Benjamin
(son of the right hand, fortunate). The youngest of the children of Jacob. His birth took place on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, near the latter, B.C. 1729. His mother, Rachel, died in the act of giving him birth, naming him with her last breath Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). This was by Jacob changed into Benjamin. ( Genesis 35:16 , 18 ) Until the journeys of Jacob’s sons and Jacob himself into Egypt we hear nothing of Benjamin. Nothing personal is known of him. Henceforward the history of Benjamin is the history of the tribe. A man of the tribe of Benjamin, son of bilhan, and the head of a family of warriors. ( 1 Chronicles 7:10 ) One of the “sons of Harim,” an Israelite in the time of Ezra who had married a foreign wife. ( Ezra 10:32 )
Berachah, Valley Of
a valley in which Jehoshaphat and his people assembled to “bless” Jehovah after the overthrow of the hosts of Moabites. ( 2 Chronicles 20:26 ) It is now called Bereikut, and lies between Tekua and the main road from Bethlehem to Hebron.
Bethhaccerem
(house of the vine). ( Nehemiah 3:14 ; Jeremiah 6:1 ) A beacon station near Tekoa, supposed to be the Frank Mountain, a few miles southeast of Bethlehem.
Bethlehem
(house of bread). One of the oldest towns in Palestine, already in existence at the time of Jacob’s return to the country. Its earliest name was Ephratah, Or Ephrath or EPHRATAH. See ( Genesis 35:16 , 19 ; 48:7 ) After the conquest Bethlehem appears under its own name, BETHLEHEM-JUDAH. ( Judges 17:7 ; 1 Samuel 17:12 ; Ruth 1:1 , 2 ) The book of Ruth is a page from the domestic history of Bethlehem. It was the home of Ruth, ( Ruth 1:19 ) and of David. ( 1 Samuel 17:12 ) It was fortified by Rehoboam. ( 2 Chronicles 11:6 ) It was here that our Lord was born, ( Matthew 2:1 ) and here that he was visited by the shepherds, ( Luke 2:15-17 ) and the Magi. Matt 2 . The modern town of Beit-lahm lies to the east of the main road from Jerusalem to Hebron, six miles from the former. It covers the east and northeast parts of the ridge of a long gray hill of Jura limestone, which stands nearly due east and west, and is about a mile in length. The hill has a deep valley on the north and another on the south. On the top lies the village in a kind of irregular triangle. The population is about 3000 souls, entirely Christians. The Church of the Nativity, built by the empress Helena A.D. 330, is the oldest Christian church in existence. It is built over the grotto where Christ is supposed to have been born. A town in the portion of Zebulun, named nowhere but in ( Joshua 19:15 ) Now known as Beit-lahm .
Bethlomon
1 Esd. 5:17 . [ Bethlehem , 1]
Boaz
(fleetness). A wealthy Bethlehemite kinsman to Elimelech the husband of Naomi. He married Ruth, and redeemed the estates of her deceased husband Mahlon. ( Ruth 4:1 ) Boaz is mentioned in the genealogy of Christ, ( Matthew 1:5 ) (B.C. 1250, but there is great difficulty in assigning his date.) The name of one of Solomon’s brazen pillars erected in the temple porch. [ Jachin ] It stood on the left, and was eighteen cubits high. ( 1 Kings 7:15 ; 21 ; 2 Chronicles 3:15 ; Jeremiah 52:21 )