built in tl ppression, are probably Semitic. In the
Book of Joshua, Shihor, the Nile, here the Pelusiac branch, is the boundary of Egj'pt and Canaan, the Philistine territories apparently being considered to extend from it (Josh, xiii, 2, 3). It is therefore very probable that many Philistines would have settled ina part of Egypt so accessible to them and so similar in its population to Canaan as Goshen and the tracts ad- joining it. Or else these men ofGath may have been
rcenariea like' the Cherethim (in Egyptian " Shay-
ratana") who were in the Egyptian service at a later time, as in David's, and to whom lands were probably allotted as to the native army. Some suppose that the men ofGath were the aggressors, a conjecture not at variance with the words used in the relation of the cause of the death of Ephraim's sons, since we may read "when ("~i they came down," etc., instead of " because," etc. (Bagster's Bible, in loc), but it must
be remembered that this rendering is equally consist- ent with the other explanation. There is no reason to suppose that the Israelites at this time may not have sometimes engaged in predatory or other war- fare. The warlike habits of Jacob's sons are evident in the narrative of the vengeance taken by Simeon and Levi upon Hamor and Shechem (Gen. xxxiv, 25-29), and that the same traits existed in their posterity ap- pears from the fear which the Pharaoh who began to oppress them entertained lest they should, in the event of war in the land, join with the enemies of his people, and thus escape out of the country (Exod. i, 8-10). It has been imagined, according as either side was supposed to have acted the aggressor, that the Gittites descended upon the Ephraimites in a predatory excursion from Pal- estine, or that the Ephraimites made a raid into Pales- tine. Neither of these explanations is consistent with sound criticism, because the men of Gath are said to have been born in the land, that is, to have been settled in Egypt, as already shown, and the second one, which is adopted by Bunsen (Egypt's Place, i, 177, 178), is in- admissible on the ground that the verb used, "I j^1, " he went down," or "descended," is applicable to going into Egypt, but not to coming from it. The rabbini- cal idea that these sons of Ephraim went to take the Promised Land needs no refutation. (For these vari- ous theories, see Poole's Synopsis, in loc.) — Smith, s.v.
3. (Sept. Bepid v. r. Bapiya.) A Benjamite, and ap- parently son of Elpaal ; he, with his brother Shimea, were founders of Ajalon, and expelled the Gittites (1 Chron. viii, 13). B.C. prob. 1612. His nine sons are enumerated in ver. 14-16.
4. (Sept. Bctpu't v. r. BtpiaJ) The last named of the four sons of Shimei, a Levite of the family of Ger shorn (1 Chron. xxiii, 10). B.C. 1014. His posterity was not numerous (ver. 11).
Beri'ite (Heb. with the art., hab-Berii', >1">1'"2ij ; Sept. 6 Baptal), the patronymic title of the fami- lv of Beriah (q. v.), the son of Asher (Num. xxvi, 44).
Berington, Joseph, one of the most prolific Ro- man Catholic writers of Great Britain, was born in 1743 in Shropshire, and died in 1827. He was sent by his parents for education to the College of St. Omer, in France. For many years he exercised the priestly functions in France, and in 1814 was appointed pastor at Buckland, near Oxford. He wrote a number of works on the history, present state, and rights of his co- religionists. He was regarded as a liberal Romanist, and many of his expressions were considered by his superiors as little orthodox. His principal work is a Literary History of the Middle Ages — from the reign of Augustus to the fifteenth century (Lond. 1814; new ed., with index, by D. Bogue, Lond. 1846).
Be'rite (Heb. only in the plur., and with the art., hab-Berim' , d"H2il, derivation uncertain [Gesenius and Furst both overlook the word altogether], if in- deed the text be not corrupt ; Sept. tv Xappi, but most copies omit), a tribe or place named with Abel of Beth- maachah — and therefore doubtless situated in the north of Palestine — only as having been visited by Joab in his pursuit after Sheba, the son of Bichri (2 Sam. xx, 14). The expression is a remarkable one, "all the Beritcs" (comp. "all the Bithron"). The Vulgate has a different rendering — omnes viri elect! — apparently for C^na, i. c. young men, and this is, in Ewald's opin- ion, the correct reading (Isr. Gesch. iii, 249, note). Schwarz, however, is inclined to regard it as a collec- tive term for several places of similar name mentioned in Joseplms and the Talmud as lying in the vicinity of Lake Mcrom (Palest, p. 203) ; and Thomson (Land and I Utah-, i, 425) conjectures that it may specially des- ignate the Beroth (Bqob&q) of Upper Galilee, where, according to Josephus (Ant, v, 1, 18), the Canaanitish kings encamped against Joshua (comp. Josh, xi, 5).
BERITH
m
BERNARD
and which he identifies with Bin'a, a short distance north of Safed (Van de Velde, Map).
Be'rith (Heb. Berith', fY^S, covenant; Sept. unites the three terms, "the house of the god Berith," into one, Bai3/3>;A/3foi'3), stands alone in Judg. ix, 46, for BAAii-BEKmi (q. v.).