Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/15

BETHAM-EDWARDS. (18G-2): Dr. Jacob (1864): KiHy (1869); and The Parting of the JVays (1888). Of her miscel- laneous work niav be cited an edition of Arthur Young's Travels in France; Six Life Studies of Famous ^Vomen (1880); and her charming Reniiiiiscencrs (1808).

BETH'AMTY (Heh. beth, house + ani, poverty, misery ). ( 1 ) A village 15 furlongs from Jeru- salem", frequentlv referred to in the Gospels (Map: Palestine", C 4). It was on the south- eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The village El--Azari)eh, 'Place of Lazarus,' is its modern representative. Here was the home of Lazarus and his sisters (John xi. 1), so welcome to Jesus. Here, also, was the house of Simon tlie leper, who entertained Him. Under the ruins of a convent built in a.d. 1180 is the traditional grave of Lazarus. (2) According to the best MSS. (followed in the Revised Version), the name of the place where John the Baptist was baptizing at the beginning of his ministry (John i. 28). It is called in some MSS. and in the Authorized Version Bethabara. The site is not certainly known. Some have supposed it to be the same as Beth-Ximrah, across the Jordan from .Jericho; others locate it much farther up the valley.

BETHANY. A city. and the county-seat of Harrison Comity, JIo., about 60 miles northeast of Saint Joseph^ on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (Map: Missouri, B 1). It is the centre of an agricultural and stock-raising region, in which also building-stone is quarried, and contains flouring-mills, carriage and wagon shops, lumber-mills, broom and canning factories, brickyards, etc. Population, in 1890, 1105; in 1900," 209.3.

BETHANY. A village in Brooke County, W. a., 16 miles northeast of Wheeling. Here, in 1841, Bethany College was established by Alexander Campbell, the founder of the sect known as 'Disciples of Christ' (q.v.). Popula- tion, in 1900, 245.

BETH'EL (Heb., house of God, from beth, house + cl. God). A town of Palestine, the mod- ern Betin, situated in the mountains at a height of 2880 feet above the sea-level. 10 miles north of .Jerusalem. It is associated with the early traditions and legends of the Hebrews. Abraham pitches his tent near Bethel, builds an altar, and worships .Jehovah there (Gen. xii. 8; xiii. .3) ; but it is .Jacob who is more particularly associated with the place, and to whom the giving of its name is assigned, ilany modern biblical writers consider that here in fJenesis two divergent stories are found. According to the one (Gen. xxviii.). God appears to .Jacob at Bethel on his flight to Haran: in the other, it is on the return of Jacob from Padan-.ram that he encounters God (Gen. xxxv. ). The former contains the story of Jacob's vision, in which he sees angels ascending and descending a 'ladder' — in reality a structure like a Babylonian ziggunil, or temple-tower, with a sloping ascent winding around to the top, and .lehovah stiinds at Jacob's side and repeats the promise made to Abraham. The second story lays more emphasis ujion the change of Jacob's name to Israel than upon the name Bethel given to the phuo because God 'spoke' With .Jacob there, while according to the former the giving of the name follows Jacob's exclamation, "This is none other than the house of God"— i.e. Beth (house) El (God). These traditions bear witness to the antiquity of the sanctuary at Bethel, and it is interesting to compare these accounts with the later view- represented by the 'Yahweh purists,' who dis- carded those ancient sanctuaries as idolatrous. So Jeroboam is rebuked for erecting a sanctuary at Bethel (I. Kings xii. 29), Hosea going so far as to call the place Beth-Aven, 'house of in- iquity' (Hos. iv. 15). Its earlier name is said to h'ave been Luz (Gen. xxviii. 19; xxxv. 6; xlviii. 3; Joshua .vviii. 13, etc.) ; once (Joshua xvi. 2) a distinction is made between Bethel and Luz. according to the received Hebrew text, but some for 'Bethel' here read 'Bathavin.' A king of Bethel is mentioned (Joshua xii. 0, 16), which may be taken as an indication of the importance oi the place. As a frontier to^^•n it is sometimes reckoned as belonging to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua xviii. 22), some- times to Ephraim (Judges i. 22). During the period of the Judges Bethel was, in fact, the central sanctuary of the northern tribes, where the ark was stationed (Judges xx. 18), and when the division of the tribes came. Bethel rose to even greater significance in the Kingdom of Israel, having an elaborate organization of priests and prophets (Amos vii.), to which the masses were dra™ bv the feasts and rites, arranged with great splendor. The worship of .Jehovah at Bethel proved a serious rival for a long period to that at .Jerusalem, and hindered the religious concentration at the latter place until the down- fall of the northern kingdom.

BETHEL. A town in Oxford County. Me.^ .50 miles west of Augusta, on the Androscoggin River and on the Grand Trunk Railroad (Map: Maine, B 7 ). It is a summer resort visited principally for its attractive scenery. The town has manufactures of canned goods, chairs, lum- lier, spools and bobbins, etc., and contains Gould Academy and several small libraries. Popula- tion, in 1890, 2209; in 1900. 1835. Consult Laphara, History of Bethel 1768-1890 (Augusta, 1891).

BETH'ELL, Richard, Baron Westbury ( 1 SOO- TS I . An English jurist. He was born in Brad- ford, Wiltshire, graduated at Oxford in 1818, and was called to the bar in 1823. He was made Queen's counsel in 1840, became Solicitor-General on the formation of the Aberdeen Ministry, in December, 1852, and soon afterwards was knightetl. In 1856 he became Attorney-General, and with one interval held that ofiice until ap- pointed Lord Chancellor in 1861, when he was also raised to the peerage. He resigned the Great Seal in 1865. Bethell was conspicuous in the cau.se of law reform, in improving the system of education for the bar, and in abolishing the ecclesiastical courts.

BETHES'DA (Heb., house of mercy, or place of flowing water). A pool of water at Jerusalem, near the 'Sheep Gate,' or market, where Jesus is said to have cured the man who had waited 38 years to be led into the 'troubled water.' There was probably a natural cause for this phenomenon, and its best explanation would be to identify Ucthesda with the Virgin's Pool, the only natural spring in .Jerusalem. It is