Base (as a noun) is the rendering in the Auth. Vers, of two Heb. words : 1. "j3, ken, the foundation
BASEL
681
BASHAN
or pedestal, e. g. of the laver (q. v.) in the temple-court ■ ("foot," Exod. xxx, 18, etc.); then, the "base over the ledges" (Oabfcj, joints) of the brazen sea (q. v.), in 1 Kings vii, 29, apparently explained in ver. 31 as a "work of the base" CjSTl'OSO), perhaps a ■pediment- like cornice covering the joints ; but the whole descrip- tion is exceedingly obscure. See Ledge. 2. WlSO, mekonah', or SlMSE, mekunah', a foot-piece or stand upon which to place the lavcrs in the temple-service (1 Kings vii, 27-43, etc.). See Laver.
Basel, Confession of. Sec Basle.
Basel, Council of. See Basle.
Ba'shan (Heb. Bashan', "'r3, usually with the art., "jUJart, light sandy sail; Samaritan Ver. "p3rO J Targ. "Dni3, Psa. lxviii, 13, also "jSna ; the latter, Buxtorf [Lex. Talm. col. 370] suggests, may have origi- nated in the mistake of a transcriber, yet both are found in Targ. Jon., Deut. xxxiii, 22; Sept. Baaav and BcuravTrLS, Josephus [Ant. ix, 8] and Eusebius [Onomast. s. v.] Baravaia), a district on the east of Jordan, the modern el-Bo'Aein or el-Beth?negeh (Abul- feda, Tab. Syr. p. 97). It is not, like Argob and other districts of Palestine, distinguished by one designation, but is sometimes spoken of as the "land of Bashan" (1 Chron. v, 11 ; and comp. Num. xxi, 33; xxxii, 33), and sometimes as "all Bashan" (Deut. iii, 10, 13; Josh, xii, 5 ; xiii, 12, 30), but most commonly without any addition. The word probably denotes the pecul- iar fertility of tin soil ; by the ancient versions, instead of using it as a proper name, a word meaning fruitful or fat is adopted. Thus, in Psa. xxii, 13, for Bashan, we find in Sept. iriovfe,; Aquila, Xnrapoi ; Symmachus, (Tirinroi ; and Vulg, Pingues (Psa. lxvii, 16), for hill of Bashan; Sept. opoc tzIov ; Jerome (see Bochart, Hierozoicon, pt. i, col. 531), mons pinguis. The rich- ness of the pasture-land of Bashan, and the consequent superiority of its breed of cattle, are frequently alluded to in the Scriptures. We read in Deut. xxii, 14, of "rams of the breed (Heb. sons) of Bashan." (Rzek. xxxix, 18), "Rams, lambs, bulls, goats, all of them f.itlings of Bashan." The oaks of Bashan are men- tioned in connection with the cedars of Lebanon (Isa. ii, 13; Zech. xi, 2). In Ezekiel's description of the wealth and magnificence of Tyre it is said, "Of the oaks of Bashan have they made their oars" (xxvii, 6). The ancient commentators on Amos iv, 1, "the kine of Bashan," Jerome, Theodoret, and Cyril, speak in the strongest terms of the exuberant fertility of Bashan (Bochart, Hierozoicon, pt. i, col. 306), and modern travellers corroborate their assertions. See Burekhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 286-288 ; Bucking- ham's Travels in Palest, ii, 112-117.
The first notice of this country is in Gen. xiv, 5. Chedorlaomer and his confederates "smote the Reph- aims in Ashtaroth Karnaim." Now Og, king of Ba- shan, dwelt in Ashtaroth, and "was of the remnant of the Rephaim" (Auth. Vers. " giants"), Joshua xii, 4. When the Israelites invaded the Promised Land, Argob, a province of Bashan, contained "sixty fenced cities, with walls, and gates, and brazen bars, besides unwalled towns a great many" (Deut. iii, 4, 5 ; 1 Kings iv, 13). All these were taken by the children of Israel after their conquest of the land of Sihon from Anion to Jabbok. They "turned" from their road over Jordan and "went up by the way of Bashan" — probably very much the same as that now followed by the pilgrims of the Haj route and by the Romans before them — to Edrei, on the western edge of the Lejah. See Edkei. Here thejr encountered Og, king of Bashan, who "came out" probably from the natural fastnesses of Argob only to meet the entire destruction of himself, his sons, and all his people (Num. xxi, 33-85 ; Deut. iii, 1-3). Argob, with its GO strongly fortified cities, evidently formed a principal portion of Bashan (Deut. iii, 4, 5), though still only a portion (ver. 13), there