Bathra. See Mishna.
Bath-rab'bim (Heb. Bath-rabbim', CPS^-Fa, daughter of many ; Sept. translates literally Svyariip iroWwv), the name of one of the gates of the ancient city of Ileshbon, by (5S) which were two " pools," to which Solomon likens the eyes of his beloved (Cant, vii, 4 [5]). The "Gate of Bath-rabbim" at Heshbon would, according to the Oriental custom, be the gate pointing to a town of that name. The only place in this neighborhood at all resembling Bath-rabbim in sound is Kabbah {Amman), but the one tank of which we gain any intelligence as remaining at Heshbon is on the opposite (S.) side of the town to Amman (Por- ter, Handbook, p. 298).— Smith, s. v.
Bath'-sheba (Heb. Bath-She'ba, SniiTinS, daugh- ter of the, oath, or of seven [sc. years] ; Sept. Br]paaj3tk, Josephus BttdaarJi) : also "TJT3, Bath-Shu' a, an- other form of the same name; Sept. as before ; 1 Chron. iii, 5; in ch. ii, 3, this form is translated "daughter of Shua" in the English version), daughter of Eliam (2 Sam. xi, 3) or Ammiel (1 Chron. iii, 5), the grand- daughter of Ahithophel (2 Sam. xxiii, 34), and wife of Uriah. She was seduced by King David during the absence of her husband, who was then engaged at the siege of Rahhah (2 Sam. xi, 4, 5; Psa. Ii, 2). B.C. 1035. The child thus born in adultery became ill and died (2 Sam. xii, 15-18). After the lapse of the period of mourning for her husband, who was slain by the contrivance of David (xi, 15), she was legally married to the king (xi, 27), and bore him Solomon (xii, 24 ; 1 Kings i, 11 ; ii, 13; comp. Matt, i, 6). It is probable that the enmity of Ahithophel toward David was in- creased, if not caused, by the dishonor brought by him upon his family in the person of Bath-sheba. The other children of Bath-sheba were Shimea (or Shammuah), Shobab, and Nathan, named in 2 Sam. v, 14 ; 1 Chron. iii, 5. When, in David's old age, Adonijah, an elder son by Haggith, attempted to set aside in his own fa- vor the succession promised to Solomon, Bath-sheba was employed by Nathan to inform the king of the conspiracy (1 Kings i, 11, 15, 23). After the accession of Solomon, she, as queen-mother, requested permis- sion of her son for Adonijah (q. v.) to take in mar- riage Abishag (q. v.) the Shunamite. B.C. 1015. This permission was refused, and became the occasion of the execution of Adonijah (1 Kings ii, 24, 25). See David.
Bath-sheba is said by Jewish tradition to have com- posed and recited Prov. xxxi by way of admonition or reproof to her son Solomon on his marriage with Pharaoh's daughter (Calmct, Diet. s. v. ; Corn, a La- pid. on Prov. xxxi). The rabbins describe her as a woman of vast information and a highly-cultivated mind, to whose education Solomon owed much of his wisdom and reputation, and even a great part of the practical philosophy embodied in his Proverbs (q. v.).
A place is still shown at Jerusalem, called "the Pool of Bath-sheba," as being the spot where she was seen bathing by David, but it is an insignificant pit,
r.ATir-snrA e
evidently destitute of any claim to antiquity (Biblioth. Sacra, 1843, p. 33) Kitto, b. v. ; Smith, s. v.
Bath'-shua, a variation of the name of Bath-she- i;a (q. v.l, mother of Solomon, occurring only in 1 Chr. iii, 5. It is perhaps worth notice that Shua was a Ca- naanite nunc (comp. 1 Chr. ii, 3, and Gen. xxxviii,2, 12, where "Bath-shua" is really the name of Judah's wife), while Bath-sheba'a original husband was a Hittite.
Bathurst, Henry, LL.D., bishop of Norwich, Eng- land, was horn in 1744, and was educated at Winches- ter and New College, Oxford. He was made canon of Christ Church, Oxford, 1775; and bishop of Nor- wich,1805. He died in London, 1837. His publica- tions were few, consisting of Charges to his clergy, occasional Sermons, and a Letter to Wilberforce, 1818. 11 is Memoirs, by Archdeacon Bathurst, appeared in 1837, 2 vols. 8vo"; with Supplement in 1842, 8vo.— Dar- ling, Cyc. Bib. i, 202 ; Allibone, Diet, of Authors, i, 141.
Bathurst, Ralph, an English physician and di- vine, was born in Northampton, 1G20. Having studied physic, he was made a naval surgeon under Cromwell ; but after the return of Charles II he gave himself to divinity, and was appointed chaplain to the king. In 1664 he was elected president of Trinity College ; in 1G70, dean of Wells ; in 1673, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford ; in 1G88, president of the Royal Society. In 1691 he refused the see of Bristol ; died in 1704. He published Prcekcliones de Respiratione, 1654; News from the Dead (an account of Anne Green, executed in 1650, and restored to life), 1651, 4to; and several Latin poems. — Warton, Life of Bathurst, 17G1, 8vo ; New Gen. Biog. Diet, ii, 84.
Bath-zachari'as ( Baif>Za\apla v. r. Josephus Bi0'^a\apia; for the Heb. iTn=f I"Ha, House of Zech- ariah), a place named only in 1 Mace, vi, 32, 33, to which Judas Maccabasus marched from Jerusalem, and where he encamped for the relief of Bethsura (Bethzur) when the latter was besieged by Antiochus Eupator. The two places were seventy stadia apart (Joseph. Ant. xii, 9, 4), and the approaches to Bath-zacharias were intricate and confined (Joseph. War, i, 1, 5; and compare the passage cited above, from which it is evi- dent that Josephus knew the spot). This description is met in e\«ery respect by the modern Beit-Saharieh, which has been discovered by Robinson at nine miles north of Beit-Sur, "on an almost isolated promontory or tell, jutting out between two deep valleys, and con- nected with tin- high ground south by a low neck be- tween the heads of the valleys, the neck forming the only place of access to what must have been an almost impregnable position" {Later Researches, p. 283, 284). The place lies in the entangled country west of the Hebron road, between four and five miles south of Hcbrtfn. — Smith, s. v. See Bethzur.