(n.) Between the various vessels bearing in the Auth. Vers, the names of basin, bowl, charger, cup, and dish, it is scarcely possible now to ascertain the precise distinction, as very few, if any, remains arc known up to the present time, to exist of Jewish earth- en or metal ware, and as the same words are various- ly rendered in different places. We can only conjec- ture their form and material from the analogy of an- cient Egyptian or Assyrian specimens of works of the same kind, and from modern Oriental vessels for culi- nary or domestic purposes. Among the smaller ves- sels for the tabernacle or temple service, many must have been required to receive from the sacrificial vic- tims the blood to be sprinkled for purification. Moses, on the occasion of the great ceremony of purification in the wilderness, put half the blood in "the basins," rOJXri, or bowls, and afterward sprinkled it on the people (Exod. xxiv, 6, 8 ; xxxix, 21 ; Lev. i, 5 ; ii, 15 ; iii, 2, 8, 13; iv, 5, 34; viii, 23, 24; xiv, 14,25; xvi, 15, 19; Heb. ix, 19). Among the vessels cast in metal, Avhether gold, silver, or brass, by Hiram for Solomon, besides the laver and great sea, mention is made of basins, bowls, and cups. Of the first (D"1p"it'3, marg. bowls) he is said to have made 100 (2 Chron. iv, 8 ; 1 Kings vii, 45, 46; comp. Exod. xxv, 29, and 1 Chron. xxviii, 14, 17). Josephus, probablv with great exag- geration, reckons of (jiuiXai and airovSela 20,000 in gold and 40,000 in silver, besides an equal number in each metal of tcparfjpEC, for the offerings of flour mixed with oil (Ant. viii, 3, 7 and 8; comp. Birch, Hist, of Pottery, i, 152). — Smith, a. v.
(6.) The "basin" from which our Lord washed the disciples' feet, vnrri)i), was probably deeper and larger than the hand-basin fur sprinkling, "l^D (Jer. Iii, 18), which, in the Auth. Vers, "caldrons," Vulg. lebetes, is by the Syr. rendered basins for washing the feet (John xiii, 5). See Washing (of Feet and Hands).
Basire, Isaac, D.D., a learned English divine, was born in the island of Jersey in 1607, and educated at Cambridge. He was made prebendary of Durham 1643, archdeacon of Northumberland 1644. When the rebellion broke out he sided with the king, but was af- terward obliged to quit England, and he then travelled to the Levant, etc., to recommend the doctrine and constitution of the English Church to the Greeks. In the Morea he twice preached in Greek, at an assembly of the bishops and clergy, at the request of the metro- politan of Achaia. He made acquaintance with the patriarch of Antioch, visited Jerusalem, where he was respectfully received by the Latin and Greek clergy, and was allowed to visit the church of the Holy Sep-
ulchre in the character of a priest. On his return he was honored with a chair of divinity in Transylvania, and on reaching England was restored to his prefer- ments. He died in October, 1676. His principal works are, 1. Deo et Ecclesi e Sacrum, or Sacrilege arraigned and condemned by St. Paul, Rom. ii, 22 (Lond. 1668, 8vo) : — 2. Di ttribu de Antiqua Ecclesias Britannicce Lib- ertute: — -3. The ancient Liberty of the Britannic Church (Lond. 1661, 8vo). A memoir of Basire, with his cor- respondence, by Dr. Darnell, was published in 1831 (Lond. 8vo). — Landon, Eccl. Diet, ii, 7.'!.
Basket, the rendering in the Auth. Vers, of the following words :
1. Sal, PO (Sept. usually icixptvoc. or airunic, as in the N. T.), the most general term, so called from the twigs of which it was originally made; specially used, as the Greek icavovv (Horn. Od. iii, 442) and the Latin caristrum (Virg. sEn. i, 701), for holding bread (Gen. xl, 16 sq. ; Exod. xxix, 3, 23 ; Lev. viii, 2, 26, 31 ; Num. vi, 15, 17, 19). The form of the Egyptian bread- basket is delineated in Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt, iii, 226, after the specimens represented in the tomb of Barneses III. These were made of gold (comp. Horn. Od. x, 355), and we must assume that the term sal
Auciiut Egyptian Bread-baskets of Uuld.
passed from its strict etymological meaning to any vessel applied to the purpose. In Judg. vi, 19, meat is served up in a sal, which could hardly have been of wicker-work. The expression " white baskets," ^O I'lH (Gen. xl, 16), is sometimes referred to the mate- rial of which the baskets were made (Svmmachus, Kava. fSaiva), or the white color of the peeled sticks, or lastly to their being " full of holes" (A. V. margin), i. e. open-work baskets. The name Sallai (Neh. xi, 8 ; xii, 20) seems to indicate that the manufacture of baskets was a recognised trade among the Hebrews.
2. Salsilloth', P'irsbs, a word of kindred origin, applied to the basket used in gathering grapes (Jer. vi, 9).
Ancient Egyptian Grape-baskets.
3. Te'ne, X'12, in which the first-fruits of the har- vest were presented (Deut. xxvi, 2, 4). From its being coupled with the kneading-bowl (A. V. " store ;" Dent, xxviii, 5, 17), we may infer that it was also used for household purposes, perhaps to bring the corn to the mill. The equivalent term in the Sept. for this and the preceding Hebrew words is KapraXXoQ, which specifically means a basket that tapers downward (ko^ivoq 6E,i)Q ra kutio, Suid.), similar to the Roman corbis. This shape of basket appears to have been fa- miliar to the Egyptians (Wilkinson, ii, 401).