Beautiful Gate (lonaia 7rv\n), the name of one of the ^ates of tha Temple (Acts iii, 2). It was the entrance to tli3 Court of the Women, immediately op- posite the Gate of Shushan, the eastern portal through the outer wall into Solomon's Porch (see Strong's Har- mony and Erpisilion ofths Gospels, App. II, p. f 33, and Map.) It is evidently the saim described by Josephus as immensely massive, and covered with plates of Co- rinthian bronze (Ant. xv,ll, 5; War, v, 5, 3; vi, 5, 3).
j (See Jour. Sac. Lit. Oct. 1867.) See Temple.
Beauty (represented by numerous Hebrew terms, which in our version are frequently rendered by "comeliness," etc.). The Song of Solomon, particu- larly the sixth and seventh chapters, gives us some
i idea of what were then the notions of beauty in an
I Eastern bride, and by comparing these statements with modern Oriental opinions, we may perceive many points of agreement. Roberts says, ' ' A handsome Hindoo female is compared to the sacred city of Sced- ambaram. Her skin is of the color of ^old ; her hands, nails, and soles of the feet are of a reddish hue ; her limbs must be smooth, and her gait like the statety swan. Her feet are small, like the beautiful lotus ; her waist as slender as the lightning; her arms are short, and her fingers resemble the five petals of the kantha flower; her breasts are like the j'oung cocoa- nut, and her neck is as the trunk of the areca-tree. Her mouth is like the ambal flower, and her lips as coral ; her teeth are like beautiful pearls ; her nose is high and lifted up, like that of the chameleon (when raised to snuff the wind) ; her eyes are like the sting of a wasp and the Karnngu-valley flower ; her brows arc like the bow, and nicely separated ; and her hair is as the black cloud." Corpulency and stateliness of manner are qualities which the Orientals admire in their women; particularly corpulency, which is well
j known to be one of the most distinguishing marks of beauty in the East. Niebuhr says that plumpness is thought so desirable in the East, that women, in order to become so, swallow every morning and every even-
j ing three insects of a species of tenebricm.es, fried in butter. Upon this principle is founded the compli- ment of Solomon (Pant, i, 9), and Theocritus, in his epithalamium for the celebrated Queen Helen, de- scribes her as plump and largo, and compares her to the horse in the chariots of Thessaly. The Arab women whom Mr. Wood saw among the ruins of Pal- myra were well shaped, and, although very swarthy, yet had good features. Zenobia, the celebrated queen of that renowned city, was reckoned eminently beauti- ful, and the description we have of her person answers to that character; her complexion was of a dark brown,
! her eyes black and sparkling, and of an uncommon
BEBAI
113
BECHER
; her countenance animated and sprightly in a I been added since the corruption of the text. There r high degree; her person graceful and stately; ; is, however, another view which may be taken, viz.,
that 1 Chr. viii, 1, is right, and that in Gen. xlvi, 21. and 1 Chr. vii, 8, "132, as a proper name, is a corrup- tion of 132, first-born, and so that Benjamin had no son of the name of Becher. In favor of this view, it may be said that the position of Becher, immediately following Bela the first-bcrn in both passages, is just the position it would be in if it meant "first-born;" that Becher is a singular name to give to a second or fourth son ; and that the discrepance between Gen.
fire .
very high degree ; her person graceful her teeth white as pearl ; her voice clear and strong. Females of distinction in Palestine, and even farther east, are not only beautiful and well shaped, but in consequence of being kept from the rays of the sun, are very fair, and the Scripture bears the same testi- mony of Sarah, of Rebekah, and of Rachel ; that they were" "beautiful and well-favored." The women of the poorer classes, however, are extremely brown and swarthy in their complexions, from being much ex-
posed to the heat of the sun. It is on this account | ^y. n where AshM ig the tMrd SQn^ and x chr> viiij that the prophet Jeremiah, when he would describe a ; j where he ig expressly called the second, and the omis- beautiful woman, represents her as one that keeps at ■ gion of Aghbel m x Chr_ vii) 6j would all be accounted home because those who are desirous to preserve i supposition of 132 having been accidentally
their beautv go very little abroad. Statelmess ot the rr . o j
body has always been held in great estimation in | taken for a proper name instead ot in the sense of Eastern courts/nor do they think any one capable of j ^^T" R m%h* acU*ed tarther .tlla ' in 1 Chr; great services or actions to whom nature has not ™, 38, the same contusion has arisen in the case of vouchsafed to give a beautiful form and aspect. It the sons of Azel, of whom the second is in the Auth. still is and has always been the custom of the Eistern j Vers, called Bocheru, in Heb. Sf"D2, but which in the nations to choose such for their principal officers, or to j Sept. is rendered TrpmroroKoc, avrov, another name, wait on princes and great personages (Dan. i, 4). Sir 'Aau, being added to make up the six sons of Azel. Paul Rycaut observes that "the youths that are de- ! And that the Sept. is right in the rendering is made signed for the great offices of the Turkish empire must j highly probable by the very same form being repeated be of admirable features and looks, well shaped in their | in ver. 39, "And the sons of Esliek his brother were, Ulam bodies, and without any defects of nature ; for it is \ his first-born (\'y\2'3>\ Jehushthe second" etc. The sup- conceived that a corrupt and sordid soul can scarce in- j portj to0j wn;ch Becher, as a proper name, derives from habit a serene and ingenuous aspect ; and I have ob- | the occurrence 0f the same name in Num. xxvi, 35, is sarved not only in the seraglio, but also in the courts j SOmevvhat weakened by the fact that Bered (q. v.) of great men, their personal attendants have been of ] seems to be substituted for Becher in 1 Chron. vii, 20, comely lusty youths, well habited, deporting them- anci that the latter is omitted altogether in the Sept, selves with singular modesty and respect in the pres- ence of their masters ; so that when a pacha, aga-spahi travels, he is always attended with a comely equipage, followed by flourishing youths, well mounted."