called by the lapidaries, _aqua marina_. Its Hebrew name is a word also
for the same reason given to the sea, Psalm xlviii, 7. It is found in
the East Indies, Peru, Siberia, and Tartary. It has a brilliant
appearance, and is generally transparent. It was the tenth stone
belonging to the high priest’s pectoral, Exod. xxviii, 10, 20; Rev. xxi,
20.
BETHABARA, or BETHBARAH, signifies in the Hebrew a place of passage,
because of its ford over the river Jordan, on the east bank of which
river it stood over against Jericho, Joshua ii, 7; iii, 15, 16. To this
place Gideon sent a party to secure the passage of the river, previous
to his attack on the Midianites, Judges vii, 24. Here John commenced his
baptizing, and here Christ himself was baptized, John i, 28. To this
place, also, Jesus retired, when the Jews sought to take him at the
feast of dedication; and many who resorted there to him believed on him,
John x, 39–42.
BETHANY, a considerable place, situated on the ascent of the mount of
Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem, John xi, 18; Matt. xxi, 17;
xxvi, 6, &c. Here it was that Martha and Mary lived, with their brother
Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead; and it was here that Mary
poured the perfume on our Saviour’s head. Bethany at present is but a
very small village. One of our modern travellers tells us, that, at the
entrance into it, there is an old ruin, called the castle of Lazarus,
supposed to have been the mansion house where he and his sisters
resided. At the bottom of a descent, not far from the castle, you see
his sepulchre, which the Turks hold in great veneration, and use it for
an oratory, or place for prayer. Here going down by twenty-five steps,
you come at first into a small square room, and from thence creep into
another that is smaller, about a yard and a half deep, in which the body
is said to have been laid. About a bow-shot from hence you pass by the
place which they say was Mary Magdalene’s house; and thence descending a
steep hill, you come to the fountain of the Apostles, which is so called
because, as the tradition goes, these holy persons were wont to refresh
themselves there between Jerusalem and Jericho,--as it is very probable
they might, because the fountain is close to the road side, and is
inviting to the thirsty traveller. Bethany is now a poor village, but
pleasantly situated, says Dr. Richardson, on the shady side of the mount
of Olives, and abounds in trees and long grass.
BETHAVEN, the same with Bethel. This city, upon the revolt of the ten
tribes, belonged to the kingdom of Israel, and was therefore one of the
cities in which Jeroboam set up his golden calves. Whence the prophet in
derision calls it, “Bethaven,” _the house of vanity_ or _idols_, Hosea
iv, 15, instead of “Bethel,” _the house of God_, the name which Jacob
formerly gave it, when he had the vision of the mysterious ladder,
reaching from earth to heaven, Gen. xxviii, 19.
BETHEL, a city which lay to the west of Ai, about eight miles to the
north of Jerusalem, in the confines of the tribe of Ephraim and
Benjamin. Here Jacob slept and had his vision. The name of this city had
formerly been Luz, which signifies _an almond_, and was probably so
called from the number of almond trees which grew in those parts. See
JACOB.
BETHESDA. This word signifies _the house of mercy_, and was the name of
a pool, or public bath, at Jerusalem, which had five porticos, piazzas,
or covered walks around it. This bath was called Bethesda, because, as
some observe, the erecting of baths was an act of great kindness to the
common people, whose infirmities in hot countries required frequent
bathing; but the generality of expositors think it had this name rather
from the great goodness of God manifested to his people, in bestowing
healing virtues upon its waters. The account of the evangelist is, “Now
there was at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in
the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a
multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the
moving of the water; for an angel went down at a certain season into the
pool: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in
was made whole of whatsoever disease he had,” John v, 2–4. The
genuineness of the fourth verse has been disputed, because it is wanting
in some ancient MSS, and is written in the margin of another as a
scholion; but even were the spuriousness of this verse allowed, for
which, however, the evidence is by no means satisfactory, the
supernatural character of the account, as it is indicated by the other
parts of the narrative, remains unaffected. The _agitation_ of the
water; its _suddenly_ healing virtue as to all diseases; and the
_limitation_ to the first that should go in, are all miraculous
circumstances. Commentators have however resorted to various hypotheses
to account for the whole without divine agency. Dr. Hammond says, “The
sacrifices were exceedingly numerous at the passover, κατὰ καιρὸν, (once
a year, Chrysostom,) when the pool being warm from the immediate washing
of the blood and entrails, and thus adapted to the cure of the blind,
the withered, the lame, and perhaps the paralytic, was yet farther
troubled, and the congelations and grosser parts stirred up by an
officer or messenger, ἄγγελος, to give it the full effect.” To this
hypothesis Whitby acutely replies, 1. How could this natural virtue be
adapted to, and cure, all kinds of diseases? 2. How could the virtue
only extend to the cure of one man, several probably entering at the
same instant? 3. How unlikely is it, if natural, to take place only at
one certain time, at the passover? for there was a multitude of
sacrifices slain at other of the feasts. 4. Lastly, and decisively,
Lightfoot shows that there was a laver in the temple for washing the
entrails; therefore they were not washed in this pool at all.
Others, however, suppose that the blood of the victims was conveyed from
the temple to this pool by pipes; and Kuinoel thinks that it cannot be
denied that the blood of animals recently slaughtered may impart a
medicinal property to water; and he refers to Richter’s “_Dissertat. de
Balneo Animali_,” and Michaelis _in loc._ But he admits that it cannot
be proved whether the pool was situated out of the city at the sheep
gate, or in the city, and in the vicinity of the temple; nor that the
blood of the victims was ever conveyed thither by canals. Kuinoel justly
observes, that though in Josephus no mention is made of the baths here
described, yet this silence ought not to induce us to question the truth
of this transaction; since the historian omits to record many other
circumstances which cannot be doubted; as, for instance, the census of
Augustus, and the murder of the infants. This critic also supposes that
St. John only acts the part of an historian, and gives the account as it
was current among the Jews, without vouching for its truth, or
interposing his own judgment. Mede follows in the track of absurdly
attempting to account for the phenomenon on natural principles:--“I
think the water of this pool acquired a medicinal property from the mud
at its bottom, which was heavy with metallic salts,--sulphur perhaps, or
alum, or nitre. Now this would, from the water being perturbed from the
bottom by some natural cause, perhaps subterranean heat, or storms, rise
upward and be mingled with it, and so impart a sanative property to
those who bathed in it before the metallic particles had subsided to the
bottom. That it should have done so, κατὰ καιρὸν, is not strange, since
Bartholin has, by many examples, shown, that it is usual with many
medicinal baths, to exert a singular force and sanative power at stated
times, and at periodical, but uncertain, intervals.” Doddridge combines
the common hypothesis with that of Mede; namely, that the water had at
all times more or less of a medicinal property; but at some period, not
far distant from that in which the transaction here recorded took place,
it was endued with a miraculous power; an extraordinary commotion being
probably observed in the water, and Providence so ordering it, that the
next person who accidentally bathed here, being under some great
disorder, found an immediate and unexpected cure: the like phenomenon in
some other desperate case, was probably observed on a second commotion:
and these commotions and cures might happen periodically.
All those hypotheses which exclude miracle in this case are very
unsatisfactory, nor is there any reason whatever to resort to them; for,
when rightly viewed, there appears a mercy and a wisdom in this miracle
which must strike every one who attentively considers the account,
unless he be a determined unbeliever in miraculous interposition. For,
1. The miracle occurred κατὰ καιρὸν, from time to time, that is,
occasionally, perhaps frequently. 2. Though but one at a time was
healed, yet, as this might often occur, a singularly gracious provision
was made for the relief of the sick inhabitants of Jerusalem in
desperate cases. 3. The angel probably acted invisibly, but the
commotion in the waters was so strong and peculiar as to mark a
supernatural agent. 4. There is great probability in what Doddridge,
following Tertullian, supposes, that the waters obtained their healing
property not long before the ministry of Christ, and lost it after his
rejection and crucifixion by the Jews. In this case a connection was
established between the healing virtue of the pool and the presence of
Christ on earth, indicating HIM to be the source of this benefit, and
the true agent in conferring it; and thus it became, afterward at least,
a confirmation of his mission. 5. The whole might also be emblematical,
“intended,” says Macknight, “to show that Ezekiel’s vision of waters
issuing out of the sanctuary was about to be fulfilled, of which waters
it is said, They shall be healed, and every thing shall live where the
river cometh.” It cannot be objected that this was not an age of
miracles; and if miracles be allowed, we see in this particular
supernatural visitation obvious reasons of fitness, as well as a divine
compassion. If however the ends to be accomplished by so public and
notable a miraculous interposition were less obvious, still we must
admit the fact, or either force absurd interpretations upon the text, or
make the evangelist carelessly give his sanction to an instance of
vulgar credulity and superstition.
Maundrell and Chateaubriand both describe a bason or reservoir, near St.
Stephen’s gate, and bounding the temple on the north, as the identical
pool of Bethesda; which, if it really be what it is represented to be,
is all that now remains of the primitive architecture of the Jews at
Jerusalem. The latter says, “It is a reservoir, a hundred and fifty feet
long and forty wide. The sides are walled, and these walls are composed
of a bed of large stones joined together by iron cramps; a wall of mixed
materials runs up on these large stones; a layer of flints is stuck upon
the surface of this wall; and a coating is laid over these flints. The
four beds are perpendicular with the bottom, and not horizontal: the
coating was on the side next to the water; and the large stones rested,
as they still do, against the ground. This pool is now dry, and half
filled up. Here grow some pomegranate trees, and a species of wild
tamarind of a bluish colour: the western angle is quite full of nopals.
On the west side may also be seen two arches, which probably led to an
aqueduct that carried the water into the interior of the temple.”
BETH-HORON. About twelve miles from Jerusalem, lies the Arab village of
Bethoor, where Dr. E. D. Clarke was by accident compelled to pass a
night. It is noticed by no other traveller; and yet, there is the
highest probability that this is the Beth-horon of the Scriptures. St.
Jerom associates it with Rama, in the remark that they were in his time,
together with other noble cities built by Solomon, only poor villages.
Beth-horon stood on the confines of Ephraim and Benjamin; which,
according to the learned traveller, exactly answers to the situation of
Bethoor. He supposes it, from its situation on a hill, to be Beth-horon
the upper, the Beth-horon superior of Eusebius, of which frequent notice
occurs in the apocryphal writings. Josephus mentions that Cestius, the
Roman general, marched upon Jerusalem by way of Lydda and Beth-horon.
BETHLEHEM, a city in the tribe of Judah, Judges xvii, 7; and likewise
called Ephrath, Gen. xlviii, 7; or Ephratah, Micah v, 2; and the
inhabitants of it, Ephrathites, Ruth i, 2; 1 Sam. xvii, 12. Here David
was born, and spent his early years as a shepherd. And here also the
scene of the beautiful narrative of Ruth is supposed to be laid. But its
highest honour is, that here our divine Lord condescended to be born of
woman:--“And 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 of old, from
everlasting.” Travellers describe the first view of Bethlehem as
imposing. The town appears covering the ridge of a hill on the southern
side of a deep and extensive valley, and reaching from east to west. The
most conspicuous object is the monastery erected over the supposed “Cave
of the Nativity;” its walls and battlements have the air of a large
fortress. From this same point, the Dead Sea is seen below on the left,
seemingly very near, “but,” says Sandys, “not so found by the traveller;
for these high, declining mountains are not to be directly descended.”
The road winds round the top of a valley which tradition has fixed on as
the scene of the angelic vision which announced the birth of our Lord to
the shepherds; but different spots have been selected, the Romish
authorities not being agreed on this head. Bethlehem (called in the New
Testament Bethlehem Ephrata and Bethlehem of Judea, to distinguish it
from Bethlehem of Zabulon) is situated on a rising ground, about two
hours’ distance, or not quite six miles from Jerusalem. Here the
traveller meets with a repetition of the same puerilities and disgusting
mummery which he has witnessed at the church of the sepulchre. “The
stable,” to use the words of Pococke, “in which our Lord was born, is a
_grotto_ cut out of the rock, according to the eastern custom.” It is
astonishing to find so intelligent a writer as Dr. E. D. Clarke gravely
citing St. Jerom, who wrote in the fifth century, as an authority for
the truth of the absurd legend by which the cave of the nativity is
supposed to be identified. The ancient tombs and excavations are
occasionally used by the Arabs as places of shelter; but the Gospel
narrative affords no countenance to the notion that the Virgin took
refuge in any cave of this description. On the contrary, it was
evidently a manger belonging to the inn or khan: in other words, the
upper rooms being wholly occupied, the holy family were compelled to
take up their abode in the court allotted to the mules and horses, or
other animals. But the New Testament was not the guide which was
followed by the mother of Constantine, to whom the original church owed
its foundation. The present edifice is represented by Chateaubriand as
of undoubtedly high antiquity; yet Doubdan, an old traveller, says that
the monastery was destroyed in the year 1263 by the Moslems; and in its
present state, at all events, it cannot lay claim to a higher date. The
convent is divided among the Greek, Roman, and Armenian Christians, to
each of whom separate parts are assigned as places of worship and
habitations for the monks; but, on certain days, all may perform their
devotions at the altars erected over the consecrated spots. The church
is built in the form of a cross; the nave being adorned with forty-eight
Corinthian columns in four rows, each column being two feet six inches
in diameter, and eighteen feet high, including the base and the capital.
The nave, which is in possession of the Armenians, is separated from the
three other branches of the cross by a wall, so that the unity of the
edifice is destroyed. The top of the cross is occupied by the choir,
which belongs to the Greeks. Here is an altar dedicated to the wise men
of the east, at the foot of which is a marble star, corresponding, as
the monks say, to the point of the heavens where the miraculous meteor
became stationary, and directly over the spot where the Saviour was born
in the subterranean church below! A flight of fifteen steps, and a long
narrow passage, conduct to the sacred crypt or grotto of the nativity,
which is thirty-seven feet six inches long, by eleven feet three inches
in breadth, and nine feet high. It is lined and floored with marble, and
provided on each side with five oratories, “answering precisely to the
ten cribs or stalls for horses that the stable in which our Saviour was
born contained!” The precise spot of the birth is marked by a glory in
the floor, composed of marble and jasper encircled with silver, around
which are inscribed the words, _Hìc de Virgine Mariâ Jesus Christus
natus est_. [Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.] Over it is
a marble table or altar, which rests against the side of the rock, here
cut into an arcade. The _manger_ is at the distance of seven paces from
the altar; it is in a low recess hewn out of the rock, to which you
descend by two steps, and consists of a block of marble, raised about a
foot and a half above the floor, and hollowed out in the form of a
manger. Before it is the altar of the Magi. The chapel is illuminated by
thirty-two lamps, presented by different princes of Christendom.
Chateaubriand has described the scene in his usual florid and
imaginative style: “Nothing can be more pleasing, or better calculated
to excite devotional sentiments, than this subterraneous church. It is
adorned with pictures of the Italian and Spanish schools, which
represent the mysteries of the place. The usual ornaments of the manger
are of blue satin, embroidered with silver. Incense is continually
burning before the cradle of our Saviour. I have heard an organ, touched
by no ordinary hand, play, during mass, the sweetest and most tender
tunes of the best Italian composers. These concerts charm the Christian
Arab, who, leaving his camels to feed, repairs, like the shepherds of
old, to Bethlehem, to adore the King of kings in the manger. I have seen
this inhabitant of the desert communicate at the altar of the Magi, with
a fervour, a piety, a devotion, unknown among the Christians of the
west. The continual arrival of caravans from all the nations of
Christendom; the public prayers; the prostrations; nay, even the
richness of the presents sent here by the Christian princes, altogether
produce feelings in the soul, which it is much easier to conceive than
to describe.”
Such are the illusions which the Roman superstition casts over this
extraordinary scene! In another subterraneous chapel, tradition places
the sepulchre of the Innocents. From this, the pilgrim is conducted to
the grotto of St. Jerom, where they show the tomb of that father, who
passed great part of his life in this place; and who, in the grotto
shown as his oratory, is said to have translated that version of the
Bible which has been adopted by the church of Rome, and is called the
Vulgate. He died at the advanced age of ninety-one, A. D. 422. The
village of Bethlehem contains about three hundred inhabitants, the
greater part of whom gain their livelihood by making beads, carving
mother-of-pearl shells with sacred subjects, and manufacturing small
tables and crucifixes, all which are eagerly purchased by the pilgrims.
Bethlehem has been visited by many modern travellers. The following
notice of it by Dr. E. D. Clarke will be read with interest: “After
travelling for about an hour from the time of our leaving Jerusalem, we
came in view of Bethlehem, and halted to enjoy the interesting sight.
The town appeared covering the ridge of a hill on the southern side of a
deep and extensive valley, and reaching from east to west; the most
conspicuous object being the monastery, erected over the cave of the
nativity, in the suburbs, and upon the eastern side. The battlements and
walls of this building seemed like those of a vast fortress. The Dead
Sea below, upon our left, appeared so near to us that we thought we
could have rode thither in a very short space of time. Still nearer
stood a mountain upon its western shore, resembling in its form the cone
of Vesuvius near Naples, and having also a crater upon its top which was
plainly discernible. The distance, however, is much greater than it
appears to be; the magnitude of the objects beheld in this fine prospect
causing them to appear less remote than they really are. The atmosphere
was remarkably clear and serene; but we saw none of those clouds of
smoke, which, by some writers, are said to exhale from the surface of
the lake, nor from any neighbouring mountain. Every thing about it was
in the highest degree grand and awful. Bethlehem is six miles from
Jerusalem. Josephus describes the interval between the two cities as
equal only to twenty stadia; and in the passage referred to, he makes an
allusion to a celebrated well, which, both from the account given by him
of its situation, and more especially from the text of the sacred
Scriptures, 2 Sam. xxiii, 15, seems to have contained the identical
fountain, of whose pure and delicious water we were now drinking.
Considered merely in point of interest, the narrative is not likely to
be surpassed by any circumstance of Pagan history. David, being a native
of Bethlehem, calls to mind, during the sultry days of harvest, verse
13, a well near the gate of the town, the delicious waters of which he
had often tasted; and expresses an earnest desire to assuage his thirst
by drinking of that limpid spring. ‘And David longed, and said, O that
one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which
is by the gate!’ The exclamation is overheard by ‘three of the mighty
men whom David had,’ namely, Adino, Eleazar, and Shamnah, verses 8, 9,
11. These men sallied forth, and having fought their way through the
garrison of the Philistines at Bethlehem, verse 14, ‘drew water from the
well that was by the gate,’ on the other side of the town, and brought
it to David. Coming into his presence, they present to him the
surprising testimony of their valour and affection. The aged monarch
receives from their hands a pledge they had so dearly earned, but
refuses to drink of water every drop of which had been purchased with
blood, 2 Sam. xxiii, 17. He returns thanks to the Almighty, who had
vouchsafed the deliverance of his warriors from the jeopardy they had
encountered; and pouring out the water as a libation on the ground,
makes an offering of it to the Lord. The well still retains its pristine
renown; and many an expatriated Bethlehemite has made it the theme of
his longing and regret.”
BETHPHAGE, so called from its producing figs, a small village situated
in Mount Olivet, and, as it seems, somewhat nearer Jerusalem than
Bethany. Jesus being come from Bethany to Bethphage, commanded his
disciples to seek out an ass for him that he might ride, in his
triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, Matt. xxi, 1, &c. The distance
between Bethphage and Jerusalem is about fifteen furlongs.
BETHSAIDA, a city whose name in Hebrew imports a place of fishing or of
hunting, and for both of these exercises it was well situated. As it
belonged to the tribe of Naphtali, it was in a country remarkable for
plenty of deer; and as it lay on the north end of the lake Gennesareth,
just where the river Jordan runs into it, it became the residence of
fishermen. Three of the Apostles, Philip, Andrew, and Peter, were born
in this city. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament, though it
frequently occurs in the New: the reason is, that it was but a village,
as Josephus tells us, till Philip the tetrarch enlarged it, making it a
magnificent city, and gave it the name of Julias, out of respect to
Julia, the daughter of Augustus Cæsar.