» (LXX ">•"). It is not a proper name, but a title of Kehum, the name immediately preceding it in Ezr 4' (A ^aoXrd/u'). It is a corruption of Dya Syj = ' lord of judgment,' and is rendered 'chancellor' by AV and RV in Ezr, ' story--svriter ' in 1 Es 2" (4 rd TpoairlirToi'To., LXX). The title has been explained by the Assyr. inscriptions, and signifies 'lord of official intelligence' or 'postmaster' (Sayce, Introd. to Ezr., Neh., and Est. p. 27). See Chancellor. H. St. J. Thackeray.
BEER (1N3 ' a well '). — 1. A station in the ioumey from Amon to the Jordan, mentioned Nu 21'°, with a poetical extract commemorating the digging of a well at this spot. The context indicates the neighbourhood, but further identification of the station is wanting. Perhaps the words translated ' and from the wilderness,' which immediately follow this extract (Nu 21'*), should be translated (following the LXX diri tppiaros), ' and from Beer,' or ' the well.' It is generally identified with Beer-Elim('wellof mighty men'?), mentioned Is 15', and in the second part of the compound name it may be conjectured that there is reference to the event commemorated .in the song, Nu 21"- ". See Budde in New World, Mar. 1895, p 136 ff.
2. The place to which Jotham ran away after uttering his parable (Jg 9^'). Its position is un- known. If, as some suppose, it is the same as Beeroth (Jos 9"), its site is fixed (see Beeroth). But Beeroth is in Benjamin, and it seems probable that Jotham fled to his o\\'n people in Manasseh, and not southward. A. T. Chapman.
BEERA (NIX?).— A man of Asher (1 Ch 7"). See Genealogy.
BEERAH (■■"(<?). — A Reubenite who was carried captive by Tiglath-pileser (1 Ch 6').
BEER-ELIM.— See Beer.
BEERI (nxj).— 1. The father of Judith, one of Esau's >vives (Gn 26**), sometimes wrongly identi- fied with Anah (which see). 2. The father of the prophet Hosea (Hos 1'). H. E. Bylb.
BEER-LAHAI-ROI {'x\ 'n^ i|<? 'Well of the Living One that seeth me,' Gn 16'-" 24™ 25").— It is expressly described as ' the fountain in the way to Shur,' signifying that it was well known, on the way to Egypt' whither the Egyptian Hagar was naturally fleeing. It is placed between Kadesh and Bered; but the site of neither ia certain. Bered has been located at El-Khalasah, 13 miles S.W. of Beersheba. When Abraham dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, he is said (Gn 20') to have sojourned in Gerar at the same time or shortly after. Gn 25" and 26' also imply that the well, Beer-lahai-roi, was not very far from Gerar. Rowland claims to have found the true site at 'Ain MoilAhhi, some .50 miles S. of Beer- sheba, and 10 or 12 miles W. of 'Ain Kadis (PEFSt, 1884, p. 177). (See Bered, Hagar, I.saac, Siiuk.)
A. Henderson.
BEEROTH
BEGOTTEN
266
BEEROTH (mKs • Wells').— One of the confeder- ate Hivite cities which wilily made alliance with Joahua aiter the overthrow of Ai (Jos 9'"). It was afterw-ards in the territory of Benjamin (Jos 18*). The Beerothites, like the Gibeomtes, main- tained their independence as a tribe in Israel even after the return from the Exile (Ezr2", Neh 7®). The occasion of their flight to Gittaim (2 S 4') is not mentioned ; and it is uncertain if that is the town named (Neh 11^). Rimmon, the father of the mur- derers of Ishbosheth, and Naharai, Joab's armour- bearer (2 S 23'" KVm, 1 Ch 11 ^»), were Beerothites. It is identified with Bireh, 8 miles N. of Jerusalem on the great northern road, the usual halting place on the first night from Jerusalem. Tradi- tion connects it with the story of Lk 2"- *' as the place whence Mary and Joseph returned to Jeru- salem. There is no reason to doubt the correctness of this tradition, as the distance is convenient, and the usage of Eastern caravans seldom changes.