BITUMEN (Gn 11* lan, i<r<pa\Tot, EV ■slime,' RVm 'bitumen').— The mineral substance which has given to the Dead Sea the name Lai~iis Asphnl- tites (Jos. Ant. I. ix.), in which case it is mineral pitch of the group of the hydrocarbons. This mineral is abundant in several Eastern countries, and was used in verv early times as a eubstituti*
BIZIOTHIAH
BLASPHEMY
305
for mortar in the buildings of Chaldoea.* It is found in Persia, Assam, Upper Burma, particularly at Itangoon, at Baku, near the Caspian, and in the valleys leading down from the west to the Dead Sea, especially Wadies Derejeh and Mahawat, in company with sulphur, t
The bitumen in the Dead Sea basin is probably derived from the bituminous limestones of the Cretaceous series, and reaches the surface through tissuies in the rock. In the case of marine lime- stones or shales containing large quantities of animal or vegetable matter, either of terrestrial or of aquatic origin, bitumenization may take place under suitable conditions of temperature and moisture, giving rise to springs of bitumen or petroleum, and from such a source the bitumen of the Dead Sea basin may be supposed to have its origin. E. HULL.
BIZIOTHIAH (.Tn^1»), Jos 15".— A corruption for ^•n'133 ' her villages,' referring to Beersheba, as the LXX ol icu/uu aiVuv indicates (cf. also Neb 11").
BIZTHA ("cilJ, Est 1").— One of the seven eonuchs or chamberlains of kin^ Ahasuerus. A suggested etymology is the Persian besteh, 'bound, hence perhaps 'eunuch.' The LXX here reads Mafdv B, Bafd» M^*, Baffd A. H. A. White.
BLACK. — See Colouks. As a subst. b. is found in Sir 19* AVm, and Jer 14' ' they sit in b. upon the ground.' As a verb. Bar 6" ' their faces are b*" through the smoke that cometh out of the temple ' (luXahw). Blackish, Job 6" ' b. by reason of the ice ' (nia, used here of a turbid torrent, RV ' black '). J. Hastinos.
BLAINS See Medicinb.
BLASPHEMY {p\aa<pr,fila, vb. pXaa^nintTr, adj. and fubst. p\d<r<f>rifios) is derived as to its second element from (pi^/jLT), speech, but the etymology of the first element is still quite uncertain, opinions being divided among pxdirra I injure (the form woiud then, properly, be /3\a^i0T)/i/a), jSXdf slack, doltish, piWw I hit in throwing (Eustath. ad. Horn. 11. 2, p. 219, A Toij (prfifjuut piWuin, XoiJopos), and ^OXoj worthless (root, bhles). The usage, however, IS distinct enough. In classical and NT Greek (as also in EV) the word is not restricted, as in ordinary Eng. phraseology and Eng. law, to the divine relation, but has the general sense of ■landerous, contumelious speech against either God or man. As a matter of fact, in classical Greek the human relation is the riile, p\a(r<prtfjila being only by transference applied to the gods (Plato, Rep. 381 E) ; and, as often as not, in this connexion, it signifies a word not so much of Irreverenoe as of ill-omen (opp. to (i(t>riiila), a word amiss, an vnlucky word, as when one unintention- ally prays for evil instead of good (Kur. Ion, 1189 ; Plato, Legg. 800, 801). In the Heb. OT (mostly in the form giddcph, the word selected by Delitzsch fn his Hebrew NT) and in the LXX there is always • notion of contemptuous sacrilege in word or act (1 Mac 2«) towards God (2 K 19*. cf. 18"") directly or indirectly, through men or things connected with Him, e.g. His people (Is .'52', Ps 74"), His champions (2 Mac 12"), His lioly land (Ezk 35"), His temple (1 Mac V") ; once, by transference, towards a heathen god (Bel»). In NT the wider classical usage api>ear8, and there is not always the same clear connotation of divine connexion, the word being sometimes equivalent to aggravated contumely, or slander (ef. I)em. pro Cor. iv. 12. 3, tit TovTor v-oXXdxit dr^aKut\f« Kal fi^xp^ a/trx/jdf ^\aa-
• lUvlinson, /<n<n«n( Mcnarchia, vol. 1. ch. 8. t Triatram, Land ()/ Itraet, pp. 281, 31>8. "OI. I.— 20
Hidas); Tit 3', Mt 15'», 1 Co ID*", Ro 3' 14", Eph 4" (It Col a% 1 Ti 6*, 2 P 2". It is not, how- ever, to be ignored that the recognised relation of God to all created beings may have induced the choice of the word p\a<T(priida to express what is in the last resort an ollence against llira. (Cf. the OT use ; also the parallel in Sir 3", and the thought in such passages as 1 P 2" taken with Tit 3".)
A special use in NT touches the human assump- tion of what is God's, the degradation of the infinite glory of the unapproacliable God to the finite nature of the creature. Thus the word is put into the mouths of the Jewish accusers of Christ (Mt 9» 26™, Jn 10«, Lk 5«), and is employed likewise conversely by the NT writers and speakers to depict the sacrilegious and insulting denial by the Jews to Christ of what was His due status (M^ 27"», Lk 22*> 23»»), and their equally sacrilegious and insulting charges against Him (Ac 13*' 18' 26").
The punishment of those who blasphemed, i.e. sinned in word or act ' with a high band,' i.e. in impious rebellion against J", not in thoughtless- ness and weakness of the flesh (see Keil, Bib. Arch. ii. 377, Eng. tr., on Sins of Ignorance), but wilfully and presumptuously, was 'cutting off' (Nu 15") or death by stoning (Lv 24"-"). Instances of blasphemy in act are the profanation of the Sabbath by work (Ex 31"), the neglect of circumcision (Gn 17"), and idolatry in all its relations ( Ex 22"', 1 Mac 2"). It was on the ground of blasphemy that Christ was handed over for execution to the Romans (Mt 26«*'-, Jn 19'), and that Stephen was stoned in an irregular outbreak of priests and people (Ac 6" 7"). To the ordinary sins of blas- phemy the Jews added the more technical sin of the 'pronunciation' of the name .1", through a mis- interpretation of ' pronounce' in Lv 24" apart from its limitative context. For this reason the LXX rendered J" by 6 Kvmos, and the Hebrew Jews sub- stituted Adonai or Elohim, as they do to the present day.