BEEVE
r26
BEGINNING
The under surface was filled with figures cut in in- t iglio of solar, lunar, and astral symbols and eharac- t ■!-. They were held, according to Pliny, to inspire the soldier with courage, and to protect his person in the day of battle, and also to defend children from the malign influence of the evil eye. There is little rea- son to doubt that the Hebrews learned the use of these
things in Egypt, but they were prohibited by the Mo- saic law. The Gnostics, among other Egyptian su- perstitions, adopted this notion regarding the beetle, and gems of gnostic origin are extant in this form, especially symbolical of Isis (q. v.).
Beeve ("£2, bakar', horned animals, Lev. xxii, 19, 21 ; Num. xxxi, 28, 30, 33, 38, 44 ; elsewhere ren- dered "ox," "bullock," "herd," etc.; in Arabic, al- ii ikar), cattle, herds, applicable to all Ruminantia, the camels alone excepted; but more particularly to the Bovidae and the genera of the larger antelopes. See Ox; Bull; Deer; Goat; Antelope, etc.
Beg (23pS, bakash', so rendered Fsa. xxxvii, 25, elsewhere "seek," etc.; bxd, shaal', Psa. cix, 10; Prov. xx, 4; elsewhere "ask," etc.; tirairiiu, Luke xvi, 3 ; TrpovaiTiw, Mark x, 46 ; Luke xviii, 35 ; John ix, 8), Beggar ("P^X, ebyon', 1 Sam. ii, 8; ttt^Q, Luke xvi, 20, 22; Gal. iv, 9; both terms elsewhere "poor," etc.). Th? laws of Moses furnish abundant evidence that great inequality of condition existed in his time among the Hebrews, for recommendations to tin- rich to be liberal to their poorer brethren are fre- quently met with (Exod. xxiii, 11 ; Dent, xv, 11), but no mention is made of persons who lived as mendi- cants. The poor were allowed to glean in the fields, and to gather whatever the land produced in the vear in which it was not tilled (Lev. xix, 10; xxv, 5, 6; Dent, xxiv, in). They were also invited to 'feasts (Deut..xii, 12; xiv, 29; xxvi, 12). The Hebrew could not l>e an absolute pauper. His land Mas in- alienable, except for a certain term, when it reverted t i him or his posterity. And if this resource was in- sufficient, he could pledge the services of himself or hi- family for a valuable sum. Those who were indi- gent through bodily infirmity were usually taken care of by their kindred. See Poor. In the song of Han- n ih 1 1 Sam. ii, 8), however, beggars are spoken of, and Mich a fate is predicted to the posterity of the wicked while it shall never befall the seed of the righteous, in the Psalms (xxxvii, 35; cix, 10); so that the practice was probably then not uncommon. In the New Tes- tament, also, we read of beggars thai were blind dis- ' maimed, who lay at the doors of the rich, by the waysides, and also before the gate of the Tem- ple ( Mark x, 16; Luke xvi, 20, 21 ; Acts iii, 2). But • on to suppose thai there existed in the ' i hrist that class of persons called vagrant beg-
gars, who present their supplications for alms from doorto door and who are found at tho present day in .although less frequently than in the countries ol Europe. I hat the custom of seeking alms by sound- ing^ trumpet or horn, which prevails among a class of Mohammedan monastics, called hal ndar or larendal prevailed abo in the time of ( hrist, has been bv some inferred from the peculiar construction of the original n .NL.it. vi. •_>. 'I her- is one thing characteristic of those Oriental! who follow the vocation of mendicants
Modern Oriental Sunloii, or Religious lie;
which is worthy of being mentioned; they do not ap- peal to the pity or to the almsgiving spirit, but to the justice of their benefactors (Job xxii, 7; xxxi, 1G; Prov. iii, 27, 28). Roberts, in his Orient. Illustrations, p. 5C4, says on Luke xvi, 3 ("I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed"), " How often are we reminded of this passage by beggars when we tell them to work. They can scarcely believe their ears ; and the religious men- dicants, who swarm in every part of the East, look upon you with the most sovereign contempt when you give them such advice. ' I work ! why, I never have done such a thing ; 1 am not able.' " See Alms.
Eeghards or Eeguards, a religious association in the Roman Church, which formed itself, in the 13th century, in the Netherlands, Germany, and France, after the example of the Beguines (q. v.), whom they closely imitated in their mode of life and the arrange- ment of their establishments. They supported them- selves mostly by weaving, but became neither so nu- merous nor so popular as the Beguines. More gener- ally than the Beguines they associated with the heret- ical Fraticelli (q. v.), and the "Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit." They were suppressed by the council of Vienna in 1311. Most of them joined the third orders of St. Francis or St. Dominic, but yet re- tained for a long time their name and their mode of life. For a time they found a protector in the Em- peror Louis, but new decrees were issued against them by Charles IV (1367) and Pope Urban V (1369). In 1467 they became, by taking the usual solemn vows, a monastic association, which gradually united with several congregations of the Franciscan order. Their 1 ast convents and the name itself were abolished by Pope Innocent X in 1650.