Such being the intensive character, the exten- sive character of benevolence may he observed in Christ's conipaseiuu on the multitudes (Mk 8^ Mt
U"), namely, on each individual ; and, again, in His healing every one of those around Him on a well-known occasion at Capernaum (Lk 4^°). By precept as well as by example benevolence is en- joined upon the ministry in the first commission to the Twelve : ' Freely ye have received, freely give' (Mt 10"). Not least beautiful and consoling is the assurance that it prevails in the angelic spheres, even towards poor sinners (Lk 15'' '").
Literature.— Hastings' DB, art. ' Love ' ; Butler, Sertnom xi. xii. ; Newman, Oxjord Univ. Sermons, p. 104 ff. ; Schulhof, Law of Forgiveness (1901), 121 ff.
W. B. Frankland.
BETHABARA (n-jiy, n'3 'house of the ford or crossing').— The name is found in the New Testa- ment only in Jn 1'-" (AV): 'These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.' The place was, therefore, one suitable for the purposes of the Baptist in preach- ing and baptizing ; and it has been usually identi- fied, though this IS not precisely stated in the text, with the scene of the baptism of our Lord.
'With the great majority of Gr. MSS (including N*ABC*) the RV has retained here the reading ' Bethany,' ^vith marginal alternatives ' Betli- abarah ' and 'Betharahah.' The latter (njnj; n-g ' house of the prairie,' cf. Is 40^ ct al. ; or ' house of the Arabah or Jordan Valley,' cf. Dt 1'; or perhaj)s ' house of the poplar,' cf. 0-31^^ hni Is 15') is possibly a reminiscence of the Beth- arabah of Jos IS"'" in the plain of Jericho, or it may be due merely to an accidental transposition of letters. The form ' Bethabara,' on the other hand, is found in a few extant manuscripts of the Greek text, both uncial and cursive, and in the Curetonian and Sinaitic Syriac. Origen adopted this reading, and it seems to have gained general currency mainly on his authority. He writes {in Evang. Joannis, vi. 24) that Bethany is found in almost all copies and in Heracleon, but after personal investigation of the district (yevbixevoi iv Tois riTrois iwl laropiav tOiv ixvSiv 'Ii/o-oD hoX tC>v ixaB-qrwv aurov) he jjrefers 'Bethabara' on the twofold ground of the distance of Bethany, the country of Lazarus and Martha and Mary, from the .fordan, and of the non-existence of any place bearing the latter name within the Jordan Valley. He further reports (\tyovin) a place ^T)0apa. where he had been told (IdTopoxiai) that John baptized, and says that the word means oikos AaTa<r),eii?s (possibly a confusion with n-iij;, cf. LXX in Ex 35-^), Bethany bein^ oikos vraKorjs, adding a play upon the name as befitting the spot where the messenger sent to prepare {Kara- ffKEudfeii', Mt 11") tlio way of tlie Lord should baptize.
Origen's view, therefore, was mainly a priori, and it has seemed worth while to set it out at length, because later writers, as Epiphanius, Cliry-
•ostom, et al., apparently adopt and repeat it with more or less amplification ; nor is it easy to decide how much weight is due to additional details they
may give. According to Chrysostom, for instance, the more accurate copies read ' Bethabara,' a result tliat might readily be conceived to follow from Origen's criticism ; and he adds that Bethany was neither across the Jordan nor in the wilderness, but near Jerusalem. * The ancient writers do not seem to take into account the possibility of the names occurring more than once in Palestine. It is clear, however, that either ' Bethany ' or ' Bethabara ' would lend itself readily to duplication.
The only indication of position which the narra- tive itself gives is in the phrase iripav roO 'lopddvov, ' across (i.e. east of) the Jordan.' And if Bethabara or Bethany is the scene of the Baptism, then it tile riglit reading
BETHANY
EETHESDA
193
would seem that the site must be looked for in the northern part of the Jordan Valley, since Christ comes hither apparently direct from Galilee (Mt 3", Mk 1'). Conder finds all the necessary conditions satisfied by a ford 'Abdrah on the Jordan E.N.E. of Beisdn, and at a distance of four or five miles from the latter place ; and he explains the name 'Bethany' as equivalent to Batanea, Basanitis, or Bashan, the district immediately east of the Jordan, south and south-east of the Sea of Galilee (see C. R. Conder in Pal. Expl. Fxmd Mem. ii. p. 89 f.. Quart. Statement, 1875, p. 72, Handbook to tlicBlble, p. 319f. ; Hastings' DB, art. 'Bethabara').
Bethabara has also been supposed to be the same as the Beth-barah (nn? n'3, LXX Batfl>)pd, of Jg 1^) which lay on or near the .Ionian. This is on the assumption that a guttural has been accidentally lost from the Hebrew text, and that we ought to read n-a-l n-a. Dr. Sanday (Sacred Sites of the Gospels, p. 23) accepts the identification with 'AbArah. But beyond the coincidence of the name, on which much stress cannot be laid, there is no direct evidence in its favour ; and the indirect evidence is slight. The inference, moreover, which has been drawn from Jn 2', that Bethabara or Bethany lay not more than a day's journey from Cana of Galilee, is precarious. The marriage fes- tivities at Cana would in all probability extend over several days, towards the close of which the supply of wine failed : and the language used is perhaps intended to convey that Christ and His disciples were not present at the beginning. (See on the prolongation of the ceremonies attendant on an Eastern wedding, P. Baldensperger, 'Woman intheEast'inP.Bi^'^it, 1900 p. 181ff., 1901 p. 173 ff.; H. B. Tristram, Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, eh. v.).