BOWL. — 1. A vessel of this sort, a hollow dish in which to receive the milk of the flock and present the simple family meal, is indispensable for even the lowest stage of nomad life, tor these purposes the primitive Hebrews, like the wandering tribes of today, doubtless used bowls of wood instead of fragile earthenware. It was in such a dish, ' a b. fit for lords' (AV 'a lordly dish '), that Jael offered Sisera a draught of sour milk (Jg 5"). The same word (fee, lIXX XcKivr), (A, XaKivrj), see Moore, Judges, pp. 164 f.) denotes the b. into which Gideon wrung tne water from his fleece (Jg 6"*). From both these passages it may be inferred that the Sso was a dish of at least medium size ; in Gideon's case it may have been of the porous earthenware (see Pottery) which has been in use among the settled population of Canaan from the earliest times. Al.any specimens of this ware were found by tlie officers of the Pal. Expl. Fund, and more recently by- Flinders Petrie and Bliss in the mound of Tell el-Hesy (see Petrie, Lachish, and Bliss, A Mound of Many Cities, passim).
ii. The large silver bowls presented by ' the princes of the congregation ' (Nu 7'"'") have been mentioned under Bason. The same word (p^IP) is applied by Am (6°) to the large and costly bowls
* Ct. t Mac 91 of Antiochua Epiphanea : ■ But the Lord Almighty, the Qod of Israel, smote him with an incurable and invisible plague ; for as soon as he had spoken these words, a pain of tlie bowels that was remediless came upon him, and snre torments of the inner parts ; and that most Justly, for be ho^l tormented other men's boweU with many and atmige torments.'
BOX
BRACELET
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used by the nobles of Samaria for their debauclies. Jer. mentions a still larger b. (i";;, AV 'pot' — (Jn 44""- of Joseph's ' cup'), t'orrespomlini; to the eraser, from whicli the drinking cups (nor) were re- phjnished (Jer 35°). The material was no doubt eUver.
iii. In A V bowl is the rendering of rai as applied to the cup (KV) or calyx of beaten work used as an ornament on the stem and branches of the golden candlestick (see under TabehN'ACLE).
iv. n~; Zee 4', also in correct text of v.', is the bowl or' recejitade for oil in the candlestick of Zeehariah's vision, and is used in the same sense with ref. to the 'lamp of life' (Ec 12^). It also denotes the bowl-sliaped or spheroidal capitals of Jachin and Boaz (1 K 7"- ", 2 Ch 4'»- '=).
V. In Is 51''-'''', for 'dregs of the cup,' etc., R'V renders ' b. of the cup' (di3 ryjij) ; the second word, however, is best regarded as a gloss to explain the preceding unusual word. In Rev passim RV adojits ' bowl ' as the equivalent of <pLd\r) (AV ' vial '). tor other changes of RV (iucludin" nisj, AV 'bason,' RV ' bowl'), see Bason. A. R. S. KENNEDY.
BOX.— In 2 K 9'- • AV, a box (tis) of oil is men- tioned, RV vial. In 1 S 10' it is said that Samuel ' took the vial [-s] of oil,' in 16' God's command to Samuel is 'fill thy horn (pfl) with oU.' It seems probable that horn is the true meaning, as, being closed at the tip, it could easily be sealed up at the other end and carried about. Perfume boxes (Biy-n"c;) are spoken of in Is 3'-'° RV. In Van Dyck's Arab. tr. they are called hdruljir, the common word for small pots of earthenware for carrying ointments. In Mt 26', Mk 14', Lk 7" 'alabaster box (RV cruse) of ointment' {a\df}a.aTpov) is men- tioned. The word used in Arabic is kdrHrah, which ra.ay mean a small vase or iar of eartlien- ware or other material. In Syria olive oil is often kept sealed u|> in small earthen jars. The word alabaster, though originally applied to vases made of that substance, seems to have been often used for a vessel containing an unguent without special regard to the material of which it was made. As the ointment referred to is said to have been very precious, it is proliable that the vase may have been alabaster. The breaking refers, of course, to the seal, not to the vase. W. Carslaw.
BOX TREE (TB'Nn UnsKiMr, Xtixri, xdSpos, Aq. Th. Saaaorp, hitxus, piniis). — The only species of box found in Bible lands is Buxus lungifulia, Boiss., which is a shrub from 2 to 3 ft. high. It does not grow south of Mt. Cassius, and it is unlikely that it did in historical times. It is improbable that it was at all familiar to the Hebrews.
The other trees alluded to in the three passages in which the tca-i/isMir is mentioned (Is 41'" 60", Ezk 27') were familiar. They are the cetlar, shiltah (RV acacia), myrtle, fir, oak, pint (?). It is unlikely that an unfamiliar and insignificant bush would bo asso- ciated with these, which, with the exception of the myrtle, the emblem of greenness and triumph, were all lordly trees, and familiar to those who heard the prophecy. Its name signifies erectncss or tall- ness, which indicates that it also was a stately tree. Unfortunately, philology gives us no help in solving the (juestion, as the word teash-ihilr has not been preserved in the Arabic. The old Arab. VS gives sherhin, which is one name for the wild form of Cuprrs.tus semnnri'irens, L., the cypress. This is a stately tree, and everyway suitable. There area number of other fine evergreens in Bible lands, aa the Cilician spruce, Abies Cilicica, Boiss. ; the alpine juniper, .Tuniperus excelsa, L. (Arab. lizzdb) ; the large-fruited j