message of Jerusalem’s doom, dictated by Jeremiah. In the late fall of the following year, 624, Baruch read the scroll aloud “in the ears of all the people” at the entrance of Jehovah’s house. He was then summoned to read it to an assembly of the princes, who, moved by what they heard and fearing the consequences when the word got to the king’s ears, urged Baruch and Jeremiah to hide. Jehoiakim, upon hearing the denunciation, burned the scroll piece by piece, and commanded that Baruch and Jeremiah be brought before him, “but Jehovah kept them concealed.” At Jeremiah’s dictation, Baruch then wrote another scroll like the first, but containing “many more words” from the mouth of Jehovah.—Jer. 36:1-32.

Sixteen years later, in the tenth year of Zedekiah, only months before Jerusalem was sacked, Baruch took the deeds for the property Jeremiah purchased from a cousin and put them in an earthenware vessel for preservation and safekeeping.—Jer. 32:9-16.

At one point during the writing of the first scroll, when Baruch complained of his weariness, Jehovah warned him: ‘Do not keep on seeking great things for yourself.’ Nevertheless, because of his faithfulness he was promised preservation and safety “in all the places to which you may go,” not only during the terrible siege of Jerusalem, but afterwards when the rebellious populace compelled him and Jeremiah to go down to Egypt with them.—Jer. 45:1-5; 43:4-7.

There is a large amount of contradictory tradition concerning Baruch’s later life, and his name has been erroneously attached to apocryphal writings, all of which are of little or no account. (See APOCRYPHA.) However, it is quite certain that Baruch was a man of ability and a very capable assistant to Jeremiah. This conclusion is supported by the fact that on one occasion Azariah and others accused him of being the real instigator that engineered Jeremiah’s warning messages from behind the scenes.—Jer. 43:1-3.

2. Son of Zabbai; Baruch “worked with fervor” assisting Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls. (Neh. 3:20) Possibly the same as No. 3 below.

3. A priest whose descendant, if not himself, attested to Nehemiah’s “trustworthy arrangement.” (Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 6, 8) If Baruch himself was the one sealing this agreement, he may have been the same as No. 2 above.

4. Father or forefather of Maaseiah, who lived in Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time. A descendant of Judah.—Neh. 11:4-6.

BARZILLAI

(Bar·zilʹlai) [man of iron].

1. A Meholathite whose son Adriel married Saul’s daughter Merab.—1 Sam. 18:19; 2 Sam. 21:8.

2. A wealthy Gileadite, “a very great man,” of the town of Rogelim. Barzillai was one of three who assisted David and his army with supplies of food and bedding during Absalom’s rebellion. (2 Sam. 17:27-29) When David returned to Jerusalem, Barzillai escorted the party to the Jordan, but due to his age (“I am eighty years old today”), he declined David’s offer to become part of the royal court, sending Chimham in his place. In saying farewell, David kissed and blessed him. (2 Sam. 19:31-40) Shortly before dying, David remembered Barzillai and requested Solomon to show kindness toward his sons, and that they “be among those eating at your table.”—1 Ki. 2:7.

3. A priest who married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite (most likely No. 2 above) and adopted his father-in-law’s name. His descendants, on return from Babylonian exile, were unable to find their registration in the genealogical records, and so were disqualified from the priesthood.—Ezra 2:61, 62; Neh. 7:63, 64.

BASEMATH

(Basʹe·math) [fragrant].

1. A wife of Esau. She was a daughter of Elon the Hittite, therefore either the same person as Adah or her sister. Basemath was “a source of bitterness” to Isaac and Rebekah.—Gen. 26:34, 35; 27:46; 28:8; 36:2.

2. Another wife of Esau, possibly the same as Mahalath. She was a daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, sister of Nebaioth, and therefore Esau’s first cousin. Esau took her as wife after seeing his father’s great displeasure over his Canaanite wives. She bore his son Reuel.—Gen. 28:8, 9; 36:3, 4, 10.

3. A daughter of Solomon and wife of Ahimaaz, one of Solomon’s food deputies.—1 Ki. 4:7, 15.

BASHAN

(Baʹshan) [fruitful country; even and smooth land].

A large region in northern Transjordan. Bashan was N of Gilead and was bounded on the E by the mountainous region of Jebel Hauran and on the W by the hills bordering the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee.—Deut. 3:3-14; Josh. 12:4, 5.

Bashan was located mainly on a high plateau, with an average height of about 2,000 feet (610 meters). The land is generally flat, though containing some mountain ridges, and is of volcanic origin with much hard black basalt rock, which provides good retention of moisture. The soil is a mixture of tufa and red-brown earth. Water and melted snow flowing down from Mount Hermon helped to turn the entire region into an excellent agricultural area. The great fertility of this plain, stretching roughly some fifty miles (80 kilometers) N and S and about twenty miles (32 kilometers) in width, made the area a rich granary and provided fine pasture lands. This, in turn, contributed to the production of splendid strains of cattle and sheep. The bulls of Bashan and its male sheep were the subjects of song and poetry and symbols of richness, strength and prosperity.—Deut. 32:14; Ezek. 39:18; Ps. 22:12.

The plain of Bashan appears to have been, in the main, treeless, but the mountain ridges were well wooded and contained massive trees, probably oaks (which are still to be found in that area today). In prophecy, these trees are used as symbols of great loftiness. (Isa. 2:13; Zech. 11:1, 2) Ezekiel 27:5, 6 indicates that the Phoenician boat builders of Tyre used the juniper trees of Senir for their planks, the tall cedars of Lebanon for their masts, but fashioned their powerful oars from the sturdy trees of Bashan.

Bashan’s fertility and productivity are doubtless the reason for its being associated with other productive areas such as Carmel and Lebanon. (Jer. 50:19; Isa. 33:9) Jeremiah links the heights of Bashan with Lebanon as a vantage point from which to view the calamity due to come upon the land of the Israelites because of their forsaking Jehovah. (Jer. 22:20) The reference to the “mountain of God” and the “mountain of peaks” of Bashan, at Psalm 68:15, 16, may refer to the triple summits of Mount Hermon or may describe the many broken cones of extinct volcanoes that break the level plains of Bashan.

The region of Bashan apparently first enters the Bible record at Genesis 14:5 in the reference to the Rephaim (giants) in Ashteroth-karnaim, who were defeated by the invading kings of Abraham’s time (b. 1933 B.C.E.). At the time of the Israelite invasion (1473 B.C.E.), Og, the king of Bashan and the last-remaining one of the giantlike men of that area, was defeated and slain and the land was occupied by Israel. (Num. 21:33-35; Deut. 3:1-3, 11; Josh. 13:12) The tribe of Manasseh received Bashan as its inheritance, although it appears that a southern portion of it was allotted to the tribe of Gad.—Josh. 13:29-31; 17:1, 5; 1 Chron. 5:11, 16, 23.

The principal cities of Bashan were: Ashtaroth (a city of Og and later a Levite city), Edrei (the frontier city where Israel defeated Og), Golan (which also became a Levite city and one of the three cities of refuge E of the Jordan) and Salecah. (Deut. 4:41-43; Josh. 9:10; 12:4, 5; 20:8, 9; 1 Chron. 6:64, 71) In the region of Argob alone there were sixty walled cities, and ruins of ancient towns still dot the entire area today.—Deut. 3:3-5.

During Solomon’s reign one of the twelve commissariat districts placed under deputies and assigned to provide food for the royal tables included Bashan.—1 Ki. 4:7, 13.

The principal route through Transjordan from N to S, called “The King’s Highway,” ran through Bashan at the city of Ashteroth-karnaim, and this fact, together with Bashan’s great fertility and its proximity to Damascus, made it the goal of military conquest. King Hazael of Damascus captured Bashan during Jehu’s reign (909-881 B.C.E.), but it was evidently recovered in the reign of Jehoash (2 Ki. 10:32, 33; 13:25) or at least by the time of Jeroboam II (852-811 B.C.E.). (2 Ki. 14:25) Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria overran the whole area in the reign of Pekah (775-755 B.C.E.).—2 Ki. 15:29; 1 Chron. 5:26.

In postexilic times Bashan came under Greek control and later became one of the major wheat granaries of the Roman Empire. It was divided into four districts and, with the exception of the NE district called Trachonitis, these districts preserved to some extent original names from the area: the district of Gaulanitis in the W drew its name from Golan, Auranitis in the S from Hauran, and central Batanea from Bashan. Aside from a reference to Trachonitis (Luke 3:1), Bashan is not mentioned in the Greek Scriptures.—See ARGOB No. 2; HAURAN.

BASIN

The Scriptures do not provide a detailed description of basins used in ancient times, though such vessels were commonly earthenware, or were made of wood or metal. Some basins served a domestic purpose, like those that were among the provisions brought to David and the people with him when they fled from Absalom. (2 Sam. 17:27-29) The Hebrew word saph is used for a basin of this kind. It is also employed for the basin into which the Israelites in Egypt put the blood of the passover victim (Ex. 12:22) and for the temple basins that Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon. (2 Ki. 25:15; Jer. 52:19) This word may also be rendered “bowl,” and thus Jehovah is represented as saying prophetically: “Here I am making Jerusalem a bowl [saph] causing reeling to all the peoples round about.” (Zech. 12:1, 2) Among the larger basins used at meals was the banquet bowl (Heb., tsal·laʹhhath).—Prov. 26:15.

SANCTUARY USE

Basins were also used for sacred purposes in connection with Jehovah’s worship at the tabernacle and the later temples. As Jehovah instructed Moses, the tabernacle articles included a large basin that was to be filled with water. It was made of copper, rested on a copper stand, and was placed between the tent of meeting and the altar to provide the high priest and the other priests with water for washing their hands and feet either before entering the tent of meeting or before ministering at the altar. (Ex. 30:17-21; 31:9; 40:30, 31) This basin, called a laver in some translations (AS; AT; AV; RS), was made “by the use of the mirrors of the women servants who did organized service at the entrance of the tent of meeting.”—Ex. 38:8.

The thought has been advanced that the priests did not actually wash in the tabernacle basin itself, for this would have made the water unclean and defiled. So it has been suggested that the basin had taps through which streams of water would flow and that the priests washed by holding their hands and feet under the flowing water. But this is not specifically stated in the Scriptures.

According to the Masoretic text, there is no specific instruction given on the transporting of the tabernacle basin. However, the Septuagint Version (which agrees with the ancient Samaritan Pentateuch) adds to Numbers 4:14 the words: “And they will take a purple cloth and cover the basin and its stand and put it in a blue skin covering and put it upon poles.”

The Hebrew words ki·yohrʹ and ki·yorʹ, which evidently designate something round, are used for the tabernacle basin and for the ten basins Solomon had made for temple use. Things having to do with the burnt offering were rinsed in the latter.—2 Chron. 4:6, 14.

Each of the ten copper basins (lavers, AT; RS) Hiram made for temple use could hold “forty bath measures,” or about 232 gallons (U.S.A.; about 878 liters) of water. If these basins were hemispherical in shape this would mean that they had a diameter of about six feet (1.8 meters). Of course, if they bulged and tapered somewhat toward the top, the measurements would be different, and it must be observed that the Bible does not provide detailed information on their form, though it says “each basin was four cubits.” Each basin was placed on a four-wheeled carriage skillfully made with ornamental work and engravings, five being placed on the right and five on the left side of the house.—1 Ki. 7:27-39.

Another basin of great size was the large ornamented molten sea that stood upon twelve fashioned bulls and was “placed at the right side, to the east, toward the south” of the house. Stored therein was water the priests used. It was circular, ten cubits (c. 14.6 feet or 4.4 meters) from brim to brim and five cubits (c. 7.3 feet or 2.2 meters) high.—2 Chron. 4:2-6, 10.

BASKET

A container made of such materials as palm-leaf fibers, reeds, rushes, rope, twigs and willows was often used by persons in ancient times for agricultural, domestic or other purposes. Their baskets varied greatly in shape, size and construction. There were those with an open weave and others with a close weave. Some had handles and lids, whereas other baskets lacked either or both of these things.

The Scriptures do not provide detailed descriptions of the different kinds of baskets used in antiquity in Bible lands, and various Hebrew and Greek words are used for baskets. The Hebrew word most often employed to denote a basket is sal. It is used for the three baskets containing white bread that Pharaoh’s chief of the bakers dreamed he was carrying on his head, a dream Joseph rightly interpreted as signifying death for the dreamer. (Gen. 40:16-19, 22) Sal is also used for the basket in which unfermented bread, cakes and wafers were placed for use when installing Israel’s priesthood, it further being called the “installation basket.” (Ex. 29:3, 23, 32; Lev. 8:2, 26, 31) This same Hebrew term was used for the basket containing the unfermented cakes and wafers used ceremonially on the day that one’s Naziriteship came to the full. (Num. 6:13, 15, 17, 19) Also, it was into a sal that Gideon put the meat he set before Jehovah’s angel. (Judg. 6:19) While the Scriptures do not describe the sal, it seems that this type of basket was of fine weave and, in later times at least, was made of peeled willows or palm leaves. It may have been fairly large and flat, thus being a type convenient for carrying bread, as in the royal baker’s prophetic dream. In the British Museum there is a painted wooden model of a woman balancing a large flat and open basket on her head, it being filled with food provisions supposedly for the dead. This Egyptian tomb model is fifteen inches (c. 38 centimeters) high and has been dated as of about 2000 B.C.E.

During the Israelites’ bondage in Egypt and their “hard slavery at clay mortar and bricks” (Ex. 1:14), they evidently used baskets to carry construction materials, clay for bricks and bricks themselves. Reflecting on the way in which Jehovah effected the release of Israel from Egyptian slavery, the psalmist Asaph represents God as saying: “His own hands got to be free even from the basket [dudh].” (Ps. 81:4-6) This same Hebrew term (dudh) is applied to a basket for carrying figs.—Jer. 24:1, 2.

The Hebrew teʹneʼ was the basket in which the harvest firstfruits were placed for presentation to God, being deposited before the altar of Jehovah.