demand; although there are places (Exocl. xxii, 14; 1 Sam. i, 28 ; 2 Kings vi, 5) where borrowing is certain- ly denoted by it. Some therefore allege that the Is- raelites did not borrow the valuables, but demanded them of their Egyptian neighbors, as an indemnity for their services, and for the hard and bitter bondage which they had endured. But this does not appear to us to mend the matter much ; for the Israelites had been public servants, rendering certain onerous ser- vices to the state, but not in personal bondage to indi- vidual Egyptians, whom nevertheless they, according to this account, mulcted of much valuable property in compensation for wrongs committed by the state. I These individual Egyptians also were selected not i with reference to their being implicated more than others in the wrong treatment of the Israelites : they were those who happened to be their " neighbors," and, as such, open more than others to the exaction. Hence we incline to the interpretation (Clarke, Comment, on Exod. iii, 22) that the Israelites simply requested the valuables of the Egyptians, without any special (ex- cept a tacit) understanding on the part of the latter that they were to be restored. This agrees with the fact that the professed object of the Hebrews was not to quit Egypt forever, but merely to withdraw for a few days into the desert, that they might there cele- brate a high festival to their God. See Exode. At such festivals it was usual among all nations to appear in their gayest attire, and decked with many orna- ments ; and this suggests the grounds on which the Israelites might rest the application to their Egyptian neighbors for the loan of their jewels and rich raiment. Their avowed intention to return in a few days must have made the request appear very reasonable to the Egyptians ; and, in fact, the Orientals are, and always have been, remarkably ready and liberal in lending their ornaments to one another on occasions of relig- ious solemnity or public ceremony. It would seem, also, as if the avowed intention to return precluded the Hebrews from any other ground than that of borrow- ing ; for if they had required or demanded these things as compensations or gifts, it would have amounted to an admission that they were quitting the country al- together. Turn which way we will in this matter, there is but a choice of difficulties ; and this leads us to suspect that we are not acquainted with all the facts bearing on the case, in the absence of which we spend our strength for naught in laboring to explain it. One of the difficulties is somewhat softened by the conjec- ture of Professor Bush, who, in his Note on Exod. xi, 2, observes, "We are by no means satisfied that Moses was required to command the people to practise the de- vice here mentioned. We regard it rather, as far as they were concerned, as the mere prediction of a fact that should occur." It will further relieve the diffi- culty if we consider that it was a principle universally recognised in ancient times, that all property belong- ing to their opponents in the hands of any nation against which war was declared became forfeited ; and, in accordance with this supposed right, the jewels, pre- cious vases, etc., which were borrowed by the Hebrews from the Egyptians, became, when Pharaoh commenced war upon them, legal spoil. It is evident that the Egyptians were but too glad to get rid of their danger- ous captives at last to hesitate, or even stipulate for a restoration of the ornaments; nor did the Hebrews themselves at the time positively know that they should never return them. — Hengstenberg, Pentat, ii, 417 sq. Bos, Lambert, an eminent scholar, was born at Workum, in Friesland, Nov. 23, 1G70, and studied at the University of Franeker, where lie devoted himself to Greek. His progress was so great that in 1697 he was appointed lecturer in Greek, and in 1703 professor. He died in 1717. His chief work is the Ellipses Gree- ce?, which appeared first in 1702; but the fullest and best edition is that of Schaefer (Leipsic, 1809). Among his other works ar3 his Exercitationes philological ad
loca nonnulla Novi Foederis (Franeker, 1700, 8vo, and 1713, with additions): — Observationes miscellanem ad loca quccdam, etc. (Ibid. 1707, 8vo, and 1731): — Vetus Teslamenlum ex vers. LXX interpretum cum variis lec- tionibus, etc. (Franeker, 1709, 4to). — Biog. Univ. v, 206. Bos'cath (2 Kings xxii, 1). See Bozkath. Bosem ; Boser ; Boshah. See Balsam ; Grape; Cockle, respectively.
Boskoi (/3o(tkoi), monks in Syria and Mesopotamia who lived upon roots and herbs. They inhabited no houses, nor ate flesh or bread, nor drank wine. They professed to spend their time in the worship of God, in prayers and in hymns, till eating-time arrived ; then every man went, with his knife in his hand, to provide himself food of the herbs of the field. This is said to have been their only diet, and constant way of living. See Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. vii, ch. ii, § ii.
Bosom (properly p^n, cheyle, koKttoq). It is usu- al with the Western Asiatics to carry various sorts of things in the bosom of their dress, which forms a some- what spacious depository, being wide above the girdle, which confines it so tightly around the waist as to pre- vent any thing from slipping through. Aware of this, Harmer and other Biblical illustrators rather hastily concluded that they had found an explanation of the text (Luke vi, 38), " Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom." All these expressions obviously apply, in the literal sense, to corn ; and it is certain that "corn and things measured in the manner described are never carried in the bosom. They could not be placed there, or carried there, nor taken out, without serious inconvenience, and then only in a small quan- tity. The things carried in the bosom are simply such as" Europeans would, if in the East, carry in their pockets. Yet this habit of carrying valuable property may indicate the origin of the imago, as an image, into the bosom, without requiring us to suppose that every thing described as being given into the bosom really was deposited there. — Kitto, s. v. See Dress.