BIRTHDAT. — The custom of observing a birth- day as a festival seems to have been widely spread in ancient times. Herodotus (i. 133) speaks of this practice among the Persians. In Gn 40''" we hear of the celebration of the birthday of the king of E^pt, and in the times of the Ptolemies the inscriptions of Rosetta and Canopus bear witness to the same custom. ' The birthdays of the kings were celebrated with great pomp. They were looked upon as holy, no business was done upon them, and all classes indulged in festivities suit- able to the occasion ' ( Wilkinson, A ncient Egyptuuis, 1847, T. 290). For Roman birthdays, cf. Marquardt, Privatleben d. BoTtier, i. 244 f. According to 2 Mac 6' the birthdays of the Syrian kings were com- memorated every month by means of sacrifices, of which, in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Jews were forced to partake. In the Gospels (Mt 14', Mk 6"') we read of the feast made by Herod Antipas to his nobles on his birthday, on which occasion the daughter of Herodias danced before the guests. The proper Greek term for such festival is t4 yffidXia (cf. Jos. Ant. II. v. 3), t4 ycviaia being used to denote a feast commemorating a person's death (Herod, iv. 26) ; but in later Greek we find rd yeviaia and similar phrases used in the sense of birthday (Dio Cassius, xlvii. 18, Ivi. 46, Ixvii. 2; Alciphro, iii. 18, 55; cf. Jos. Ant. XII. iv. 7: ttiv ytv4<jiov rifUpav). The meaning of rd yeviina in the Gospels has indeed been disputed, many com- mentators referring the word to the anniversary of the king's accession — a day which we know to have been observed by some of the Herodian princes (Jos. Ant. xv. xi. 6 : ttji/ Tijiipau riis apxv)- In support of this view appeal is made to the Mishna (Ab. Sar. i. 3), where by the side of the 'ytyiaia of the kings' (D';^9 Sji x.-f;:'?), mention is also made of n^i'on d'i'I .Tj^n d'i', i.e. ' the day of birth and the day of death.' So Wieseler, Beitrdge, p. 182; \ia.nBTB.t\\, New Testament Times (^.T. 1880), ii. 122; Edersheim, Life and Times (1891), i. 072. But no certain instance can be quoted froia Greek literature to support the supposed meaning of t4 ymlaia ; and the Pal. Gemara (Jer. Ab. Sar. i. 39c) explains x-Biyi as equivalent to birthday. In the Bab. Gemara indeed {Ab. Sar. 10a), where the meaning of the word is discussed, the final decision is in favour of the interpretation ' day of accession ' ; but from the context it api)ear8 highly probable that here, as elsewhere, the Talmudists were guessing at the meaning of an unknown word. Cf. Meyer on Mt 14'; Schurer, MJP I. ii. 20 f.
H. A. White.
BIRTH, NEW — See Rkoeneration. BIRTH- RIGHT.—See Family.
BIRZAITH (nips Ketkihh, n-pa Kert, AV Blrza- vith), 1 Ch 7". — Apparently a town of Asher, prob- ably Btr-ez-Zeit, near Tyre. C. R. Conder.
BISHLAM {n)xft = o)t\^ ' peaceful ' ?).— An officer of -Vrtaxerxes in Pal. at the time of the return from captivity under Zerub., Ezr 4'. Called Belemus in 1 Es 2". The LXX renders the name by «'» tlpiiyxi, in peace, as if it were the greeting at the "iieginning of the letter which follows. H. St. J. Thackbhay.
BISHOP (iiriaKOVoi) and ELDER (irpea^inepoi).— The words are too closely connected in N f and sub-apostolic writings to be separated here. First, to trace their use outside the churches.
1, iirlffKoxos is common in the genera] sense of an overseer ; rarer as an ollicial title. We have (a) in the flourishing age of Athens, i-r. sent to regu- late new colonies or subject cities like Sjjartan liarmosts. They were called ivi/jLtXrp-ai in Rom. times. (6) After Alexander, two ir. at Tl.era are directed to receive some money and put it at interest ; and iv. at Rhodes are municipal otlicers whose duties are unknown, (c) In LX.X ir. are taskmasters, as Is 60" (i^ii), or minor officers, as Neh 11" (TpJ), or 1 Mac 1" the commissioners of Antiochus who enforced idolatry. In LXX also, as Ps 108", we first find the office denoted by iviOKOTH). (d) In the 3rd cent. A.D. we have (w. as municipal officers in about ten inscriptions from Batanaea, the Decapolis, and those parts, where they seem to have had some authority over sacred revenues (t4 tov deoS). Of its use (e) for the treasurers of private associations there are no very clear traces. The common word was infuXitn^t, as with the Essenes.
2. Tpcapirrepos. The city councils in Rom. times were commonly called (iovXal, not ycpovclai or Tpeff^t/ripia. Iiie ytpovffiaif of which Trpea^urcpoi were members, were not private societies, but corporations for purposes like the games, or the worship of the city-god, or the burial of their members. Their officers were rpocrriTai, dpxoi^tt, jrportyovpLfrM. (6) The Jewish cities of Pal. were governed by a ^ovXi) of 7, or, in larger places, 23 vp. (o'jpi). These formed a court of justice, and may have managed the synagogue. The organisa- tion of the Jews in Antioch, Alexandria, etc. was on the same lines, except that In Rome there were several such corporations.
Now, though the Lord commanded His disciples to form a society, there is no indication that either He or His apostles ever prescribed any definite form for it. We should tnerefore expect to find them following existing models till the new spirit of the society began to express itself in new forms.