disputes the translation by the Septuagint, and some old Latin versions read Bethel instead of Bether. In the second chapter of the Song of Solomon, Bether literally means division, or mountains of division, whereas in the eighth chapter the same phrase is rendered in the Septuagint, in the Vulgate, and by our translators, mountains of spices. Calmet supposes Bether to be Upper Beth-horon, called Bethera by Josephus, and Bether by Eusebius, situated between Diospolis and Cæsarea, fifty-two miles from Jerusalem. Eusebius speaks also of a place called Betharim near Diospolis, and others will have Bether to be one of the towns of Judah mentioned in the Septuagint. The Emperor Adrian took a town named Bether, about A.D. 134, when he quelled a rebellion raised by Barchochebas, a false Messiah of the Jews, which Eusebius says was about twelve miles distant from the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Parkhurst, in his annotations on the passage in the Song of Solomon where the word occurs, says that the marginal reading of the phrase mountains of Bether, which means mountains of division, craggy, intersected mountains, is perhaps preferable to considering Bether as a proper name. BETHESDA, the house of mercy, or pity, or the house of effusion, the name of a pool or reservoir of water in the city of Jerusalem, close to St Stephen's Gate, near the Sheep Market, at which our Saviour wrought a very distinguished miracle in the second year of his minis try, which is only related by St John (v.2-15). It is called in the Septuagint κολυμβήθρα προβατική, and in the Vulgate piscina probatica, because, as has been supposed, the sheep used for the sacrifice in the Temple, called #gоßατα, were washed in it; and, according to others, because it served as a kind of reservoir for the blood of the sacrifices. But it is well known that the sheep 'were washed as soon as they were bought in the adjoining market, from which they were driven to this pool; and the supposition that the blood of the sacrifices ran into it, which was Dr Pococke's opinion, is erroneous, when we know that there was a drain or ditch between this Pool and the Temple, over which a bridge was thrown for access to the latter. Besides, Dr Lightfoot has sufficiently proved, that from the situation of the Sheep Gate, near which the Pool of Bethesda stood, which was on the south-east wall of Jerusalem, a part of the city lay between it and the Temple. The interpretation, therefore, the house of mercy, is more in unison with the design for which this pool or bath was constructed, and the purposes to which it was applied. The Evangelical writer informs us that the Pool of Bethesda had five porches, or separate divisions for sick persons, and that "in these lay a great multitude of impotent folks, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." Dr Lightfoot conjectures that these porches were the several entrances by which the unclean went down to the water to be washed, and where they might lay up their clothes; and that perhaps they were so many different entrances according to the diseases with which the sick were afflicted. He also suggests that the Pool might have been a pentagon, the cloisters corresponding to its five sides. It thus appears that in these cloisters numbers of diseased and debilitated persons lay waiting for the "moving of the water," which took place at a particular feast, which some have supposed to be the Passover, and others that of Pentecost, or rather occasionally, and at certain intervals of time. We are told that this was done by the agency of an angel, yet we need not suppose that an angel visibly descended from heaven, but that the miraculous virtue of the water was ascribed to the power of an angel; for, according to the Jewish mode of speaking, every thing which had a divine effect was held to be done by ministering spirits or angels. We have no information how long the Pool had previously retained this singular virtue, whether it was afterwards continued, or whether it ceased at the time of our Saviour; but the circumstance of the first who stepped in being cured clearly proves that the healing quality of the water was not natural, and that it was miraculously endowed. Various opinions have been maintained respecting the water of this Pool and the process by which the cures were effected, which we lay before the reader in a condensed manner. It has been alleged that the miraculous cures recorded by St John were restricted solely to the season of the particular feast mentioned in the first verse of the chapter, and in this way they account for the silence of Josephus and Philo, who do not mention the healing qualities of the Pool. Those, on the other hand, who think that the water had been always of a healing nature, maintain that the silence of these writers is of little importance, seeing that they omit more important occurrences in our Saviour's history with which they must have had opportunities of being acquainted, such as his miracles, which were both numerous and varied, and which were well known in Jerusalem;-others, again, regarding the cures wrought at this place as standing miracles among the Jews, have been surprised that Josephus should have omitted a fact so honourable to his nation;—while others, finally, have maintained that the healing quality of the water was a peculiar honour conferred on the personal appearance of the Son of God on earth. But it is to be observed that St John does not narrate the fact as if it was a new thing, unknown or unheard of before, or which depended solely on Christ's appearance; on the contrary, he relates it as if it had been a well-known fact, and for the benefits of which a considerable rivalry.existed among those who lay in the porches. We have no information as to the opinions which the Jews themselves entertained on this subject, or whether they actually believed that an angel was the instrument; but we must recollect that miracles were not new among VOL. I. them; their previous history abounded with them; and although they were astonished, as well they might, at some of those which our Saviour wrought, they never denied or even doubted them; they rather expressed their admiration, and often exclaimed that he had done all things well. They were strongly persuaded that he was a Divine Messenger, which the miracles he wrought sufficiently proved, but they would not allow Him to be the Messenger foretold. Dr Doddridge thinks that the silence of Josephus respecting the healing qualities of the Pool of Bethesda is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) difficulties in the Evangelical history, and that in which "of all others the learned answerers of Mr Woolston have given him the least satisfaction." Grotius conjectures that the angel is said to have descended, not that he was ever seen to do so, but because the Jews believed in the immediate ministration of angels; and that, from the violent motion of the water, and the effects produced by it, the presence of an angel was supposed. Dr Hammond held that the blood of the great number of sacrifices washed in this Pool communicated an efficacy to the water, and that the angel who troubled the Pool was no other than a messenger from the high priest. By this hypothesis, Pococke was so misled as to seek for the Pool of Bethesda on that side of the city where it never was situated. Fleming, to avoid the difficulties of the literal interpretation, rejects the latter part of the third and the whole of the fourth verse, which refer to the agency of the angel, as a spurious addition of some credulous monk in the eighth or ninth century, because these passages are omitted in Beza's MS., and were apparently added by a later hand in an old MS. preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. But as all the old and authentic Syriac versions, and the other versions of the Polyglott, contain the passages exactly as they are translated in our Version, it is impossible to admit this argument; and besides, the seventh verse, the authenticity of which X was never disputed, expressly ascribes a miraculous virtue to the water which extended only to the first who was so fortunate as to step in, and hence it was that the man whom Christ cured, who had been thirty-eight years afflicted with his peculiar disease, and who, our Saviour was aware, had been a long time in that case, could never succeed in his attempt, being defeated by the more active and the more wary. The opinion of Dr Hammond has been rejected not only as unphilosophical, but as at variance with history, and with the actual site of the Pool. Dr Doddridge maintains that, although it has been asserted by many, he does not find any satisfactory proof that the sheep to be sacrificed were ever washed there, not to mention the utter impossibility that the blood of the sacrifices could run into it; and he thus attempts to account for the silence of Josephus as to this Pool and its healing qualities. After observing that the Jewish historian was not born when the circumstance happened recorded by the Evangelical writer, he says, "Though he heard the report of it, he would, perhaps, as is the modern way, oppose speculation and hypothesis to fact, and have recourse to some undigested and unmeaning harangues on the unknown force of imagination; or, if he secretly suspected it to be true, his dread of the marvellous, and fear of disgusting his pagan readers with it, might as well lead him to suppress this as to disguise the passage through the Red Sea, and the divine voice from Mount Sinai, in so cowardly and ridiculous a manner as it is known he has done. The relation in which this fact stood to the history of Jesus would make him peculiarly cautlous in touching upon it, as it would have been difficult to handle it at once with decency and safety." It may be here observed that the learned Bishop Pearce, in his " Vindication of Christian Miracles," agrees with Dr Doddridge in the most material points of his hypothesis. the east side of the mount on which the Temple stood, where there is an empty tank one hundred and twenty feet long, forty broad, and about eight feet deep, walled round with stones, but without water. This agrees with Maundrel's measurement, who surveyed it in 1696, and found at the west end three old arches built or choked up, which are said to be the remains of the five original porches in which sat the lame, blind, and withered of Jerusalem. Sandys was in Jerusalem on Good Friday, A. D. 1611, and says he saw the spring running, but in small quantities. The erection of the Pool of Bethesda is ascribed to King Hezekiah. The following observations on it are given by the author of "Letters from Palestine," an anonymous work published in 1819: Towards the eastern extremity of the town, not far from the Gate of St Stephen, is the Piscina d'Israel. This is the Pool of Bethesda, which an angel was commissioned periodically to trouble. It appears to have been of considerable size, and finished with much care and architectural skill; but I was unable to ascertain either the depth or the dimensions, for its contiguity to the enclosure which contains the Mosque of Omar made it rather hazardous to approach even the outer borders, and our dragoman entreated us to be satisfied with a cursory view. Near to this place is the church of St Anna, so named from being erected on the ground where the house of the Virgin's mother formerly stood, and where the Virgin herself was born. Between that structure and Pilate's Palace is the Tower Antonia, which has a more striking air of antiquity than any in the city." BETH-EZEL, the name of a place mentioned by the Prophet Micah (i. 11), which was situated near Jerusalem, and probably the same with Azal, Zech.xiv.5. BETH-GAMUL, the house of the weaned, or of the camel, a town of Moab belonging to the tribe of Reuben, Jer. xlviii. 23. BETH-HACCEREM, the house of the Tradition now points out this Pool on vineyard, the name of a place between Jerusalem and Tekoah, eight miles southeast of the former. "The hill on which this place was built," says Dr Pococke, "is very high, and laid out in terraces. There was a double circular fortification at the top, and at the front of the hill towards the north there are the ruins of a church and other buildings. On a hanging ground to the west of these there is a cistern, and the bason of a square pond, which appears to have had an island in the midst of it, and probably there was some building on it." See BETH-ACHARA. BETH-HARAN. See BETHARAN. BETH-HOGLAH. See BETHAGLA. BETH-HORON, the house of wrath, or the house of the hole, or of the cave, or of liberty, the name of two towns belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, built by Sherah, the daughter of Ephraim, 1 Chron. vii. 24. Lower Beth-horon, which was originally given to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 22, was repaired and fortified by Solomon, 1 Kings ix. 17; 2 Chron. viii. 5. Upper Beth-horon is placed by some geographers on the north, and Lower Beth-horon on the south boundary; but it is more probable they were both on the south, and little more than twelve miles distant from Jerusalem. Dr Clarke found the modern Arab village of Bethor about that distance from the city, which he supposes to be on the site of the ancient Beth-horon of Scripture. Josephus states that Cestius, the Roman general, marched upon Jerusalem by way of Lydda and Beth-horon; and Jerome observes that in his time the two places were almost obliterated by wars. Nicanor encamped at Beth-horon previous to engaging Judas Maccabæus, 1 Macc. vii. 39. lionesses, sometimes called Lebaoth, the name of a town originally assigned to the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 32, but afterwards given to that of Simeon, Josh. xix. 6. BETHLEHEM, the house of bread, or the house of war, the name of a town of Judah, illustrious as the place of our Saviour's nativity. It is called Bethlehem of Judah, to distinguish it from another town of the same name in the allotment of the tribe of Zebulun, Josh. xix. 15; Micah v. 2. It is also called Beth-lehem-Ephratah, from Ephrath, or Ephratah, its ancient name, which means abundance, bearing fruit, increasing. It stands on a rising ground about six miles distant from Jerusalem on the road to Gaza. It never was a town of any size or importance, nor was it even distinguished for its population, or the wealth of its inhabitants; but it was the birthplace of some celebrated persons previous to our Saviour's nativity, Ibzan, Elimelech, Boaz, and David, having been born in it, the two latter of whom were ancestors, humanly speaking, of the Saviour of the world," God of God," as the Nicene Creed emphatically expresses it, "very God of very God, begotten of the Father before all worlds." Rachel, the favourite wife of Jacob, died near Bethlehem or Ephrath, as it was then called, while the Patriarch was journeying from Bethel, and he marked the place of her interment by a monumental pillar, Gen. xxxv. 19; xlviii. 7. The town is not again mentioned particularly except as the birth-place of Ibzan, one of the Judges of Israel, until the time of Boaz, when Naomi, the widow of Elimelech, who had been compelled to leave it on account of a severe famine, returned with her daughter-in-law, also a widow, who was a native of the country of Moab. The story of Ruth gleaning in the fields of Boaz at Bethlehem, and the subsequent incidents until she was married to Boaz, and became the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse, and grandfather of King David, are finely narrated in the Book of Ruth, to which the reader is referred. BETH-LEBAOTH, the house of Samuel performed the solemn ceremony BETH-JESHIMOTH, the house of desolation, or of position, or of denomination, a city assigned to the tribe of Reuben, Josh. xiii. 20, about ten miles east of the Jordan, near which the Israel. ites encamped before they entered the Promised Land, Numb. xxxiii. 49. It was first seized by the Moabites, and finally destroyed by the Chaldeans, Ezek. xxv. 9. in this town of anointing David to be king of Israel while Saul was alive, that monarch and his family having been set aside by the command of God. It was one of the places which Rehoboam fortified after the revolt of the Ten Tribes. Bethlehem was announced as the birthplace of the Messiah by the Prophet Micah seven hundred years before that event: "But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," Mic. v. 2. The expression, little among the thousands of Judah, meaning among the families or cities of Judah, is taken from the first division of the people into thousands, hundreds, and other subordinate distinctions. Every tribe was divided into so many thousands, over which presided a leader to command them in battle. Bethlehem was too limited in population to be reckoned as one of those thousands, or to be numbered singly in the army against the enemy. This prophecy had been always remembered by the Jews, and we find Herod summoning the chief priests and scribes together at our Saviour's birth; and when he inquired where Christ should be born, they answered, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the Prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my people Israel,” Matt. ii. 4, 5, 6. The contradiction here between the language of the Prophet and that of the Evangelical historian is merely verbal, for Bethlehem, although in one sense among the least of the thousands of Judah, was yet not to be the least-on account of the Messiah's birth, it was to be excelled in dignity by none of the principal cities-the long-promised, the illustrious Ruler of Israel was to be born there. Both the town and family of David, from whom our Saviour was lineally descended, were in a humble condition at the time of his birth; and hence, doubtless, the Blessed Virgin in her song thankfully commemo rates God's extraordinary favour in honouring that low estate to which they were reduced with the birth of the Messiah, and in making her the mother of Him who was "David's Son, and David's Lord." Bethlehem, thus specially honoured, became a place of high renown, and is still visited by great multitudes of pilgrims. The Emperor Hadrian is said to have profaned the place by building a temple, and instituting the rites of the Roman mythology on or near the spot where Christ was born; and from his time, says St Jerome, "to that of Constantine, about the space of one hundred and eighty years, Bethlehem was overshaded by the grove of Thammus, that is, of Adonis, and in the cave where once the Messiah appeared as an infant the lover of Venus was loudly lamented." The pious Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, removed this structure, and built a splendid church over the grotto in which our Saviour is alleged to have been born, which remains to this day. In this church is the sacred cradle, pointed out as a white marble trough, in a grotto cut out of the rock. It has often, it is said, changed hands between the Greek Christians and the Latin Catholics, and is a source of much jealousy between the monks of the two creeds, who nevertheless coalesce most enthusiastically in its defence when it is threatened by the Mahometans. In the monastery attached to this convent that venerable Father of the Church, St Jerome, spent a great part of his life; and in the grotto now shown as his oratory he is said to have completed that translation of the Scriptures called the Vulgate, which has been adopted by the Church of Rome; and here he died, A.D. 420, in the ninetyfirst year of his age. There is no place in Palestine more venerated than Bethlehem except the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and, as might be expected, traditionary localities are pointed out, as fanciful as they are extravagant, which show that the imagination of the ancient monks was as fertile here as in other places rendered sacred |