LiTKRiTtrRil. — Green. Higher Critieium of the Pent. p. 60 : Douplaa, Why 1 still believe that Stogee wrote Deut. p. 3u, and Lex ilosaica, p. 95 ; Perowne, Contemp. Kev. Jim. 18&i, p. 148 f.; Driver, Veut. p. zlU t. ; Harper, Deut. p. 4(.
2. To go beyond=to circumvent, 1 Th 4' 'that no man go b. and defraud his brother ' (vwepPatKi), RV ' transgress,' RVm ' overreach ').
J. Hastings.
BEZAANANNIM (Jos 10» RVm).— Zaanannim.
BEZAI ('sS). — 1. One of those who sealed the covenant (Neh 10"). 2. The eponym of a family
* The onlj exception Ij Dt 8^, where, although In a pamaee attributed to Moeee, ' beyond Jordan ' nieanii the land of Moab ; but ' the long archBolot.|cAl note ' In which the j>hra*ie occnni ia held to be a comment of the wdt«r'8 or of some editor, not original to Hoae*. See Harper, Deul. p. 6.
that returned with Zerub. (Ear 2", Neh 7") = Bassal of 1 Es 6'*.
BEZALEL (Sx^53, Bf«Xo)X, Bwe^e*;, AVBezaleel). — 1. The chief architect of the tabernacle. The name occurs only in the narrative of the Priests' Code and in the Kk of Chron. (1 Ch 2» 2 Ch 1*). It probably signifies 'in the shadow (i.e. under the protection) of El.'* In both the sources named, B. is given as ' the son of Uri, the son of Hut, of the tribe of Judah.' The various links in the genealogical chain will be found in 1 Ch 2"- '*• "• ". There Ls no ground for identifying the grand- father of B. with Hur, the companion of Closes (Ex 17'°). According to P's representation, B. was expressly called (05*9 •nuiij) by J" (Ex 3P) to super- intend the erection of the 'tent of meeting,' and endowed with the special gifts required for the proper execution of his task (w.'"»). He was also charged with the construction of the furniture for court and tabernacle, as well as with the prepara- tion of the priestly garments, and of the necessary oU and incense. Yet while B. is represented as, in the main, merely carrying out the Divine in- structions, he is also said to be endowed with originality of invention as regards details (Ex 31'* 35'^). Among the gifts thus bestowed upon him, not the least was the gift of teaching the arts of which he was himself a master, to his subordinates (Ex 35"), the chief of whom was Aholiab (Ex 31» 35" etc.). See Tabernaclb. 2. B. occurs in Ezr 10" as one of the eight sons of Pahath-nioab that had married foreign wives in the days of Ezra.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
6EZEK (pja). — Two places so called are perhaps to be distinguished in OT. 1, Jg I'. A place attacked by Judah after Joshua's death, probablj Bezknh, a ruin W. of Jerusalem, in the lower hills. SWPvo\. iii. sheet xvii. 2. 1 S 11*, where SauJ
fathered Israel before advancing on Jabeshgilead. 'he most likely site in this connexion is the ruin Lbzik, N.E. of Sliechem, opposite Jabesh. 'This site was known in the 4th cent. a.d. (Onomasticon , s.v. Bezec), but identified with No. 1. It was 17 Rom. miles from Shechem, on the road to Scythopolis (Beisftn), which is correct. (See Moore on Jg 1".)
C. K. CONDER. BEZER (nsj ' fortress '). — A descendant of Ashei (1 Ch 7").
BEZER (ija, B4<rop).— A city belonging to Reuben, situated ' in the wilderness, on the iity'D,' or flat table-land, E. of Jordan (Dt 4*», Jos 20«), a city of refuge {ll.cc), allotted, according to P, to the Merarites (Jos 21'«, whence 1 Ch 6™i«"). It is mentioned also bjr Mesha' (Moab. Stone, 1. 27), as being in ruins in his day, and as having been rebuilt Ly him, after his revolt from Ahab, and ex- pulsion of the Israelites from the territory N. of the Amon (which, though assigned formally to Reuben, was occupied by the Moabites ; see Moab). From its being descrJDcd as being in the ' wilderness' (cf. Dt 2") — i.e. in the great rolling plains of grass or scrub stretching out on the E. of Moab (Tristram, Moab, pp. 148, 169) — it may be inferred that it was situated towards the E. border of the Moaliite table-land. The site has not yet been recovered. Euseb. (Onnm. 232) identifies it wrongly with Botrrpa, in Bashan, the caj>ital of the later province of 'Arabia' (G. A. .Smith, Geogr. G24). Kujr Bshdr, which has been suggested, about 15 miles S.E. of Dhilian (see the maj) in PEFHt 189.'>, p. 204), is too far to the S., being on the S. side of the Amon, and consequently not in the territory of Reuben at all (Jos 13") : the name, moreover,
■ C(. Sil-BCl, a king ol Oaza in the time ol Sennacherib and his Biu-ci.-HMun(, aee COT under Joe 11**: alw> Ina-«illi-B£l,
Cos. LexX').
286
BEZETH
does not correspond phonetically as it ought to do. Be?er is not improbalily ideulical with Bozrah (LXX BoirAp), one of the cities in the possession of Moab. mentioned by Jer (48"), and also, it is implied (v."), situated on the 'table-land.'
S. K. Driver. BEZETH CRij^ie), 1 Mac 7".— A place apparently near Jerus. Jos. calls it Bethzetho [Ant. XII. x. 2), and mentions it as a village. The situation is doubtful. It may be a corruption for Berzetho.