Be'dad (Ileb. Br dad', 1^2, separation, otherwise for -HX---:. son o/Adad; Sept. Bapad), the father of Iladad, a king in Edom (Gen. xxxvi, 35; IChr. i, 4C). B.C. ante 1093.
Be 'dan (Ileb. Bedan', -,na, signif. doubtful; see below), the name of two men.
1. In 1 Sam. xii, 11, we read that the Lord sent as | deliverers of Israel Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, Sam- uel. Three Of these we know to have been judges of Israel, but we nowhere find Bedan among the number.
I h ■ Targum understands it of Samson, and so Jerome an 1 the generality of interpreters ; but this interpreta- ti >n goes on the supposition that the name should be rendered in Dan, i. e. one in Dan, or of the tribe of Dan, as Samson was. In this sense, as Kiinehi ob-
would have the same force as Ben-Dan, a son of Dan, a Danite. Such an intermixture of proper n itni - and appellatives, however, is very doubtful; and
II '- to I"- noted thai Bedan is mentioned before Jeph- thah, whereas Samson was after him. The Septua- gint. Syria.-, and Arabic have Barak, which many think the preferable reading (comp. Heb. xi, 32). Oth- ers think there was an actual judge of this name not mentioned In the < >. T. ; but this view is subversive of the whole history, and discountenanced by the par- allel account of Josephus. See Judge. A man of the name of Bedan occurs, however, among the poster-
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ity of Manasseh (1 Chron. vii, 17), and Junius, follow- ed by some others, thinks that the judge Jair is meant, and that he is here called Bedan to distinguish him from the more ancient Jair, the son of Manasseh. The order in which the judges are here named is not at va- riance with this view (Num. xxxii, 41 ; Judg. x, 3, 4); but surely, if Jair had been really intended, he might have been called by that name without any danger of his being, in this text (where he is called a deliverer of Israel, and placed among the judges), confounded with the more ancient Jair. It is therefore most prob- able that Bedan is a contracted form for the name of the judge Abdon (q. v.).
2. (Sept. liavctft.) The son of Ullam, the great- grandson of Manasseh (1 Chron. vii, 17). B.C. post 1856. See the foregoing.
Bedchamber (rYlBXlh ItJ room of the beds, 2 Kings xi, 2; 2 Chron. xxii, 11 ; elsewhere aS^1? "I^fi, sleeping-room, Exod. viii, 3; 2 Sam. iv, 7; 2 Kings vi, 12 ; Eccles. x, 20). Bedrooms in the East consist of an apartment furnished with a divan, or dais, which is a slightly elevated platform at the upper end, and often along the sides of the room. On this are laid the mattresses on which the Western Asiatics sit cross- legged in the daytime, with large cushions against the wall to support the back. At night the light bedding is usually laid out upon this divan, and thus beds for many persons are easily formed. The bedding is re- moved in the morning, and deposited in recesses in the room made for the purpose. This is a sort of general sleeping-room for the males of the family and for guests, none but the master having access to the inner parts i of the house, where alone there are proper and distinct i bedchambers. In these the bedding is either laid on the carpeted floor, or placed on a low frame or bed- j stead. This difference between the public and private I sleeping-room, which the arrangement of an Eastern household renders necessary, seems to explain the dif- ficulties which have perplexed readers of travels, who, j finding mention only of the more public dormitory, the j divan, have been led to conclude that there was no other or different one. See Divan.
Josephus (Ant. xii, 4, 11) mentions the bedchambers in the Arabian palace of Hyrcanus. The ordinary furniture of a bedchamber in private life is given in '2 Kings iv, 10. The "bedchamber'' in the Temple where Joash was hidden was probably a store-ch; m- ber for keeping beds, not a mere bedroom, and thus better adapted to conceal the fugitives (2 Kings xi, 2; 2 Chr. xxii, 11). The position of the bedchamber in the most remote and secret parts of the palace seems marked in Exod. viii, 3; 2 Kings vi, 12. See Bed.
Bede, "The Venerable" one of the moft eminent fathers of the English Church, was born in the county of Durham, in the year 072 (073, Collier). His early years were spent in the monastery of St. Paul at Jar- row, and his later education was received in that of St. Peter at Wearmouth. In these two monasteries, which were not above five miles apart, he spent his life, under the rule of Benedict and Ceolfride, who was the first abbot of Jarrow, and who, after the death
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of Benedict, presided over both houses. At nineteen ! following is the catalogue of liis writings given by years of age he was made deacon, and was ordained to Cave : 1. D.i Rerwn Natura Hber: — 2. De Temporum the priesthood, as he himself tells us, at thirty- years Itatione : — 3. De Sex .Etntibus Mundi (separately, at of age, by John of Beverley, Bishop of Hagustald Paris, 1507 ; Cologne, 1537): — 4. De tempuribus ad in- (Hexham). Pope Sergius I invited him to Rome to | telligendam supputationem temporum S. Script urw : — 5. assist him with his advice; but Bede, it appears, ex- Si nt< utia- ex Cicerone et Aristotele : — G. De Proverliis : — cased himself, and spent the whole of his tranquil life 7. De substantia elementorum : — 8. Philosophic lib. IV: in his monastery, improving himself in all the learning — 9. De Paschate sine yEquinoctio liber: — 10. Ep:slola of his age, but directing his more particular attention de divinatione mortis <t rite: — 11. De Area. No'e: — 12. to the compilation of an Ecclesiastical History of the De Unguis gentium: — 13. Oraeula Sibgllina : — 14. His- English Nation (Mstoria Ecclesiastica, etc.), the mate- | torice Ecclesiasticce Genlis Anglorum libri V, a prima rials for which he obtained partly from chronicles, j Ju.'ii Ccesaris in Britanniam adventu ad arm. 731 pertin- partly from annals preserved in contemporary con- 1 \ gentes (Antwerp, 1550; Heidelberg, 1587; Cologne, vents, and partly from the information of prelates with ! 1G01, 8vo ; Cambridge, 1614 ; Paris, with the notes of whom he was acquainted. Making allowance for the | Chifflct, 1681, 4to) : — 15. Vita S. Cuthberti: — 16. Vita introduction of legendary matter, which was the fault \SS. Felicis, Vedasti, Columbani, Attala', Patricii, Eus- of the age, few works have supported their credit so tasii, Dcrtolfi, ArnolpH (or Arnoldi), Burgundoforce. long, or been so generally consulted as authentic Of these, however, three are wrongly attributed to