Birdseye, Nathan, a Congregational minister, was born in Stratford, Conn., Aug. 19, 1714, graduated at Yale 1736, and became pastor of the church in West Haven 1742. He resigned June, 1758, and retired to a farm in the town, where he spent the rest of his life. Once, after he was a hundred years old, he con- ducted devotional services in the church. He died Jan. 28, 1818.— Sprague, Annuls, i, 4CG.
Birei. See Beth-bieei.
Birgitta, St. See Bridget.
Birgittines. See Biugittines.
Bir'sha (Heb. Birska', "'r"i3, for S01"*ja, son of ss ; Sept. Baorrcl), a king of Gomorrah, succor- < d by Abraham in the invasion by Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv, 2). B.C. cir. 2080.
Birth. (The act of parturition is properly express- ed in the original languages of Scripture by some form of the verbs 1P^, yalad', ri'xrw, rendered "bear," "trav- ail," "bring forth," etc.). In the East (q. v.) child- birth is usually attended with much less pain and diffi- culty than in more northern regions, although < Iriental females arc not to be regarded as exempt from the common doom of woman, " in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children" (Gen. iii, 1G). It is, however, uncer- tan. whether the difference arises from the effect of climate or from the circumstances attending advanced civilization; perhaps both causes operate, to a certain degree, in producing the effect. Climate must have t ; but it is observed that the difficulty of childbirth --ii-.-l r trjy ihir.cte increases with tlr a;l ■
v;" f civilization, and that in any climate the class
on whirl, the advanced condition of society most oper- ates finds the pangs ..f childbirth the most severe Such consideration maj probably account for the fact that the Hebrew women, after they had long been under the influence of the Egyptian climate, passed through the childbirth pangs with much more facility than the women of Egypt, whose habits of life were
more refined and telf-indulgent (Exod. i, 19). There were, however, already recognised Hebrew midwives while the Israelites were in Egypt ; and their office appears to have originated in the habit of calling in some matron of experience in such matters to assist in cases of difficulty. A remarkable circumstance in the transaction which has afforded these illustrations (Exod. i, 1G) will be explained under Stool.
The child was no sooner born than it was washed in a bath and rubbed with salt (Ezek. xvi, 4) ; it was then tightly swathed or bandaged to prevent those distor- tions to which the tender frame of an infant is so much exposed during the first days of life (Job xxxviii, 9; Ezek. xvi, 4 ; Luke ii, 7, 11). This custom of bandag- ing or swathing the new-born infant is general in Eastern countries. It was also a matter of much at- tention with the Greeks and Bomans (see the citations in Wetstein at Luke ii, 7), and even in our own coun- try was not abandoned till the last century, when the repeated remonstrances of the physicians seem to have led to its discontinuance.
It was the custom at a very ancient period for the father, while music celebrated the event, to clasp the new-born child to his bosom, and by this ceremony he was understood to declare it to be his own (Gen. 1, 23; Job iii, 3 ; Psa. xxii, 11). This practice was imitated by those wives who adopted the children of their hand- maids (Gen. xvi, 2 ; xxx, 3-5). The messenger who brought to the father the first news that a son was born to him was received with pleasure and reward- ed with presents (Job iii, 3; Jer. xx, 15). as is still the custom in Persia and other Eastern countries. The birth of a daughter was less noticed, the disappoint- ment at its not being a son subduing for the time the satisfaction which the birth of any child naturally oc- casions.
Among the Israelites, the mother, after the birth of a son, continued unclean seven days; and she remain- ed at home during the thirty-three days succeeding the seven of uncleanness, forming altogether forty days of seclusion. After the birth of a daughter the number of the days of uncleanness and seclusion at home was doubled. At the expiration of this period she went into the tabernacle or temple, and presented a yearling lamb, or, if she was poor, two turtle-doves and two young pigeons, as a facrifice of purification (Lev. xii," 1-8 ; Luke ii, 22). On the eighth day after the birth of a son the child was circumcised, by which rite it was consecrated to God (Gen. xvii, 10 ; comp. with Bom. iv, 11). — Kitto, s. v. See Child.
Roberts says, "When a person has succeeded in gaining a blessing which he has long desired, he says, ' Good ! good ! the child is born at last.' Has a person lost his lawsuit in a provincial court, he will go to the capital to make an appeal to a superior court; and should he there succeed, he will say, in writing to a friend, ' Good news ! good news ! the child is born.' When a man has been trying to gain an office, his friend, meeting him on his return, does not always ask, 'Is the child born?' or ' Did it come to the birth ?' but, ' Is it a male or a female ?' If he say the former, he has gained his object; if the latter, he has failed. The birth of a son is always a time of great festivity in the East; hence the relations come together to con- gratulate the parents, and to present their gifts to the little stranger. Some bring the silver anklets; others the bracelets or ear-rings, or silver cord for the loins; others, however, take gold, and a variety of needful articles. When the infant son of a king is shown, the people make their obeisance to him" (Orient. I/lns.). This illustrates the offerings of the Maui, who came to Bethlehem to worship the infant Messiah, as recorded in Matt, ii, 11 : " When they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."