This has led pathologists to the conclusion that the proper cause of
Christ’s death was rupture of the heart. (Comp. Psalm 69:20.)
- BLOODY SWEAT the sign and token of our Lord’s great agony (Luke
22:44). - BLOT a stain or reproach (Job 31:7; Proverbs 9:7). To blot out sin is to
forgive it (Psalm 51:1, 9; Isaiah 44:22; Acts 3:19). Christ’s blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances was his fulfilling the law in our behalf
(Colossians 2:14). - BLUE generally associated with purple (Exodus 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36, etc.).
It is supposed to have been obtained from a shellfish of the Mediterranean,
the Helix ianthina of Linnaeus. The robe of the high priest’s ephod was to
be all of this colour (Exodus 28:31), also the loops of the curtains (26:4)
and the ribbon of the breastplate (28:28). Blue cloths were also made for
various sacred purposes (Numbers 4:6, 7, 9, 11, 12). (See COLOUR.) - BOANERGES sons of thunder, a surname given by our Lord to James
and John (Mark 3:17) on account of their fervid and impetuous temper
(Luke 9:54). - BOAR occurs only in Psalm 80:13. The same Hebrew word is elsewhere
rendered “swine” (Leviticus 11:7; Deuteronomy 14:8; Proverbs 11:22;
Isaiah 65:4; 66:3, 17). The Hebrews abhorred swine’s flesh, and
accordingly none of these animals were reared, except in the district
beyond the Sea of Galilee. In the psalm quoted above the powers that
destroyed the Jewish nation are compared to wild boars and wild beasts of
the field. - BOAZ alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By
the “levirate law” the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the
Moabitess (Ruth 4:1-13). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband.
(2.) The name given (for what reason is unknown) to one of the two (the
other was called Jachin) brazen pillars which Solomon erected in the court
of the temple (1 Kings 7:21; 2 Chronicles 3:17). These pillars were broken
up and carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.
- BOCHIM weepers, a place where the angel of the Lord reproved the
Israelites for entering into a league with the people of the land. This caused