Treating both forms as one word, then, b. is either an adv. or a prep., and the meaning is ' by the side of.' But the side may be reached either from a position that is farther off or from one that is still ne.irer. Compare Ps 23° ' He leadeth me b. {^]i) the still waters,' Is 32-'" ' Blessed are ye that sow b. (Sy) all waters,' or 1 S 19* ' I will go out and stand b. (n:^) my father,' with Mt 14"' ' five thou- sand men, b. [x"P^') women and children,' or Gaule (1629), ' Oh, doe him not the wrong to look b. him, for if you see him not, bee conies by to no purpose ' ; or Foxe, Acts and Man. ii. 384, ' He put the new- Pope Alexander b. the cushion and was made pope himself.' Hence b. expres.ses either addition or se.i>aratinn.
1. Addition.— Gn 19" ' Hast thou here any b. ?' (liv); Mt 25-" ' I have gained b. (iwi) them five talents more' ; Lk 24^1 ' Yea and b. {avv) all this'; 2 P 1» ' And b. this, . . . aild to your faith virtue ' (Gr. xai aiTb ToxJTo S(, RV ' Yea, and for this very cause ') ; Pliileni V." ' thou owest unto me even thine own self b.' (irpo(To0fiXeis ); Sir 17" ' B. this he gave them knowledge ' {TrpoaidrjKev aurols).
2. Sei'ARATION.— Jos 22^ ' God forbid that we should rebel ... to build an altar . . . b. (ist^'? ' separate from ') the altar of the Lord our God that is before his taberiiacle' (AV 'beside,' RV 'besides'); Is 43" 'b. me ('^v^jp) there is no Saviour.' Hence arises the expression ' beside oneself ' w Inch occurs three times, Mk 3'', 2 Co 5" (both iilaTinu), Ac 26'* (naivoixai). Compare ' b. the mark ' ; ' b. the real i.ssue' (Froude) ; ' Like an enchanted maid b. her wits' (Hood) ; ' I felt quite b. myself for joy and gratitude ' (Q. Victoria) ; ' A Lye is properly an outward .Sigmification of something contrary to, or, at least, b. the inward Sense of the Mind' (South).
J. Ha.stings. BESODEIAH (nn'i:-i Neh .S«).— Mcshullam, the son of Bcsodeiah, took part in rejiairing the Old Gate. The name means, perhaps, ' In the secret of J",' a; n^o?, cf. Jer 23"'-*'. H. A. White.
BESOM.— Is 14" only, ' I will sweep it with the b. of destruction ' («?.•<■.'■:, from ksn? tr'' here 'sweeii,' BO lit. ' I will sweep it with the sweeper of ilc- struction ' ; cf. o"!? niuil, mire; and for the simile Is SO"" ' to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity ' [RVm ' destruction,' Cheyne 'annihilation,' Ilidi. Kiv']). The besom, though u.sed in eailier Eng. and still locally as a mere synonym for 'broom' (cf. Lyly, Eupiiiics, 1580, 'There is no more difieience betweene them than between a limonie ami a Becsome '), is properly made, not of broom, but of heath, in Devonshire called bisam or bn.isarn.
J. Hastings.
BESOR, Brook (n'lbj.n Sr;), I S 30»- •»■ ".—A torrent, apparently south or south-west of Ziklag, on the
276
BESTEAD
BETH-BARAH
^
way to the country of the Amalekites and Egypt, in the Tih desert. 1 he name has not been recovered. It is identihed by (Juerin with the Wady Razze, which flows into tlie sea S.W. of Gaza.
C. R. CONDEB. BESTEAD.— Is 8" only, ' hardly b. and hungry.' ' Bestoid ' (the proper spelling is bested, the other arose from a supposed connexion with bestead, to help) means simply ' placed,' and that is its meaning here. Tlie Heb. is one word, nj'pj, niph. ptcp. from nyj, to be hard. Amer. KV has ' sore distressed,' Cheyne ' hard-prest.' J. HASTINGS.
BESTIALITY See Crimes and Pcnishmkkts.
BESTOW (from hi or he and stow a place) means in mod. Eng. to confer as a gift, but is used in AV in other obsolete senses. 1. To place, I K 10* ' chariots and . . . horsemen whom he b"^ in the cities for chariots ' (RV ' in the chariot cities '). Cf. Shaks. Temp. v. L 299—
' Hence, knd bestow jova luggage where yon found it.'
2. To lay np in store, to stow away, Lk 12" ' I have no room where to b. my fruits.' 3. To apply to a special use, 2 K 12" ' the money to be b*"^ on workmen ' ; Dt 14^ ' thou shalt b. that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after ' ; 1 Co 13' 'though I b. all my goods to feed the poor' (Gr. ^wjuffu to feed by giving morsels, from tpufiSi a mor- sel ). 4. To spend ( wthout special application), 1 Co 12^ ' those members of the Dody which we think to be less honourable, upon these we b. more abundant honour ' [rtpiTiBTj/u, KVm ' put on ') ; Jn 4** ' I sent ou to reap that whereon ye b"^ no labour ' (icoa-idw, ",V ' whereon ye have not laboured'). Cf. —
' Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me ? '
Siialu. Jut. Cat. V. v. 61.
J. Hastings. BETAH (n;;), 2 S 8'.— See Tibhath.