BISHOP'S BIBLE

In pointed contrast to ' apostles, prophets, and evan-gelists,' whose office was not local. So 1 Th 5'^ ' those that are over you,' Ro 128 'he that ruleth.' and He 137. n. a 'them that have the rule over you,' remind us of the bishops and elders who rule (1 Ti 3* 5"). So, too, the 'rulers' in Clement must be bishops or elders, for these bishops plainly have no earthly superior, so that they must be themselves the rulers.

Under this head we may place the share taken by the elders: (a) at Jerusalem (Ac 15') in the deliberations of the Apostohc Conference, and (Ac 21") in the recep-tion held by James; (6) elsewhere (1 Tl 4") in the laying-on of hands on Timothy, whether that corresponds to ordination or to something' else.

(2) Teaching: 1 Th 5<2 rulers admonishing in the Lord ; 1 Tl 3' the bishop apt to teach; 5" double honour to the elders who rule well, especially those who toil in word and teaching; Tit !» the elder or bishop must be able to teach, and to convince the gainsayers. Yet 1 Ti 5" seems to imply that elders might rule well who toiled in other duties than word and teaching; and if so, these were not the sole work of all elders.

Preaching is rather connected with the unlocal min-istry of apostles, prophets, and evangelists: but in their absence the whole function of public worship would devolve on the local ministry of bishops and deacons. This becomes quite plain in the Teaching and in Clement.

(3) Pastoral care: This is conspicuous everywhere. To it we may also refer: (a) visiting of the sick (Ja 5") with a view to anointing and cure — not as a viaticum at the approach of death; {6) care of strangers and a fortiori of the poor (1 Ti 3^, Tit 1«, the bishop to be a lover of strangers). H. M. Gwatkin.

BISHOP'S BIBLE.— See Engubh Vbksions.

BIT, BRIDLE.— The Hebrews were doubtless well acquainted with the hit, but there is no clear mention of it as distinct from the bridle, the words for which in Gr. and Lat. include bit, headstall, and reins. In Ja 3' the context is decisive for 'bridle' (RV and AV 'hit'); in Ps 32' for 'bit and bridle' we should probably render ' bridle and halter,' and so in the other passages where the two Hebrew words respectively occur, e.g. 'bridle,' Pr 26=, but 'halter,' Job 30".

In Ps 39' 'bridle' should certainly be "muzzle" (cf. the corresponding verb in Dt 25'). The crocodile's "double bridle' (Job 41") is his jaws, but the text is doubtful. A. R. S. Kennedy.

BITHIAH ("daughter," i.e. worshipper, "of J"'). — The daughter of a Pharaoh, who became the wife of Mered, a descendant of Judah (1 Ch 4"). Whether Pharaoh is to be taken here as the Egyp. royal title or as a Heb. proper name, it is difficult to determine.

BITHRON (2 S 2" 'the gorge,' probably not a proper name). — A ravine leading to Mahanaim.

BirHYNIA.— A district in the N.W. of Asia Minor, which had been a Roman province since B.C. 74. For administrative purposes it was generally united with the province of Pontus, which bounds it on the E., under one governor. The province was senatorial till about A.D. 165, and governed by a proconsul. The younger Pliny governed it from a.d. 111-113 by a special commission from the emperor Trajan. Paul and Silas were prevented by the Spirit from preaching in Bithynia (Ac 16'), and the beginnings of Christianity there are unknown. It is probable that it came by the Black Sea. That there were churches there after St. Paul's time is certain from the address of the First Epistle of Peter, which was probably written a.d. 75-80.

A. SOUTER.

BITTER HERBS (merBrlm, Ex 128, Nu 9u)._The bitter herbs of the modern Jewish Passover in Palestine are specially lettuce and endive. Other salads, such as parsley, cucumber, chicory, and water-cress, are also commonly eaten, indeed are prime favourites. The

BLAIN

author of La 3'', in using the same word merBrlm (tr. " bitterness'), doubtless had more bitter and less whole-some plants in his mind, perhaps the colocynth or Ecballium elaterium, the wild gourd of 2 K 4". See, further, Passoveh. E. W. G. Masterman.

BITTER WATER (lit., as RV, Water of Bitterness, Nu 5'8). — See Jealousy.

BITTERN (Is 1428 34", Zeph 2").— Although the bird ofthisname — theBotawus stellaris — isfoundinPalestine, especially in the Huleh marshes, the philological evidence is quite against this translation. The Heb, word is kippBd, and is generally accepted to be the equivalent of the Arab, kunfudh, 'porcupine,' This animal suits the Scriptural requirements at least as well as the bittern. It (the Hystrix cristata) is common all over Palestine. Large specimens measure as much as 3 ft. from the nose to the tip of the spines. The porcupine is a vegetable- eating, nocturnal animal; it is solitary in its habits, and very timid of man. It glides about in the twilight or starlight in a most weird way, giving vent at times to peculiar short grunts. When roused to self-defence, the porcupine is most dangerous; its erect quills, which pierce like a needle, make it most difficult to capture. In all respects the porcupine is a likely and appropriate Inhabitant of desolate ruins untrodden by the foot of man. Porcupine are eaten by both fellahin and Bedouin. E. W. G. Masterman.

BITTIMEN, asphalt, or mineral pitch is an inflammable viscous substance, composed of hydrocarbons of the same series as those which constitute mineral oil or petroleum. It has in fact been described as ' petroleum hardened by evaporation and oxidation,' and may vary in consistency from a solid to a semi-liquid condition. It occurs both in Mesopotamia and Palestine. The springs at Kit, on the Euphrates, 150 miles above Babylon, are mentioned by Herodotus (i. 179), and still yield an abun-dant supply. There are similar springs at Kal' at Sherkat, on the Tigris, 60 miles S. of Nineveh (Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, ii. 467). In Pal. it is found at Hasbeyah, near Mt. Hermon, and in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea (hence called Asphaltitis Limne by Josephus [BJ iv. viii. 4] and Laais Asphaitites by Pliny [HN v. xv. 151). Some of the limestone strata in the last-named locahty are highly bituminous, and masses of bitumen are known to fioat on the Dead Sea itself after earthquakes. In the OT there are three Heb. words which denote some form of this substance.

In the Flood-story knpher (LXX asphaltos, EV pitch) is used in the construction of the ark (Gn 6"). Hemar (AV and RV slime, RVm 'bitumen') was the mortar employed by the early Babylonian builders (Gn 1 18, LXX asphaltos). Bitumen pits or wells, into which the pitchy liquid (LXX asphaltos) oozed from the earth, are mentioned as occurring in the Vale of Siddim, i.e. the Dead Sea basin (Gn 14"). This is quite in keeping with the nature of the region, though such wells are not now found in it. In Ex 2^ hlmar is one of the substances with which the ark of bulrushes was made watertight, the other being zepheih (EV 'pitch'). LXX includes both in the general rendering asphaltopissa, and they probably denote the more solid and the more liquid varieties of bitumen respectively. Zepheih also occurs twice in Is 34' (LXX pissa, EV 'pitch'). The context makes it probable that the reference is again to bitumen.

James Patrick.

BIZIOTHIAH (Jos 15").— A corruption tor ftctiBtftcM ' her villages,' referring to Beersheba (cf. also Neh 11").

BIZTHA (Est 1>»).— One of the seven eunuchs or chamberlains of king Ahasuerus.

BLACK.— See Colours, 2.

BLAIK. — A blain is an inflammatory swelUng on the body. In one of the plagues of Egypt the dust became a 'boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast' (Ex 9»' •"). See Botch, Medicine,

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