2. (Sept. BaXa, Ba\L) The eldest son of Benja- min, according to Gen. xlvi, 21 (where the name is Anglicized "Belah"); Num. xxvi, 38; 1 Chron. vii, 6; viii, 1, and head of the family of the Belaites. !!.('. post 1856. The houses of his family, according to 1 Chron. viii, 3-5, were Addar, Gera, Abihud (read Akihud), Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah, Shupham, and Huram. The exploit of Ehud, the son of Gera, who shared the peculiarity of so many of his Benjamite brethren in being left-handed (Judg. xx, 16), in slay- ing Eglon, the king of Moab, and delivering Israel from tlu' Moabitisb yoke, is related at length, Judg. iii. 1 1 30. It is perhaps worth noticing that as wc have Husham by the side of Bela among the kings of Edom, Gen. xxxvi, 34, so also by the side of Bela, son of Benjamin, we have the Benjamite family of Hushim (1 Chron. vii, 12), sprung apparently from a foreign woman of that name, whom a Benjamite took to wife in the land of Moab 1 1 Chr. viii, 8-11). See Becher.
3. (Sept. Ba\ae.) A king of Edom before the in- stitution of royalty among the Israelites; he was a son of Beor, and his native city was Dinhabah (Gen. xxxvi, 32, 33; 1 Chron. i, 43). B.C. perhaps cir. 1618. Bernard Hyde, following some Jewish com- mentators i Simon, Onom ist. p. 1 12, note), identifies this Bela with Balaam, the son of Beor; but the evidence from the name does not seem to prove more than iden- tify of family and race. There is scarcely anything to guide us as to the age of Beor, or Bosor, the founder of the house from which Bela and Balaam sprung. As regards the name of Bela's royal or native city Din- habah, which I'iir-t and Gesenius render "the place of plunder," it may be suggested whether it may not
b a form "f--n-i, the Chaldeo for gold, after
of the frequent Chaldee resolution of the
i nun. There are several names of
' I persons in rdumsea which point to gold as
f"""'1111 r" as Dizahab, Deut. i, 1, "place of gold;"
Mezahab, •• waters of -old," or "gold-streams," Gen.
-TXX"-:;;'- C "v Dehebris, the ancient nunc of
1 <" 9 for its yellow waters. If this deri- vation for Dinhabah be true, its Chaldee for,,, would ,,"t ''• 'lll!""lt io account for, and would supply an
additional eviden, fthe early conquests of tho Chal-
'"' direction of [dumasa. The ,, ime of Bel i's ancestor Hen,- is of a decidedly Chaldeo or Aramasan
form. Ilk. Peor, Pet Ira-, Rehob, and other,; and we are expressly told that Balaam, the son of Beor, dwelt m Pethor, which C by the river of the land ofthe chil- dren of hi-, people, i. e. ,1,.. riv,.r Euphrates; and he
himself describes his home as being in Aram (Num. xxii, 5; xxiii, 7). Saul again, who reigned over Edom after Samlak, came from Behoboth by the river Euphrates ((Jen. xxxvi, 37). We read in Job's time of the Chaldseans making incursions into the land of Uz, and carrying off the camels, and slaying Job's servants (Job i, 17). In the time of Abraham we have the King of Shinar apparently extending his empire so as to make the kings on the borders of the Dead Sea his tributaries, and with his confederates extend- ing his conquests into the very country which was afterward the land of Edom (Gen. xiv, 6). Putting all this together, we may conclude with some confi- dence that Bela, the son of Beor, who reigned over Edom, was a Chaldoean by birth, and reigned in Edom by conquest. He may have been contemporary with Moses and Balaam. Hadad, of which name there, were two kings (Gen. xxxvi, 35, 39), is probably an- other instance of an Aramasan king of Edom, as we find the name Ben-hadad as that of the kings of Syria or Aram in later history (1 Kings xx). Compare also the name of Hadad-ezer, king of Zobah, in the neigh- borhood ofthe Euphrates (2 Sam. viii, 3, etc.). — Smith, s. v. See Edom ; Chaldean.
4. (Sept. BaXhc.) A son of Azaz, a Beubenite (1 Chron. v, 8). B.C. post 1618. It is remarkable that his country too was "in Aroer, even unto Nebo and Baal-meon ; and eastward he inhabited unto the enter- ing in of the wilderness from tho river Euphrates" (8, 9).
Be'lall, a less correct mode of Anglicizing (Gen. xlvi, 21) the name of Bela (q. v.), the son of. Benja- min.
Be'laite (Heb. with the art., Inb-BaW , "'"bar?; Sept. 6 BttAai), the patronymic of the descendants of Bela (q. v.), the son of Benjamin (Num. xxvi, 38).
Belcher, Joseph, D.D., a distinguished Baptist minister, was born at Birmingham, England, in 1794, settled in the United States, and died July 10th, 1859. Among his numerous works are: The Clergy of Amer- ica:— The Baptist Pulpit of the United States: — Iiel'g- ious Denominations ofthe United Slates : — George Whit- field, a Biography. He also edited The complete Works of Andrew Fuller, and the Works of Robert Hall, and was engaged in several other literary labors.
Bel'emus (B/;\f//oc), one of the Samaritans who wrote hostile letters to the Persian king concerning the returned Jews (1 Esdr. ii, 16) ; evidently the Bish- LAM (q. v.) ofthe genuine text (Ezra iv, 7).