Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Bosor
same as Beor. (2 Peter 2:15)
Bottle
The Arabs keep their water, milk and other liquids in leathern bottles. These are made of
goatskins. When the animal is killed they cut off its feet and its head, and draw it in this manner
out of the skin without opening its belly. The great leathern bottles are made of the skin of a he-goat,
and the small ones, that serve instead of a bottle of water on the road, are made of a kid’s skin. The
effect of external heat upon a skin bottle is indicated in (Psalms 119:83) “a bottle in the smoke,”
and of expansion produced by fermentation in (Matthew 9:17) “new wine in old bottles.” Vessels
of metal, earthen or glassware for liquids were in use among the Greeks, Egyptians, Etruscans and
Assyrians, and also no doubt among the Jews, especially in later times. Thus (Jeremiah 19:1) “a
potter’s earthen bottle.” (Bottles were made by the ancient Egyptians of alabaster, gold, ivory and
stone. They were of most exquisite workmanship and elegant forms. Tear-bottles were small urns
of glass or pottery, made to contain the tears of mourners at funerals, and placed in the sepulchres
at Rome and in Palestine. In some ancient tombs they are found in great numbers. (Psalms 56:8)
refers to this custom.—ED.)
Bow
(Genesis 37:10) The eastern mode of salutation, by kneeling upon one knee and bending the
head forward till it touched the ground.
Boxtree
(Isaiah 41:19; 60:13) A beautiful evergreen growing in many parts of Europe and Asia. Its hard
wood is much prized by engravers. The reference in (Isaiah 60:13) is supposed by some to mean
a species of cedar.
Bozes
(the height), one of the two sharp rocks between the passages which Jonathan entered the
Philistine garrison. It seems to have been that on the north. (1 Samuel 14:4,5)
Bozkath
(rocky height), a city of Judah in the lowlands (Joshua 15:39; 2 Kings 22:1)
Bozrah
(fortress).
•In Edom, the city of Jobab the son of Zerah, one of the early king of that nation. (Genesis 36:33;
1 Chronicles 1:44) Mentioned by Isaiah, (Isaiah 34:6; 63:1) in connection with Edom, and by
Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 49:13,22; Amos 1:12) and (Micah 2:12) Its modern representative is
el-Busaireh, which lies on the mountain district to the southeast of the Dead Sea.
•In his catalogue of the cities of the land of Moab, Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 48:24) mentions a Bozrah
as in “the plain country” (ver 21), i.e. the high level downs on the east of the Dead Sea.
Bracelet
[See Armlet] Bracelets of fine twisted Venetian gold are still common in Egypt. In (Genesis
38:18,25) the word rendered “bracelet” means probably a string by which a seal-ring was suspended.
Men as well as women wore bracelets, as we see from (Song of Solomon 5:14) Layard says of the
Assyrian kings, “The arms were encircled by armlets, and the wrists by bracelets.”
Bramble
[Thorns]
Brass
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William Smith