in the history of human redemption and the annals of the Church. Proceeding from Jerusalem to Bethlehem by the gate near the Palace of David, the road passes over the Valley of Hinnom, and crosses the hill opposite to Sion on the south. In this route lies the Convent of St Elias, about an hour's distance from the city. It belongs to Greek monks; "and the priests of that order, not to be behind the Latins, who show in so many places the print of the hands, and feet, and toes, and fingers of the Messiah, show here the impression of St Elias' whole body in a hard stone!" Thence entering the Valley of Rephaim, celebrated as the scene of David's victories, a singular story connects it with our Saviour's ministry. It is traditionally said that on one occasion when our Saviour was passing, he observed a man sowing, and approaching him, he asked him what seed he was sowing. The man sneeringly answered that he was sowing small stones. "Then," said our Saviour, "thou shalt reap the same seed thou hast sown;" which was literally verified, an abundant crop of stones being the produce! Advancing near to Bethlehem, at a little distance from the road, the Tomb of Rachel is pointed out, but the spot of her interment is now covered by a Mahometan building resembling the tombs of saints and sheiks in Egypt and Arabia, being small, square, and surmounted by a dome, instead of a pillar, which Moses informs us Jacob erected. This building is held in equal veneration by Jews, Christians, and Mahometans, and it is not improbable that the intention of it was to enclose either a pillar, or the fragment of one, on the spot which tradition sanctions as the Pillar of Rachel's grave. On the west side of the village the well of Bethlehem is pointed out, called the Well of David, on account of his extreme desire to drink its water (2 Sam. xxiii. 15), and to procure which three of his principal warriors broke through the camp of the Philistines. At some distance beyond it are the remains of an old aqueduct, said to have been the work of King Solomon, for the purpose of conveying water from the Pools called after his name to Jerusalem. Maundrel describes these reservoirs as being three in number, and so constructed that the water of the uppermost could descend into the second, and that of the second into the third. The fountain which supplied these pools is about one hundred and forty paces distant from them, and the monks contend that it is the sealed fountain mentioned in the Song of Solomon (iv. 12). On entering Bethlehem, the monks show the stable, under a large rock, in which Christ was born, on which the church is built already mentioned. In the town are shown the house of Simeon, and the house where Joseph was warned to flee into Egypt from the wrath of Herod, who perpetrated the atrocious massacre of all the young children of Bethlehem and its vicinity, in his anxiety to destroy one who, he feared, would supplant him in his throne. In the neighbourhood, the cave where David cut off Saul's skirt, the Wilderness of St John, and the Plain of the Shepherds, where the heavenly host saluted them, and sang the divine anthem of peace and good-will to men, are pointed out. At a small distance is the place where those shepherds dwelt, which consists of a number of caves still used as a retreat for shepherds and cattle by night. Here a church was erected by Helena, which has now disappeared. Bethlehem also contains the grottoes or chapels of St Joseph, the reputed father of our Saviour, of the Holy Innocents, erected over their place of interment, of St Eusebius of Cremona, and of St Paula and St Eustasia, the Roman mother and daughter, descendants of Gracchus and Scipio. In the pavement of the Grotto of the Nativity is shown an inlaid star, which is said to mark the exact spot of our Saviour's birth, and to lie immediately under that point of the heavens where the Star of the East became fixed in its course, to direct the Wise Men to the object of their search. Some, however, contend that this was the spot on which the star fell from the firmament, and sank into the earth; but it is alleged that there was formerly a corresponding place shown between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, where the Wise Men found the star after it was lost, close to the place where the angel took up Habakkuk by the hair of the head, to carry meat to Daniel in the den of lions! Bethlehem still retains its ancient name, pronounced by the Arabs Beitlaheim, or Beit-el-haim. The village is beautifully situated on an eminence composed of a chalky soil, and is considered by the inhabitants as possessing a very salubrious air. The country around it is richly covered with olives, vines, and fig-trees, and a small rivulet runs through the valley. The sides of the hill on which the village stands are interspersed with fine vineyards, which yield very large grapes of a delicious flavour. Some corn is produced in the valleys, and the bread made of it, baked with hot stones, is of an excellent quality. The village, which. consists of one street, has an appearance of comfort and cleanliness not commonly seen in the villages of the East. "Almost the first novelty," says Mr Buckingham, "that struck me on entering the place was, that the Christian inhabitants, from there being scarcely any Mahometans living near them, wear white and gay coloured turbans with impunity, whereas in Jerusalem no Christian subject to the Porte dares to wear any other than blue, without risk of losing his head." The population of Bethlehem, according to Ali Bey, amounts to six hundred families. Volney estimated six hundred men capable of bearing arms, and Parsons reckons one thousand Catholics, the same number of Greek Christians, and a few Armenians and Turks. BETHLEHEM, a town belonging to the tribe of Zebulun, Josh. xix. 15, the situation of which is unknown. BETH-MAAKA. See Abel, BETH-MAON, the house of habitation, or of iniquity, a town of the Moabites, in the tribe of Reuben, denounced by the Prophet Jeremiah, xlviii. 23. BETH-MARCABOTH, the house of deliverance, or of expulsion, chariots, or of bitterness extinct, the name of a city in the allotment of the tribe of Simeon, Josh. xix. 5. BETH-MAUS, a village of Galilee, situated between Sephoris and Tiberias; according to Josephus, four stadia from the latter. Lightfoot supposes it to be the Beth-Meon of the Talmud. BETH-MILLO, the house of Millo, the name of a place where Jozachar and Jehozabad assassinated Joash, king of Judah, 2 Kings xii. 20, 21. BETH-NIMRAH, the house of the leopard, or of rebellion, or of bitterness, the name of a place fortified by the tribe of Gad, Numb. xxxii. 36. It was situated east of Jordan, and about five miles from Betharan. Calmet alleges that it was the same as Nimrim, a town so called from the rivulet of that name, mentioned by Jeremiah (xlviii. 34), which he places five miles eastward of Bethsaida. BETH-OANNABA, or BETH-HANNABAH, a town which Eusebius places four miles east from Diospolis. The name preserves some remains of the word Nob, where the tabernacle continued for some time in the reign of Saul, 1 Sam. xxi. 1, where David visited Ahimelech the high priest. St Jerome states that Nob was not far from Diospolis. BETH-OGLA. See BETHAGLA. BETHOMESTHAM, a place mentioned in the Book of Judith (iv. 6), probably the same as Bethshemeth, or Betsames, which in the Syriac pronunciation would be Betomesa. BETHOME, or BETHORA, otherwise called Julias, is said to have been the birth place of the Prophet Joel. The inhabitants of Bethome rebelled against Alexander Jannæus, and after the town was taken, they were sent captives to Jerusalem. BETHONIA, or BETH-OANEA, a place situated about fifteen miles east from Cæsarea, mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome as famous for its beneficial hot baths. BETHORON. See BETH-HORON. the name of a town on the southern frontier of the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 27. It was afterwards transferred to the tribe of Simeon. BETH-PAZZEZ, the house of division, a town in the territory of the tribe of Issachar, Josh. xix. 21. BETH-PEOR, the house of gaping or opening, the house or temple of Peor, a city of the Moabites given to the tribe of Reuben, Josh. xiii. 20. It was situated on the other side of the Jordan, according to Eusebius about six miles from Livias, opposite to Mount Peor, and had a temple dedicated to the idol Baal. BETHPHAGE, the house of the mouth, or the drain of the valleys, or the house of early figs, a village on the declivity of the Mount of Olives, belonging to the priests, adjoining the village of Bethany, in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Here the disciples, as our Saviour had instructed them, found the ass on which he rode into Jerusalem, a custom which was and perhaps still is kept up by the Latin monks of Jerusalem, who attend their superior to the city clothed in his official habits, and mounted on an ass, while they strew palm-leaves and their garments before him. Rauwolf says that in his time (1574) there were fig-trees at Bethphage. There are at present no remains of the village. BETHSAIDA, or BETHZAIDA, the house of fruits, or of food, or of hunters, or of snares, the name of a city belonging to the tribe of Naphtali. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament, which is accounted for by what Josephus states, that it was only an inconsiderable village until Philip the Tetrarch built it, and gave it the appearance of a large and populous city. It was situated, according to Pliny, on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesareth, in Bashan or Batanea. Bochart informs us that it was a place of fishing, and Lightfoot says that it was a place of hunting, the whole territory of Naphtali abounding in deer. St John informs us (i. 45) that three of the apostles, Philip, Andrew, and Peter, belonged to this place, or resided in it. Our Saviour wrought some miracles in Bethsaida, one of which was the restoration of the sight of a blind man, Mark viii. 22–25, and he denounced the inhabitants for their wickedness and infidelity, Matt. xi. 21. It is now a poor village, consisting of a few miserable cottages. BETH-SHALISHA, the name of a town north of Diospolis, and south-east of Antipatris, probably the same as BAALSHALISHA. BETH-SHAN, or BETH-SHEAN, the house of the tooth, or of ivory, or the house of change, or the dwelling of sleep, the name of a town of Samaria which belonged to the half-tribe of Manasseh, upon the borders of Galilee, and about half a league from the river Jordan. It was the capital of a district of the same name extending to Peraa. Josephus says that after the irruption of the Scythians in the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, it was called Scythopolis, by which name it is mentioned in the Second Book of the Maccabees, as being distant six hundred furlongs, or seventy-five miles from Jerusalem. The same historian farther observes, that Bethshan was the largest town of the Decapolis. Pliny mentions the place by the name of Nysa. The original inhabitants were allowed to retain it for a considerable time on paying tribute, Judges i. 27. After the battle upon Mount Gilboa, where the Philistines slew the sons of Saul, and that unfortunate king ran himself through with his sword, the victors took the bodies and publicly exposed them in the most ignominious manner on the walls of Bethshan, 1 Sam. xxxi. 10; but the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, on the other side of the Jordan, came during the night, carried off the dead bodies, and honourably interred them in a grove of oaks near their city (verses 12, 13). Bryant derives its name from beth, a house or temple, and shan or san, an ancient designation of the sun. Bethshan continued for several centuries a bishop's see, but it is now a miserable village, inhabited by about two hundred Arab families. It ruins are of considerable interest, and indicate its ancient grandeur and importance. BETH-SHEMESH, the house of the sun, or of service, or of ministry, the name of several places. 1. BETHSHEMESH, a city on the frontiers of the tribe of Issachar, Josh. xix. 22. 2. BETHSHEMESH, a place belonging to the tribe of Naphtali, which the Canaanites retained for a considerable time, on paying tribute, Judges i. 33. 3. BETHSHEMESH, a city which belonged either to the tribe of Judah or of Dan, one of those assigned to the priests, Josh. xxi. 16. Eusebius places it ten miles from Eleurothopolis, on the way to Nicopolis, or Emmaus. When the Philistines returned the ark of God into the Land of Israel, it came to Bethshemesh, and was deposited in the field of a citizen named Joshua. Some of the people examined it with too much curiosity, which provoked the Almighty to "smite the men of Bethshemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men; and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter," 1 Sam. vi. 19. Various opinions have been stated respecting the extent of this mortality. Josephus, who narrates the circumstance, mentions that seventy men were slain; but the reading of the Syriac and Arabic versions is fifty thousand and seventy men. There is, however, an evident transposition of the words in the passage. Bethshemesh was at that time a small village, and could not contain as many inhabitants as the number of the slain; and the interpretation of Bochart, therefore, is far more reasonable, who renders the verse, He smote threescore and ten men, fifty out of a thousand, meaning, that God was so indulgent as not to slay all that were guilty, but only seventy of them, observing this proportion, that out of a thousand persons he smote only fifty, or the twentieth part. 4. BETHSHEMESH, an ancient city of Egypt. See ON. BETH-SHITTAH, a place so called from the shittah trees, a species of thorn, which grew in abundance, appears to have been situated south-west of the Lake of Gennesareth, within the limits of the half-tribe of Manasseh. Here Gideon's pursuit of the Midianites ceased, Judges vii. 22. BETH-SUR, or BETH-ZUR, the house of the rock, or of the band, a city with a strong fortress situated on a lofty rock in the territory of the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 58, which Eusebius says was twenty miles distant from Jerusalem on the road to Hebron. It was fortified by Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xi. 7, as a check upon the Danites, one of the revolted Ten Tribes. Bryant derives the name of this place from beth, a temple, and sur, or zur, a name of the sun. When it was besieged by Lysias, under Antiochus the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, with an army of sixty thousand foot and five thousand cavalry, Judas Maccabæus came to its relief with ten thousand men, and compelled Lysias to raise the siege, 1 Macc. iv. 28; vi.7. BETH-TAPPUA, the apple or orchard house, the name of a town belonging to the tribe of Judah, said by Eusebius to be the last city of Palestine bordering on Egypt, fourteen miles from Zaphra, Josh. xv. 53. BETHUL, or BETHUEL, filiation of God, a city belonging to the tribe of Simeon, Josh. xix. 4. It is probably the same as BETHELIA, mentioned by Sozomen as belonging to the inhabitants of Gaza, which he describes as populous, and adorned with several structures of importance, particularly a pantheon or temple dedicated to all the gods, situated on an eminence which commanded the whole city. The Bishop of Bethelia is mentioned among the bishops of Palestine. It is thought to be the same as BETHULIA, at which Holofernes was killed by Judith when he was besieging that place with the Assyrian army. BETONIM, a place allotted to the tribe of Gad, Josh. xiii. 26. BEZARA, a town of Galilee near the sea, south of Ptolemais or Acre. BEZEK, or BEZAKA, lightning, also, in the chains, or fetters, the name of a city in the territory of Judah, whither the men of Judah marched against the Canaanites, whom they routed, and slew ten thousand men. Here they found Adonizebek, of whose kingdom this city is supposed to have been the capital, on whose person they retaliated the cruelties he had inflicted on others, Judges i. 4-7. Saul reviewed his army at this city before he crossed the river Jordan to the relief of Jabesh-Gilead, 1 Sam. xi. 8. Eusebius and Jerome assert that in their time there were two towns of this name near each other, and about seventeen miles from Sichem, on the road to Seythopolis, or Bethshan. Calmet is of opinion that Bezek was situated near the passage of the Jordan at Bethshan, and Dr Wells alleges that there was only one city of this name in the tribe of Judah. A small village stands on the site of the city. BEZER, fortification, or vintage; otherwise, to cut, to take away, to defend, to hinder; also, in anguish, or distress, a city beyond Jordan, sometimes said to belong to Moab and sometimes to Edom, because it was a frontier town, and belonged occasionally to each. It was given by Moses to the tribe of Reuben, and was selected as one of the cities of refuge for him "who killed his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past," Deut. iv. 42, 43. It is termed Bezer in the Wilderness by the sacred historians, and was given to the Levites of Gershom's family, Josh. xx. 8. Vulgate translates it Bozor. See BOZRA. BEZETH, a town of Palestine in the vicinity of Jerusalem, which Bacchides, the general of Demetrius Soter, king of Syria, surprised, and the inhabitants of which he threw into a pit; probably the same with Bezecath, 1 Macc. vii. 19. The BEZETHA, or BETZETA, a division or part of Jerusalem situated on an eminence, and encompassed with walls, being, according to Josephus, a new city attached to the old one, and called Kaivoons, or Cainopolis. It lay to the north of Jerusalem and the Temple. BILEAM, a city of refuge in the halftribe of Manasseh, 1 Chron. vi. 70. See IBLEAM. BITHYNIA, violent precipitation, compounded of the Greek words ßix and w, the name of a country in the northern part of Asia Minor, bounded by the Euxine on the north, by the Thracian Bosphorus and the Propontis on the north-west and west, by Phrygia and Mysia on the south, and by the Sangarius river, now called Sacaria, and Paphlagonia, on the east. This country is filled with mountains covered with ship timber, and its valleys and plains are fruitful, particularly in oil. The places of importance in the province are Prusa, Nice, Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Libyssa, and Therma, two of which are celebrated in ecclesiastical history for the Councils of the Church held in them. St Paul proposed to go into Bithynia, but "the Spirit suffered him not," Acts xvi. 7,8. St Peter addresses his First Epistle to the Christians scattered abroad in Bithynia and other countries. The province of Bithynia witnessed the first General Council of the Church at Nice, which was summoned by command of Constantine the Great against the Arians; and the fourth General Council was held at Chalcedon, another of its cities, against the Nestorians. Bithynia was anciently an independent kingdom, but no event of any importance occurs in its history except the treacherous conduct of one of its monarchs, named Prusias, who basely delivered the illustrious Hannibal to the Romans. His great-grandson, Nicomedus IV., was the last king. He died about seventy-five years before the Christian era, and bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans, who reduced it to a province. It now forms one of the districts of Turkish Anatolia, and is the nearest province to Turkey in Europe, being separated from it only by the very narrow strait of the Thracian Bosphorus opposite Constantinople, on which is situated the suburb called the Scutari, a short distance from Chalcedon, containing upwards of 30,000 inhabitants. A considerable proportion of the population of Bithynia belong to the Greek and Armenian Churches. This country was anciently |