Baal
geographical. This word occurs as the prefix or suffix to the names of several places in Palestine, some of which are as follows: BAAL a town of Simeon, named only in ( 1 Chronicles 4:33 ) which from the parallel list in ( Joshua 19:8 ) seems to have been identical with BAALATH-BEER. Baalah (mistress). A. Another name for Kirjath -JEARIM, or Kirjath BAAL, the well-known town now Kuriet el Enab . ( Joshua 15:9 , 10 ; 1 Chronicles 13:6 ) b. A town in the south of Judah, ( Joshua 15:29 ) which in Josh 19:3 Is called Balah , and in the parallel list, ( 1 Chronicles 4:29 ) Bilhah . Baalath (mistress), a town of Dan named with Gibbethon, Gath-rim-mon and other Philistine places. ( Joshua 19:44 ) BAALATH-BEER (lord of the well). BAAL 1, a town among those in the south part of Judah, given to Simeon, which also bore the name of RAMATH-NEGEB, or “the height of the south.” ( Joshua 19:8 ) BAAL-GAD (lord of fortune), used to denote the most northern, ( Joshua 11:17 ; 12:7 ) or perhaps northwestern, ( Joshua 13:5 ) point to which Joshua’s victories extended. It was in all probability a Phoenician or Canaanite sanctuary of Baal under the aspect of Gad or Fortune. BAAL-HAMON (lord of a multitude), a place at which Solomon had a vineyard, evidently of great extent. (Song of Solomon 8:11) BAAL-HAZOR (village of Baal), a place where Absalom appears to have had a sheep-farm, and where Amnon was murdered. ( 2 Samuel 13:23 ) Mount , Mount, Mountain BAAL-HERMON (Lord of Hermon), ( Judges 3:3 ) and simply Baal-hermon. ( 1 Chronicles 5:23 ) This is usually considered as a distinct place from Mount Hermon; but we know that this mountain had at least three names (3:9) and Baal-hermon may have been a fourth in use among the Phoenician worshippers. BAAL-MEON (lord of the house), one of the towns which were built by the Reubenites. ( Numbers 32:38 ) It also occurs in ( 1 Chronicles 5:8 ) and on each occasion with Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel it was Moabite, one of the cities which were the “glory of the country.” ( Ezekiel 25:9 ) BAAL- Perazim (lord of divisions), the scene of a victory of David over the Philistines, and of a great destruction of their images. ( 2 Samuel 5:20 ; 1 Chronicles 14:11 ) See ( Isaiah 28:21 ) where it is called Mount , Mount, Mountain Perazim . BAAL-SHALISHA (lord of Shalisha), a place named only in ( 2 Kings 4:42 ) apparently not far from Gilgal; comp. ( 2 Kings 4:38 ) BAAL-TAMAR (lord of the palm tree), a place named only in ( Judges 20:33 ) as near Gibeah of Benjamin. The palm tree (tamar) of Deborah, ( Judges 4:5 ) was situated somewhere in the locality, and is possibly alluded to. BAAL-ZEPHON (lord of the north), a place in Egypt near where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. ( Numbers 33:7 ; Ezekiel 14:2 , 9 ) We place Baal-zephon on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, a little below its head, which at that time was about 30 or 40 miles northward of the Present head. the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female divinity. Some suppose Baal to correspond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the moon; others that Baal was Jupiter and Ashtoreth Venus. There can be no doubt of the very high antiquity of the worship of Baal. It prevailed in the time of Moses among the Moabites and Midianites, ( Numbers 22:41 ) and through them spread to the Israelites. ( Numbers 25:3-18 ; 4:3 ) In the times of the kings it became the religion of the court and people of the ten tribes, ( 1 Kings 16:31-33 ; 18:19 , 22 ) and appears never to have been permanently abolished among them. ( 2 Kings 17:16 ) Temples were erected to Baal in Judah, ( 1 Kings 16:32 ) and he was worshipped with much ceremony. ( 1 Kings 18:19 , 26-28 ; 2 Kings 10:22 ) The attractiveness of this worship to the Jews undoubtedly grew out of its licentious character. We find this worship also in Phoenician colonies. The religion of the ancient British islands much resembled this ancient worship of Baal, and may have been derived from it. Nor need we hesitate to regard the Babylonian Bel, ( Isaiah 46:1 ) or Beaus, as essentially identical with Baal, though perhaps under some modified form. The plural, Baalim , is found frequently, showing that he was probably worshipped under different compounds, among which appear— BAAL-BERITH (the covenant Baal), ( Judges 8:33 ; 9:4 ) the god who comes into covenant with the worshippers. BAAL-ZEBUB (lord of the fly), and worshipped at Ekron. ( 2 Kings 1:2 , 3 , 16 ) BAAL-HANAN. a. The name of one of the early kings of Edom. ( Genesis 36:38 , 39 ; 1 Chronicles 1:49 , 50 ) b. The name of one of David’s officers, who had the superintendence of his olive and sycamore plantations. ( 1 Chronicles 27:28 ) BAAL-PEOR (lord of the opening, i.e. for others to join in the worship). We have already referred to the worship of this god. The narrative ( Numb 25 ) seems clearly to show that this form of Baal-worship was connected with licentious rites. (lord). A Reubenite ( 1 Chronicles 5:5 ) The son of Jehiel, and grandfather of Saul. ( 1 Chronicles 8:30 ; 9:36 )
Babel
(confusion), Bab’ylon (Greek form of Babel), is properly the capital city of the country which is called in Genesis Shinar, and in the later books Chaldea, or the land of the Chaldeans. The first rise of the Chaldean power was in the region close upon the Persian Gulf; thence the nation spread northward up the course of the rivers, and the seat of government moved in the same direction, being finally fixed at Babylon, perhaps not earlier than B.C, 1700. I. Topography of Babylon—Ancient description of the city.—All the ancient writers appear to agree in the fact of a district of vast size, more or less inhabited having been enclosed within lofty walls and included under the name of Babylon. With respect to the exact extent of the circuit they differ. The estimate of Herodotus and of Pliny is 480 stades (60 Roman miles, 53 of our miles) of Strabo 385, of Q. Curtius 368, of Clitarchus 365 and of Ctesias 360 stades (40 miles). (George Smith, in his “Assyrian Discoveries,” differs entirely from all these estimates, making the circuit of the city but eight miles.) Perhaps Herodotus spoke of the outer wall, which could be traced in his time. Taking the lowest estimate of the extent of the circuit, we shall have for the space within the rampart an area of above 100 square miles—nearly five times the size of London! It is evident that this vast space cannot have been entirely covered with houses. The city was situated on both sides of the river Euphrates, and the two parts were connected together by a stone bridge five stades (above 1000 yards) long and 30 feet broad. At either extremity of the bridge was a royal palace, that in the eastern city being the more magnificent of the two. The two palaces were joined not only by the bridge, but by a tunnel under the river. The houses, which were frequently three or four stories high, were laid out in straight streets crossing each other at right angles. II. Present state of the ruins.—A portion of the ruins is occupied by the modern town of Hillah . About five miles above Hillah, on the opposite or left bank of the Euphrates occurs a series of artificial mounds of enormous size. They consist chiefly of three great masses of building,—the high pile of unbaked brickwork which is known to the Arabs as Babel, 600 feet square and 140 feet high; the building denominated the Kasr or palace, nearly 2000 feet square and 70 feet high, and a lofty mound upon which stands the modern tomb of Amram-ibn-’Alb . Scattered over the country on both sides of the Euphrates are a number of remarkable mounds, usually standing single, which are plainly of the same date with the great mass of ruins upon the river bank. Of these by far the most striking is the vast ruin called the Birs-Nimrud, which many regard as the tower of Babel, situated about six miles to the southwest of Hillah. [BABEL, Tower OF] III. Identification of sites.—The great mound of Babel is probably the ancient temple of Beaus. The mound of the Kasr marks the site of the great palace of Nebuchadnezzar. The mound of Amram is thought to represent the “hanging gardens” of Nebuchadnezzar; but most probably it represents the ancient palace, coeval with Babylon itself, of which Nebuchadnezzar speaks in his inscriptions as adjoining his own more magnificent residence. IV. History of Babylon.—Scripture represents the “beginning of the kingdom” as belonging to the time of Nimrod. ( Genesis 10:6-10 ) The early annals of Babylon are filled by Berosus, the native historian, with three dynasties: one of 49 Chaldean kings, who reigned 458 years; another of 9 Arab kings, who reigned 245 years; and a third of 49 Assyrian monarchs, who held dominion for 526 years. The line of Babylonian kings becomes exactly known to us from B.C. 747. The “Canon of Ptolemy” gives us the succession of Babylonian monarchs from B.C. 747 to B.C. 331, when the last Persian king was dethroned by Alexander. On the fall of Nineveh, B.C. 625, Babylon became not only an independent kingdom, but an empire. The city was taken by surprise B.C. 539, as Jeremiah had prophesied, ( Jeremiah 51:31 ) by Cyrus, under Darius, Dan. 5 , as intimated 170 years earlier by Isaiah, ( Isaiah 21:1-9 ) and, as Jeremiah had also foreshown, ( Jeremiah 51:39 ) during a festival. With the conquest of Cyrus commenced the decay of Babylon, which has since been a quarry from which all the tribes in the vicinity have derived the bricks with which they have built their cities. The “great city” has thus emphatically “become heaps.” ( Jeremiah 51:37 ) Ba’bel, Tower of. The “tower of Babel” is only mentioned once in Scripture, ( Genesis 11:4 , 5 ) and then as incomplete. It was built of bricks, and the “slime” used for mortar was probably bitumen. Such authorities as we possess represent the building as destroyed soon after its erection. When the Jews, however, were carried captive into Babylonia, they thought they recognized it in the famous temple of Beaus, the modern Birs Nimrod . But the Birs-Nimrrud though it cannot be the tower of Babel itself; may well be taken to show the probable shape and character of the edifice. This building appears to have been a sort of oblique pyramid built in seven receding stages, each successive one being nearer to the southwestern end which constituted the back of the building. The first, second and third stories were each 26 feet high the remaining four being 15 feet high. On the seventh stage there was probably placed the ark or tabernacle, which seems to have been again 15 feet high, and must have nearly, if not entirely, covered the top of the seventh story The entire original height, allowing three feet for the platform, would thus have been 156 feet, or, without the plat-form, 163 feet.
Babylon
in the Apocalypse, is the symbolical name by which Rome is denoted. ( Revelation 14:8 ; 17:18 ) The power of Rome was regarded by the later Jews as was that of Babylon by their forefathers. Comp. ( Jeremiah 51:7 ) with Reve 14:8 The occurrence of this name in ( 1 Peter 5:13 ) has given rise to a variety of conjectures, many giving it the same meaning as in the Apocalypse; others refer it to Babylon in Asia, and others still to Babylon in Egypt. The most natural supposition of all is that by Babylon is intended the old Babylon of Assyria, which was largely inhabited by Jews at the time in question.
Babylonians
the inhabitants of Babylon, a race of Shemitic origin, who were among the colonists planted in the cities of Samaria by the conquering Assyrian. ( Ezra 4:9 )
Babylonish Garment
literally “robe of Shinar,” ( Joshua 7:21 ) an ample robe, probably made of the skin or fur of an animal, comp. ( Genesis 25:25 ) and ornamented with embroidery or perhaps a variegated garment with figures inwoven in the fashion for which the Babylonians were celebrated.
Bebai
(fatherly). “Sons of Bebai,” 623 (Nehe 628) in number, returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, ( Ezra 2:11 ; Nehemiah 7:16 ) (B.C. 536), and at a later period twenty-eight more under Zechariah, son of Bebai, returned with Ezra. ( Ezra 8:11 ) Four of this family had taken foreign wives. ( Ezra 10:28 ) The name occurs also among those who sealed the covenant. ( Nehemiah 10:15 ) Father of Zechariah, who was the leader of the twenty-eight men of his tribe mentioned above.
Belshazzar
(prince of Bel), the last king of Babylon. In ( Daniel 5:2 ) Nebuchadnezzar is called the father of Belshazzar. This, of course, need only mean grandfather or ancestor. According to the well-known narrative Belshazzar gave a splendid feast in his palace during the siege of Babylon (B.C. 538), using the sacred vessels of the temple, which Nebuchadnezzer had brought from Jerusalem. The miraculous appearance of the handwriting on the wall, the calling in of Daniel to interpret its meaning the prophecy of the overthrow of the kingdom, and Belshazsar’s death, accorded in Dan. 5 .
Bilgah
(first-born). A priest in the time of David; the head of the fifteenth course for the temple service. ( 1 Chronicles 24:14 ) (B.C. 1015.) A priest or priestly family who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Jeshua. ( Nehemiah 12:5 , 18 ) (B.C. 536.)
Bilshan
(eloquent), one of Zerubbabel’s companions on his expedition from Babylon. ( Ezra 2:2 ; Nehemiah 7:7 ) (B.C. 536).