April, Dictionary of the Bible.

Beds. — In the East it is still the custom to sleep on mats which can be carried about (John 5:8, 98Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. (John 5:8‑9)) rolled up under the arm. The covering used at night by the poor is the outer garment worn during the day. In the warm season this outer garment can often be dispensed with during the day, bub the nights are frequently very cold, so that in the law it was provided that if a poor man pledged his raiment, it should be returned to him at sun-down (Ex. 22:26, 2726If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: 27For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. (Exodus 22:26‑27)), showing how the Lord cares for and pities 1Iis people, thinking of and providing for the comfort of a poor man in the chill of an eastern night, which, after the blazing heat of the day, would be more keenly felt. Thus even in the law of Moses we see that He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” caring for His own, for He “is gracious.” When traveling, the poor use a stone for a pillow, covered, perhaps, with a cloth or spare garment (Gen. 28:1111And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. (Genesis 28:11)). That Jacob, the son of a wealthy father, should have traveled thus, shows the disgrace and sorrow he had brought on himself by his deception. Persons in better circumstances sleep on a low square frame-work of wood or iron, seldom more than a few inches longer than the stature of the person using it. This will give the reader an idea of the size of the giant king of Bashan (Deut. 3:1111For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. (Deuteronomy 3:11)).
Bee. — The vengeance with which bees pursue their enemies is referred to by Moses (Deut. 1:4444And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. (Deuteronomy 1:44)), and many anecdotes, both of ancient and modern writers, show the correctness of the figure. Park tells us that some people at Doofroo were in search of honey, and happened to disturb a swarm of bees, which came out in such numbers that they compelled both men and beasts to fly in all directions: one ass died the same night, and another the next morning, from the stings of the insects. In this country they have been known to kill a horse in a few minutes (Psa. 118:1212They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. (Psalm 118:12)). Bees, when wild, will build, not only in hollow trees, but even in the skeleton of a human being or a beast. Herodotus tells how a swarm built a honeycomb in the skull of Silius, which was suspended over the gate of a city of Cyprus. (See Judges 14:88And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. (Judges 14:8).) In Isaiah 7:18,18And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. (Isaiah 7:18) we read, “The Lord shall hiss for... the bee that is in the land of Assyria.” The word “hiss” has been translated by Bishop Lowth hist, alluding to the practice in the East, and even in our own country, of calling people’s attention in the street by histing. Thus the Lord threatens to call the enemies of His people to the attack. (See also Isaiah 5:2626And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: (Isaiah 5:26).)
Beer-lahai-roi (the well of Him that liveth and seeth me). — The name given to a well in the wilderness, in memory of the words of Hagar (Gen. 16).
Beer-sheba (well of the oath), a place in the most southern part of Canaan, where Abraham dug a well, and which took its name from the oath which confirmed the covenant between him and Abimelech (Gen. 21:3131Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them. (Genesis 21:31)). A town was afterward built on the spot, and called by the same name. Being the most southerly city in the land; it was used as expressing the southern boundary or end, in the phrase “from Dan to Beersheba” (Judg. 20:11Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh. (Judges 20:1); 2 Sam. 17:1111Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. (2 Samuel 17:11); 1 Chron. 21:22And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. (1 Chronicles 21:2); 2 Chron. 30:55So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written. (2 Chronicles 30:5)). It is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament (1 Sam. 8:22Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. (1 Samuel 8:2); 1 Kings 19:33And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. (1 Kings 19:3); Amos 5:5, 8:14; Neh. 11:27, 3027And at Hazar-shual, and at Beer-sheba, and in the villages thereof, (Nehemiah 11:27)
30Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beer-sheba unto the valley of Hinnom. (Nehemiah 11:30)); but not at all in the New Testament. Dr. Robinson discovered two deep wells, called Bir-es-Leba, on the northern side of a wide water-course called Wady-ir-Leba, circular and stoned neatly with masonry, containing abundance of good water. These wells were very ancient, and about fifty-five rods apart, surrounded with drinking troughs for camels and flocks, and traces of former habitations, as if of a small straggling city. The site of these wells is nearly midway between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean, or twenty-seven miles south-east from Gaza.
Be’hemoth (Job 40:1515Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. (Job 40:15)) is thought to be the plural of behemoth, but its true meaning is uncertain. Some have supposed it to mean the hippopotamus, others the elephant, while others, again, think it a poetical personification of the great herb-eating animals (herbivore;). The same word occurs Psalms 1:10: “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle [behemoth] on a thousand hills.”
Be’kah, half a shekel.
Be’la (Zoar).
Bell. — The first bells read of in history are those fastened to the skirts of the high priest’s ephod of blue, which were made of gold and placed together with a pomegranate of blue, purple, and scarlet, “a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe roundabout.” “And his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not” (Ex. 28:33-3533And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: 34A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. 35And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not. (Exodus 28:33‑35)).
“Bells of the horses,” mentioned in Zechariah 14:20,20In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. (Zechariah 14:20) are still common in the East and other countries, hung from the necks of the animals, so that in traveling along open plains at night, if a packhorse should stray it can be followed and found by the sound of its bells. A traveler who may have lingered behind can also by means of the bells discover and regain his party even in the dark.
Bellows, mentioned only in Jeremiah 6:29,29The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. (Jeremiah 6:29) in connection with the casting of metal. Fires in the East are usually raised by means of a fan, and bellows only used by workers in metal. Anciently, as represented on Egyptian monuments, they consisted of a leathern bag, fitted into a frame with a long pipe to carry the wind to the fire. They were worked by the feet, one under each foot being alternately pressed, and palled up, when exhausted, by a string held in the hand.