Bil'gah (Ilcb. Bilgak', Ha!?a, prob. cheerful, but according to Furst, jirst-born; Sept. BtAyfic and Bn\- yac), the name of two priests.
1. The head of the fifteenth sacerdotal course for the temple service, as arranged by David (1 Chron. xxiv, 14). B.C. 1043.
2. A priest who returned from Babylon with Ze- rubbabel and Jeshua (Neh. xii, 5, 18), B.C. 53G ; per- haps the same as the Bilgai of Neh. x, 8.
Bil'gai (Ileb. Bilgai/, "'ftipS, prob. same signif. as Bilgah ; Sept. BsKyai), one of the priests that scaled the covenant after the restoration from Babylon, B.C. 410 (Neh. x, 8) ; supposed to be the same as Bilgah 2.
Bil'hah (Heb. Bilhah', rvribl, faltering, i. e. perh. bashful), the name of a woman and of a place.
1. (Sept. BrtWtt.) The handmaid (Gen. xxix, 29) whom the childless Rachel bestowed as a concubine upon her husband Jacob, that through her she might have children. B.C. 1917. Bilhah thus became the mother of Dan and Naphtali (Gen. xxx, 3-8 ; xxxv, 25; xlvi, 25; 1 Chron. vii, 13). Her stepson Reuben afterward lay with her (Gen. xxxv, 22), B.C. cir. 1899, and thus incurred his father's dving reproof (Gen. xlix, 4).
2. (Sept. BnXon.) A place belonging to the tribe of Simeon (1 Chron. iv, 29), called Balah (q. v.) in Josh, xix, 3; and it seems to be the same which is called Baalah in Josh, xv, 29.
Bil'han (Heb. Bilhan', "^?2 ; Sept. BnXnri/i, Bn- \aav; Balaan, Balan; the same root [nba, to fail] as Bilhah, Gen. xxx, 3, etc. The final " is evidently a Horite termination, as in Zaavan, Akan, Dislian, Aran, Lotan, Alvan, Hemdan, Eshban, etc., but is also found in Heb. names).
1. A Horite chief, son of Ezer, son of Seir, dwell-
ing in Mount Seir, in the land of Edom (Gen. xxxvi, 27 ; 1 Chron. i, 42). B.C. cir. 1963.
2. A Benjamite, son of Jediael, and father of seven sons (1 Chron. vii, 10). B.C. ante 1658. It does not appear clearly from which of the sons of Benjamin Jediael was descended, as he is not mentioned in Gen. xlvi, 21, or Num. xxvi. But as he was the father of Ehud (1 Chr. vii, 10), and Ehud seems, from 1 Chr. viii, 3, 6, to have been a son of Bela, Jediael, and con- sequently Bilhan, were probably Belaitcs. The occur- rence of Bilhan as well as Bela in the tribe of Benja- min— names both imported from Edom — is remark- able.— Smith, s. v. Sec Benjamin.
Bill (*2&, se'pher, /3ifi\ioi>), any thing written, and usually rendered book. The passage in Job xxxi, 35, "Oh! that one would hear me! . . . .that mine I adversary had written a book," would be more prop- I erly rendered, " that mine adversary had given me a J written accusation," or, in modern phraseology, "a bill of indictment." In other places we have the, 1 word "bill," as "bill of divorcement" (Deut. xxiv, I 1, 3; Isa. 1, 1; Jer. iii, 8; Matt, xix, 7; Mark x, 4) i [see Divorce], and in Jer. x.\xii, 10-16, 44, "the ev- ; idence," or, as in the margin, " the book," which there j implies a legal conveyance of landed property.
In the New Testament, the word ypd/ifia (properly a written mark) is translated "bill" in the parable of the unjust steward (Luke xvi, 6, 7). Here, too, a le- gal instrument is meant, as the lord's "debtors" are • presumed to have been tenants who paid their rents in I kind. The steward, it would appear, sought their good-will, not merely by lowering the existing claim for the year, but by granting a new contract, under which the tenants were permanently to pay less than they had previously done. He directed the tenants to write out the contracts, but doubtless gave them valid- ity by signing them himself. This, like the Hebrew j term, signifies a " letter" or written communication I (1 Kings xxi, 8 ; 2 Kings v, 5 ; x, 1 ; xix, 14 ; xx, 12 ; | 2 Chron. xxxii, 17 ; Esther i, 22 ; iii, 13 ; viii, 5, etc. ; Acts xx viii, 21; Gal. vi, 11).
I Billican (Billicanus or Pillicanus), Theobald, j was born at Billigheim near the end of the fifteenth century. His real name was Gerlach, but he took his I surname from his birthplace. He passed A.B. at ! Heidelberg, 1512. In 1518 (April 26) Luther disputed j in the convent of the Augustinians at Heidelberg with several Romish orators. Billican attended, with Brentz (q. v.) and Schnepf, and was so impressed by Luther | that he at once joined his side of the controversy. His j lectures in the university, as well as those of Brentz, found great favor with the students, but an inquiry I into his teaching was soon ordered by the authorities. He left Heidelberg in 1522 for Weil, and was driven from thence to Ndrdlingen, where he remained as pas- tor till 1535. His preaching was very useful to the Reformation. In the controversy about the Eucharist he sided with Luther against Zuingle. In 1535 he re- turned to Heidelberg, where he was allowed to lecture on the Decretals and the Jusfeudale till 1544, when he was driven away from the university, and imprisoned for a time at Dilsberg. His last j-ears were spent as Professor of Rhetoric at Marburg, and he died there ! August 8th, 1554.— Herzog, Real-Encyklvp. ii, 238.