- BEDAN one of the judges of Israel (1 Samuel 12:11). It is uncertain who
he was. Some suppose that Barak is meant, others Samson, but most
probably this is a contracted form of Abdon (Judges 12:13). - BED-CHAMBER an apartment in Eastern houses, furnished with a
slightly elevated platform at the upper end and sometimes along the sides,
on which were laid mattresses. This was the general arrangement of the
public sleeping-room for the males of the family and for guests, but there
were usually besides distinct bed-chambers of a more private character (2
Kings 4:10; Exodus 8:3; 2 Kings 6:12). In 2 Kings 11:2 this word denotes,
as in the margin of the Revised Version, a store-room in which mattresses
were kept. - BEDSTEAD used in Deuteronomy 3:11, but elsewhere rendered “couch,”
“bed.” In 2 Kings 1:4; 16:2; Psalm 132:3; Amos 3:12, the divan is meant
by this word. - BEE First mentioned in Deuteronomy 1:44. Swarms of bees, and the
danger of their attacks, are mentioned in Psalm 118:12. Samson found a
“swarm of bees” in the carcass of a lion he had slain (Judges 14:8). Wild
bees are described as laying up honey in woods and in clefts of rocks
(Deuteronomy 32:13; Psalm 81:16). In Isaiah 7:18 the “fly” and the “bee”
are personifications of the Egyptians and Assyrians, the inveterate
enemies of Israel. - BEELZEBUB (Gr. form Beel’zebul), the name given to Satan, and found
only in the New Testament (Matthew 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22). It is
probably the same as Baalzebub (q.v.), the God of Ekron, meaning “the
Lord of flies,” or, as others think, “the Lord of dung,” or “the dung-God.” - BEER well. (1.) A place where a well was dug by the direction of Moses,
at the forty-fourth station of the Hebrews in their wanderings (Numbers
21:16-18) in the wilderness of Moab. (See WELL.)
(2.) A town in the tribe of Judah to which Jotham fled for fear of
Abimelech (Judges 9:21). Some have identified this place with Beeroth.