converted in Vermont at nine, removed to Worthing- ton, O., in 1812, and at nineteen received license to exhort. His first circuit was in Kentucky in 1814. After filling with honor every office in the Church but that of bishop, he died in triumph at Columbus, Ohio, in 1835. His early education was limited by his cir- cumstances, but his application in after life made large amends. He was distinguished for modesty, zeal, and courage. His eloquence was of a rare and extraordi- nary kind. Dr. Thomson says of him, " As a preach- er, take him all in all, I have yet to hear his equal. Thousands of souls will rise up in judgment and call him blessed, and his name will long be like precious ointment to the churches." See Thomson, Biog. Sketches; Min. of Con. ii, 404; Sprague, Ann. vii, 540.
Big'tha (Heb. Bigtha', Xr53, Gesenius thinks perhaps gard:n, comp. Bigvai ; but, according to Fiirst \_Hinuhcort. s. v.], the first syllable "3 appears to be the Bay- so often met with in Persian prop. names [ e. g. Bagorazus, Bagoas; comp. also Bigthan, Abagtiia], possibly connected with the Zend, baga and Sanscrit Ih tg i, fortune ; while the termination XP~ or "T~ for X2P~ may be the -rdvng likewise oc- curring in Persian prop, names [e. g. Otanes, Catanes, Petanes], from the Sanscrit tanu, Zend, ten, body or life; Sept. Bapa£i, but other copies [by confusion with one of the other names] 'Lr]8ai)abd ; Vulg. Bagatlui), the fourth named of the seven eunuchs (D^p^iO, "chamberlains"), having charge of the harem of Xerx- es ("Ahasuerus"), and commanded to bring in Vashti to the king's drinking-party (Esth. i, 10). B.C. 483.
Big'than (Heb. Bigthan', "r.'3, on the signif. sec Bigtiia; Esth. ii, 21;. Sept. omits; Vulg. Bagithan) or Big'thana (Heb. Bigtha'na, N5T.'2, prob. the full form : Gesenius here well compares the Sanscrit baga- dma, fortune-given ; Sept. here also omits ; Vulg. again Bagathan), the first named of the eunuchs (Auth. Vers. again "chamberlains") in the court of Xerxes (Ahas- uerus) "who kept the door" (tnarg. "threshold," Sept. apxKnJfiaroipvXaKsg)', lie 'conspired with Teresh, one of his coadjutors, against the king's life. The con- spiracy was detected by Mordecai, and the culprits hung. B.C. 479. Prideaux (Conn, i, 363) supposes that these officers had been partially superseded by the degradation of Vashti, and sought revenge by the murder of Ahasuerus. This suggestion falls in with that of the Chaldee version and of the Sept. (which in Esth. ii, 21 interpolates the words tkvTn'iOnoai1 ei Suo iui>ov\oi -ov (3ao-i\eiog . ... on 7rpo))xQil Mop^o- Xaior). This person may be the same as the foregoing.
Big'vai (Heb. Bigvay', *^3, perhaps from Chald. "Ii«2, husbandman; comp. Pers. and Syr. bagh, a gar- den ; or i. q. Pers. Bayaioc, Herod, iii, 128 ; according to Bohlcn, from Sanscrit bagi, happy; according to Fiirst, for "1'i\~"|3 = ^iy~'j2, son of the nation, i. q. citi- zen; Sept. Bayooai, Bayovc, Bayovaf, Boyoi'ia, and Bnyoi), the head of one of the families of Israelites who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, B.C. 536 (Ezra ii, 2; Neh. vii, 7), with a large number of his retainers (computed at 2056 in Ezra ii, 14, and 2067 in Neh. vii, 19), besides 72 males subsequently' under Ezra (viii, 14), B.C. 459. He (if the same) subscribed the covenant with Nchemiah (x. 16). B.C. 410.
Bikkurah; Bikkurim. See Mishna.
Bikrah. Sec Fig ; Camel.
Bil'dad (Heb. Bildad' , 1-^3, according to Ge- senius, for "nb"",2, son of contention, i. e. quarrelsome; according to'lurst, for Tli<-b2, Bel-Adad, but less likely; Sept. BrtXcW), "'the Shuhite," one of the friends of Job, and the second of his opponents in the disputation (Job ii, 11 ; viii, 1 ; xviii, 1 ; xxv, 1) The Shuah of which the Sept. makes Bildad the prince or
BILEAM
813
BILNEY
patriarch (<j E«nv*w Tvpavvoc) was probabl}' the dis- trict assigned to Shuah, the sixth son of Abraham by Keturah, and called by his name (Gen. xxv, 2). This was apparently in Arabia Petraja, if Shuah settled in the same quarter as his brothers, of which there can be little doubt ; and to this region we are to refer the town and district to which he gave his name, and in which Bildad was doubtless a person of consequence, if not the chief. — Kitto, s. v. See Shuah.
Bildad takes a share in each of the three controver- sial scenes in the Book of Job. He follows in the train of Eliphaz, but with more violent declamation, less argument, and keener invective (Wemyss, Job and Ms Times, p. 111). His address is abrupt and untender, and in his very first speech he cruelly attributes the death of Job's children to their own transgressions, and loudly calls on Job to repent of his supposed crimes. His second speech (xviii) merely recapitu- lates his former assertions of the temporal calamities of the wicked. On this occasion he implies, without expressing, Job's wickedness, and does not condescend to exhort him to repentance. In the third speech (xxv), unable to refute the sufferer's arguments, he takes refuge in irrelevant dogmatism on God's glory and man's nothingness; in reply to which Job justly reproves him both for deficiency in argument and fail- ure in charitable forbearance (Ewald, Djs Buch /job). — Smith, s. v. See Job.
Bil'eam (Heb. Bilam , Bl'33, same name as Ba- laam [q. v.]; Sept. 'ltpfiXdav v. r. 'I/3X«a/i ; Vulg. Baalam), a town in the western half of the tribe of Manasseh, named in 1 Chron. vi, 20 as being given (with its "suburbs") to the Kohathites. In the lists in Josh, xvii and xxi this name does not appear, but Ibleam (q. v.) and Gath-rimmon are substituted for it, the former by an easy change of letters, the latter uncertain. Compare, also, the Belamon (BtAn/twi') of Judith viii, 3.