BALADAN

The narrative of P ascribing the sin of Baal-peor to Balaam is out of touch with both the other narratives. According to it, Balaam was a Midianitish seer who tried to bring about the ruin of Israel, in default of other means, by persuading them to give way to lust (Nu 31*- "; Jos. Ant. VI. vi. 6). 'It has been conjectured that this story arose partly out of a difBculty on the part of the priestly narrator in conceiving of a heathen being an inspired prophet of God, partly from the need of ac-counting for the great sin of the IsraeUtes' (DB i. 233"). Balaam thus seems to have fallen in the estimation of Israel from being a seer of alien race, who distinguished himself by his faithfulness to the truth he knew, to becoming synonymous with temptation of a kind that was always especially insidious for Israel.

R. Bhucb TArLOK.

BALADAN. — See Meeodach-Bai.adan.

BALAH (Jos 19'). — An unknown town of Simeon; perhaps identical with Bealoth (Jos 15^) and Bilhah (1 Ch 4"); called Baalah in Jos 15", where it is assigned to Judah.

BALAK. — The king of Moab who hired Balaam, Nu 22-24. See Balaam.

BALAMON. — A town near Dothaim (Jth 8»).

BALANCB. — The Hebrew balances probably differed but little from those in use in Egypt as described by Wilkinson (Anc. Egyp. [1878], ii. 246 f.). The main parts were the beam with its support, and the scales which were hung by cords from the ends of the equal arms of the beam. The 'pair of scales' is used in OT by a figure for the balance as a whole ; only once is the beam so used (Is 46^). The 'weights were originally of stone and are always so termed. The moral necessity of a just balance and true weights and the iniquity of false ones are frequently emphasized by the prophets, moral teachers, and legislators of Israel; see Am 8^, 'Mic 6", Pr 11' 16" ('a just balance and scales are the Lord's') 20'', Lv 19*=, Dt 26™..

A. R. S. Kennedy.

BALD LOCUST.— See Locubt (8).

BALDNESS. — See Cctttings in the Flesh, Hair.

BALM.— A product of Gilead (On 37== 43"), cele-brated for its heaUng properties (Jer 8" 46" 61*), and an important article of commerce (Ezk 27"). Nothing is known for certain about the nature of this substance, but it is usually supposed to be some kind of aromatic gum or resin. There is now no plant in Gilead which produces any characteristic product of this nature. Mastich, a resin much used by the Arabs for flavouring coffee, sweets, etc., and as a chewing gum, is considered by many to be the eori of Gn 37^ (so RVm). It has been credited with healing properties. It is a product of the Pisiacia lentiscus, a plant common in Palestine. The so-called 'Balm of Gilead' of commerce, and the substance sold by the monks of Jericho to-day, this latter a product of the zakkUm tree, are neither of them serious claimants to be the genuine article. See also Spice. E. W. G. Mastekman.

BALNU0S.— 1 Es 93i=Binnui of Ezr loa".

BALSAM.— See Spice.

BALTASAB.— The Gr. form of Belshazzar (Dn 5, etc.. Bar 1"'-) and of Belteshazzar (Dn 4, etc.).

BAMAH (only Ezk 202') is the ordinary word for 'high place,' but is here retained in its Hebrew form as the word 'manna' in the parallel case Ex 16", on account of the word-play: 'What (mah) is the ba-mah to which ye go (63)7' See, further. High Place.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

BAMOTH, BAMOTH-BAAL.— Bamoth is mentioned in Nu 21'"- as a station in the journey of Israel from the Arnon to the Jordan. It is prob. identical with Bamoth-baal of Nu 22" (RVm; AV and RV 'the high places of Baal'), to which Balaam was led by

BAN

Balak. Bamoth-baal is mentioned as a Reubenite city in Jos 13".

BAN. — The ban is an institution from remote anti-quity, which still survives in the Jewish and Christian Churches. Its earUer history has not yet received the systematic treatment which it merits. The original idea, common to all the Semitic languages, is that of withdrawing something from common use and setting it apart for the exclusive use of a deity. In Hebrew the verbal root acquired the more specialized meaning of devoting to J" His enemies and their belongings by means of fire and sword, and is usually rendered ' utterly destroy' (RVm adds 'Heb. devote'), while the cognate noun (chSrem, Gr. anathema) is 'accursed ( AV) or devoted (RV) thing.' In this brief treatment of a large subject we propose to distinguish between the war ban, the justice ban, and the private ban.

1. The war ban, clearly the oldest form of the institu-tion, shows various degrees of severity. The war ban of the first degree, as it may be termed, involved the destruction not only of every man, woman, and child of the enemy, but also of their entire property of every description (see Dt 13i«). The treatment of the Amalekites in 1 S 16 is a famihar example. The case of Achan, after the ban and capture of Jericho, affords a striking illustration of the early ideas associated with the ban. Every 'devoted thing,' as henceforyj the inviolate property of J", and therefore taboo, became infected with the deadly contagion of holiness (note Lv 27^8 'most holy,' lit. 'holy of holies'). Hence by retaining part of the 'devoted thing' (cftSrem) in his tent Achan infected the whole 'camp of Israel,' with disastrous results (Jos 6" 7"'-, cf. Dt 7"i). More frequently we meet with a relaxed formof the war ban, which may be called the ban of the se^Bkdegree. In this case only the men, women, ancnjVdren of the doomed city were devoted, while the caftre and the rest of the spoil became the property of the victors (Dt 2"'-3"- y, Jos 11"). A still further relaxation, a ban of the third degree, is contemplated by the law of Dt 20i"'-, by which only the males are put to the ban, the women and children being spared as the perquisites of the besiegers. On the other hand, only virgins were to be spared in Nu 31"'- and Jg 21"«'-, for special reasons in the latter case.

2. The justice ban differs from the other in being applicable only to members of the theocratic community. It appears in the oldest legislation as the punishment of the apostate Israelite (Ex 22^"), and is extended in the Deuteronomic code to the idolatrous city (Dt 13i"'). Here only the ban of the first degree was admissible. An important modification of the judicial ban is first met with in Ezr 10', where recalcitrant members of the community, instead of being put to death, are excommunicated, and only their 'substance forfeited' (RVm 'devoted') to the Temple treasury. This modified cherem became the starting-point of a long development. For these later Jewish and Christian bans see Excommunication,

3. The attenuated form of ban found in the late passage Lv 27*' may be termed the private ban. The cases contemplated — 'man or beast or field' — are evidently those "of unusually solemn and inalienable dedications by private persons for religious purposes (cf. Nu 18", Ezk 44", and the NT 'corban'), as opposed to the redeemable dedications of the preceding verses. The latter are holy while the former are 'most holy.' The following verse, on the contrary, must refer to the justice ban.

The ban was an institution of earlier date than the Hebrew conquest, and was practised by the Moabitea in its most rigorous form (see Mesha's inscription, II. 11-17), perhaps also by the Ammonites (2 Ch 29^). Instances of similar practices among many half-civilized races are noted by the anthropologists. The original motive of the ban is prob-ably reflected in Nu 21'''', where it is represented as the return made to J" for help against the enemy vouchsafed in

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