W. H. Bennett.
BILHAH, Place (.1,7^3, A BaXaa, B 'ABeWd, Bala). —A Simeonite city, 1 Ch 4=»= Baalah (rh^i), Jos IS-* ; Balah {n'?2), Jos 19', and (?) Ba<alath (nSj), Jos 19", 1 K 9", 2 Ch 8«. Site uncertain. Kittcl {Sacred Books of OT, 1 Ch 4^) proposes to point .1.7^3 Balhah ; cf. VSS and parallel passages.
W. H. Bennett.
BILHAN (in'-a).— 1. A Horite chief, the son of Ezer (Gn 36« = I Ch 1<»). 2. A descendant of Benjamin, son of Jediael, and father of seven sons who were heads of houses in their tribe (1 Ch 7'"). See Genealogy. R. M. Boyd.
BILL.— 1. A bill of divorce or divorcement, Dt
24'- ', Is 50', Jer 3« (nn-i? ijc s^pher kSrithuth, lit. ' a writ of cutting off' (see Driver on Dt 24', wlio compares Sir 25^ dirirf^e airr-Ziv, ' cut her off ') ; Mk 10* (^ifiXlov airoo-Tofflou, the LXX tr" of srpher kirithuth : also used Mt 5" AV, RV ' wTiting of divorcement ' ; and 19', AV as 5", RV as Mk W). See Marriaoe.
2. A debtor's written account. Lk 16«- ' (TR tA ypaiina, edd. rd ypd/jLiiaTa., RV ' bond '). Eder.sheini (Jesus the Messiah, ii. 272 f.) points out that the Or. word here employed was sometimes used in rabbinical writings (Hebraised (/cramwinn'on), and corresponded with the Syr. shi'lre, which denotes 'writings' that were either formal, when they were signed by witnesses and the Siinhetlrin of three ; or informal, when only the debtor himself
signed. The latter were most frequently written on wax, and thus easily altered. See Debt.
J. Hastings. BILSHAN {\v\^ 'inquirer'). — A companion of Zerubbabel (Ezr2«, Neh7' = Beel8aruB, 1 Es5'). See Genealogy.
BIMHAL (^793 for 'cr\^ ' son of circamcision ' T). — A descendant of Asher (1 Ch 7*^).
BINEA {K!ia). — A descendant of Jonathan (1 Ch
8" 9").
BINNOI ('"S 'a building').— 1. Head of a family that returned with Zerub. (Neh 7'° = Banl of Ezr 2'"). 2. A Levite (Ezr 8^ (prob. =Bani of Neh 8' and Bunni of Neh 9*), Neh 12»). 3. A son of Pahath- moab (Ezr lO*" =Balnuu8 of 1 Es 9"). 4. A son of Bani who had married a foreign wife (Ezr lu"*). There appears to be a confusion in some instan- ces between the similar names 133, 'Jj, "133. See Bawai, Genealogy. J. A. Sklbie.
BIRDS.— See Fowls.
BIRSHA (Kri3, etym. and meaning unknown). — King of Gomorrah at the time of Chedorlaomer'a invasion (Gn 14^).
BIRTH. — Among the Hebrews, as among the Orientals generally (comp. Herod, i. 136, of the Persians), a high value was placed upon the possession of children (see, e.g., Gn 16' 29-"-'*30', 1 S 1« 2», 2 K 4", Ps 127"- "), and especially of sons (see 1 S 1", Jer 20", Job 3^), while childlessness was regarded as a heavy reproach (Gn 30^, Lk 1^) and punishment (2 S 6**, Hos 9"-'*). Par- turition seems generally to have been easy (Ex 1", yet see Gn 3"), as it is with Syrian and Arabian women at the present day, and cases in which the mother died in childbirth (Gn 35'*, 1 S 4^") were probably quite exceptional. From the phrase used in Gn 50*^, cf. 3U^, it has been supposed that in early times the child was actually born upon its father's knees (see Nowack, Heb. Archaol. 1. 165), according to customs of which traces are found in several primitive peoples (Ploss, Das Weib,'' ii. 177 ff.) ; or at least that the newly-born infant \yas placed in its father's lap as a token of recognition and adoption. We find, however, no clear reference to such customs in historical times. Indeed, the father was not present at the birth of the child (Jer 20") ; the mother was attended by other women (1 S 4*), and the assistance of a mid- wife was often called in (Gn 35" SS'*, Ex I""- Compare article Midwife). The newly-born infant, after its navel-cord had been cut, was bathed in water, rubbed with salt, and wrajiped in swaddling-clothes (Ezk 16*, Lk 2'). The practice of rubbing infants with salt is still retained among the fellaheen of Pal., who believe that children are strengthened and hardened by this means (ZDPV iv. p. 63). The child received its name from the mother (Gn 29*="- 30, 1 S l*, 1 Ch 4") or from the father (Gn 16" 17", Ex 2'', Hos 1«- ; see especially Gn 35"), the choice of name being often determined by special circumstances attend- ing the birth. In later times, at any ratfi, a boy received his name at his circumcision on the eighth day (Lk 1™ 2-'). The mother was regarded as unclean for the space of seven -h thirty-three days after the birth of a son, or for fourteen -i- sixty-six days after the birth of a daughter (Lv 12). This difference may probably be explained from the belief, which existed also elsewhere, that the symptoms of a jiuerperal stJite continued longer in the latter case (llip])Ocr. ed. Iviihn, i. 392 1 Dillmann on Lv 12»). See P0RIFICATION. The
BIRTHDAY
BISHOP
301
firstborn, when a son, belonged to J", and must therefore be redeemed (Ex 13'2»- 34-"») for the sum of five shekels (Nu IS™-)- The child wag usually suckled by the mother (Gn 21', 1 S 1*"-, 1 K 3-'), but a nurse (n;3J~) ^ sometimes mentioned (Gn 24»» 35', 2 K IP); it was not fully weaned for two or three years (2 Mac 7" ; cf. 1 S 1-"'"), — in Mohammedan law, indeed, mothers are bidden to guckle their children for at least two years, — and the completion of the weaning wa£ sometimes celebrated by a feast (Gn 21"'). H. A. White.