BIER. See [Burial].
BILDAD, the Shuhite, one of Job’s friends, thought by some to have descended from Shuah, the son of Abraham, by Keturah, Job ii, 11; viii, xviii, xxv.
BILHAH, Rachel’s handmaid, given by her to Jacob her husband, as a concubinary wife, that, through her she might have a son, Gen. xxx, 3, 4, &c. See [Barrenness].
BIND. To bind and loose are taken for condemning and absolving: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” Matt. xvi, 19. By binding and loosing, in the language of the Jews, is understood, likewise, permitting and forbidding; or declaring any thing in a judicial manner to be permitted or forbidden; and on the promotion of their doctors, they put the keys into their hands with these words, “Receive the power of binding and loosing.” So our Lord says, “I am not come to destroy,” to unloose or dissolve, “the law, but to fulfil,” that is, to confirm and establish it, Matt. v, 17. See [Keys].
BIRD, צפור, a common name for all birds, but is sometimes used for the sparrow in particular.
Birds are distinguished by the Jewish legislator into clean and unclean. Such as fed upon grain and seeds were allowed for food, and such as devoured flesh and carrion were prohibited.
Moses, to inspire the Israelites with sentiments of tenderness toward the brute creation, commands them, if they find a bird’s nest, not to take the dam with the young, but to suffer the old one to fly away, and to take the young only, Deut. xxii, 6. This is one of those merciful constitutions in the law of Moses which respect the animal creation, and tended to humanize the heart of that people, to excite in them a sense of the divine providence extending itself to all creatures, and to teach them to exercise their dominion over them with gentleness. Beside, the young never knew the sweets of liberty; the dam did: they might be taken and used for any lawful purpose; but the dam must not be brought into a state of captivity. The poet Phocylides has a maxim, in his admonitory poem, very similar to that in the sacred texts:--
Μηδέ τις ὄρνιθας καλιῆς ἅμα ϖάντας ἑλέσθω,
Μητερα δ’ ἐκπρολίπης, ἵν’ ἔχῃς ϖάλι τῆσδε νεοττούς.
Nor from a nest take all the birds away,