- BIER the frame on which dead bodies were conveyed to the grave (Luke
7:14). - BIGTHA garden, or gift of fortune, one of the seven eunuchs or
chamberlains who had charge of the harem of Ahasuerus (Esther 1:10). - BIGTHAN one of the eunuchs who “kept the door” in the court of
Ahasuerus. With Teresh he conspired against the king’s life. Mordecai
detected the conspiracy, and the culprits were hanged (Esther 2:21-23;
6:1-3). - BILDAD son of contention, one of Job’s friends. He is called “the
Shuhite,” probably as belonging to Shuah, a district in Arabia, in which
Shuah, the sixth son of Abraham by Keturah, settled (Genesis 25:2). He
took part in each of the three controversies into which Job’s friends
entered with him (Job 8:1; 18:1; 25:1), and delivered three speeches, very
severe and stern in their tone, although less violent than those of Zophar,
but more so than those of Eliphaz. - BILGAH cheerful. (1.) The head of the fifteenth sacerdotal course for the
temple service (1 Chronicles 24:14). (2.) A priest who returned from
Babylon with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:5, 18). - BILHAH faltering; bashful, Rachel’s handmaid, whom she gave to Jacob
(Genesis 29:29). She was the mother of Dan and Naphtali (Genesis
30:3-8). Reuben was cursed by his father for committing adultry with her
(35:22; 49:4). He was deprived of the birth-right, which was given to the
sons of Joseph. - BILSHAN son of the tongue; i.e., “eloquent”, a man of some note who
returned from the Captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7). - BIRD Birds are divided in the Mosaic law into two classes, (1) the clean
(Leviticus 1:14-17; 5:7-10; 14:4-7), which were offered in sacrifice; and (2)
the unclean (Leviticus 11:13-20). When offered in sacrifice, they were not
divided as other victims were (Genesis 15:10). They are mentioned also as
an article of food (Deuteronomy 14:11). The art of snaring wild birds is
referred to (Psalm 124:7; Proverbs 1:17; 7:23; Jeremiah 5:27). Singing birds
are mentioned in Psalm 104:12; Ecclesiastes 12:4. Their timidity is alluded
to (Hos. 11:11). The reference in Psalm 84:3 to the swallow and the
sparrow may be only a comparison equivalent to, “What her house is to
the sparrow, and her nest to the swallow, that thine altars are to my soul.”
kiana
(Kiana)
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