God’s law to Israel, and Jehovah, as the Supreme Judge, set the perfect example by always rendering impartial decisions and never accepting bribes. (Ex. 23:8; 2 Chron. 19:7) Hence, those who would be guests in Jehovah’s tent must imitate him in this respect.—Ps. 15:1, 5; see also Isaiah 33:15, 16.

The Bible contains numerous examples of those who were not free from bribery. Delilah was bribed to betray Samson, each axis lord of the Philistines paying 1,100 silver pieces ($522.50, if the “silver pieces” were shekels). (Judg. 16:5) The sons of Samuel the prophet and judge, unlike their father, accepted bribes and perverted judgment. (1 Sam. 8:3; 12:3) David speaks of those whose right hand, which should have been supporting the cause of right, was full of bribery. (Ps. 26:10) Likely the two witnesses whose false testimony, at the instigation of Jezebel, resulted in Naboth’s being stoned, had been bribed. (1 Ki. 21:9-13) Kings Asa and Ahaz bribed the king of Syria and the king of Assyria respectively for military aid. (1 Ki. 15:18, 19; 2 Ki. 16:8) The head ones or princes of unfaithful Jerusalem proved to be lovers of bribes. (Isa. 1:23; 5:23; Mic. 3:11) Unlike ordinary prostitutes who receive hire, unfaithful Jerusalem actually bribed others to come to her.—Ezek. 16:33.

In the first century C.E., Judas Iscariot, in effect, accepted a bribe to betray Jesus Christ (Matt. 26:14-16, 47-50), and Governor Felix withheld justice in Paul’s case in the hope of receiving a bribe from the apostle.—Acts 24:26, 27.

The expressions “a bribe from the bosom” and “a bribe in the bosom” can be better understood when considering that in Hebrew the word “bosom” may also refer to the fold of a garment above the belt. Therefore, these expressions indicate that the bribe apparently was hidden in the upper fold of the garment and then given in secrecy to another who, in turn, likewise concealed it.—Prov. 17:23; 21:14; see GIFTS, PRESENTS.

BRICK

Generally, a building block made of hardened mud or clay. From earliest times brick has been widely used in Bible lands. The builders of ancient Babel found no stone in the vicinity of the site they chose for their city and, therefore, utilized bricks instead of stone, and bitumen instead of mortar. Apparently the bricks were kiln-dried, that is, hardened “with a burning process.” (Gen. 11:3) In ancient Egypt, the enslaved Israelites labored at brickmaking. Their lot was made more difficult by having to gather the straw themselves and still produce the same number of bricks. (Ex. 5:7-19) In the Promised Land, the Israelites continued using bricks in construction work, although it appears that stone was preferred. (Isa. 9:10) While abundant in the hills of Palestine, in some sections little good-quality building stone is available. Hence in the lowlands, at cities such as Jericho and Ezion-geber, brick was used not only for the city walls but also for dwellings. In modern times, in parts of Syria and Palestine, houses have been built partly of hewn stone and the remainder of sun-dried brick, the hewn stone being used for the walls most exposed to winter storms.

In the manufacture of bricks, after foreign substances were removed from the mud or clay, it was generally mixed with finely chopped straw or other vegetable matter. This is borne out by the Papyrus Anastasi, an ancient Egyptian document, which reads: “I am without equipment. There are no people to make bricks, and there is no straw in the district.” Although bricks made without straw have been found in Egypt, this was evidently an exception and provides no valid basis for concluding that the Israelites resorted to making bricks without straw when forced to obtain it themselves. Experiments conducted in recent years indicate that adding straw to clay makes it easier to work and triples the strength of the bricks produced therefrom.

The mixture of mud or clay and straw was moistened with water, trampled underfoot and then molded by hand or pressed into four-sided wooden molds. (Compare Nahum 3:14.) So that the molds could be slipped off easily, the sides thereof, as today, were probably dusted with dry earth. Often, while the brick was still wet, it was stamped with the mark of the reigning monarch. (Bricks bearing the stamp of King Nebuchadnezzar can still be found in present-day peasant houses near ancient Babylon.) The bricks were then left to dry in the sun or were kiln-dried.

In Babylonia bricks were commonly kiln-dried and such bricks were generally used for city walls and the walls and floors of palaces. Sometimes sun-dried bricks were used in the interiors of buildings or laid with burnt bricks in alternate layers several feet thick. In Egypt, Assyria and Palestine sun-drying appears to have predominated. Kiln-processed bricks are superior in quality to those dried in the sun. The latter tend to disintegrate when subjected to floods and to shrivel under the intense heat of the summer sun. In certain cases, however, sun-dried bricks have proved to be very substantial, such as those at Ezion-geber, which have remained for centuries.—See KILN.

The extensive use of sun-dried brick explains why the sites of certain ancient cities have remained undiscovered for centuries. Mounds of earth much like the surrounding soil were formed by the crumbled bricks of former cities. In Palestine and Syria such mounds frequently contain the ruins of several cities.

Bricks varied considerably in size and shape. In Egypt the rectangular shape was common, and wedge-shaped bricks were used in the construction of arches. Egyptian bricks were approximately 14 to 20 inches (36 to 51 centimeters) in length, 6 to 9 inches (15 to 23 centimeters) in width and 4 to 7 inches (10 to 18 centimeters) in thickness. In Babylonia, square, oblong triangular and wedge-shaped bricks have been found. However, brick of later periods, as that from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, was generally square-shaped, measuring about a foot (.3 meter) across.

The Hebrew word for “brick” appears to be derived from a root meaning “to be white,” suggesting that, in their natural state, bricks were whitish in color and hence made from light-colored clay. The Assyrians, Babylonians and other ancient peoples at times enameled or painted their bricks various colors. At Babylon, blue enameled bricks, and fragments of brick covered with a yellow glaze, have been found. An interesting example of the use of painted bricks by the Assyrians is the ziggurat at Khorsabad. The indications are that, starting from the bottom, its seven stories were consecutively painted white, black, red, white, reddish orange, silver and gold.

Isaiah’s reference to Israel’s making sacrificial smoke upon the bricks may have reference to the pavement of the place for offering sacrifice, or the roof tiles.—Isa. 65:3.

[Picture on page 260]

Making sun-dried bricks, near the Tigris River

BRIDE PRICE

See MARRIAGE.

BRIDLE

The headgear with which a horse is governed and restrained, consisting of a headstall, a bit and reins, often with other appurtenances.

The word is generally used figuratively in the Bible, or in drawing an illustration. The psalmist says: “Do not make yourselves like a horse or mule without understanding, whose spiritedness is to be curbed even by bridle or halter before they will come near to you.” (Ps. 32:9) Men should not be like unreasoning beasts, unable to guide themselves properly. However, as such brute beasts require correction by whip and bridle, the rod is serviceable for use on the stupid person.—Prov. 26:3.

In Revelation the “vine of the earth” is thrown into a winepress and trodden roughly with the shod feet of horses, the blood coming “as high up as the bridles of the horses, for a distance of a thousand six hundred furlongs [184 miles; 296 kilometers].” (Rev. 14:18-20) So great a depth of blood covering such a distance represents the tremendous scope of the destruction wrought by the angels and reflects the fact that the winepress is big enough to catch all and allow escape for none who make up the symbolic “vine of the earth” at the time of the fullness of its guiltiness.

Jehovah told King Sennacherib of Assyria: “I shall certainly put my hook in your nose and my bridle between your lips, and I shall indeed lead you back by the way by which you have come.” (2 Ki. 19:28; Isa. 37:29) Not willingly, but by Jehovah’s hand, Sennacherib was forced to forgo any siege of Jerusalem and to return to Nineveh, where he was assassinated by his own sons. (2 Ki. 19:35-37; Isa. 37:33-38) Jehovah illustrates the protection he provides for his people by saying that he will put “a bridle bit that causes one to wander about” in the jaws of the peoples who are his enemies, just as beasts are controlled contrary to their desires.—Isa. 30:28.

Job, lamenting his sorrowful condition in sickness and under ridicule, says of his persecutors: “The bridle they left loose on my account.” (Job 30:11) Job’s enemies went ahead full speed, unbridled, in complete disrespect and unrestraint, in venting their hostility upon him.

James the half brother of Jesus gives counsel on the proper use of the tongue, likening the control of it to a bridle. If one has self-control through the application of Scriptural principles, and by this can control the tongue, he can control his entire body. (Jas. 3:2, 3) A bridle on the tongue itself is necessary for one professing to be a worshiper of God, or else his form of worship will be futile.—Jas. 1:26.

BRIERS, BRIER HEDGE

[Heb., bar·qa·nimʹ; hheʹdheq]. The brier is a plant with a woody stem bearing thorns or prickles and the name may refer to numerous plants of this type. Some authorities identify the first-listed Hebrew term (bar·qa·nimʹ) with that designated by a cognate noun in Arabic: the Centaurea scoparius, a common thistlelike plant with thorny heads. Gideon used some type of brier in punishing the men of Succoth for their refusal to supply bread to his hungry soldiers during his fight against the Midianites.—Judg. 8:6, 7, 16.

Proverbs 15:19 likens the path of the lazy man to a “brier hedge,” (or, hheʹdheq) perhaps in the sense of his envisioning or imagining difficulties and thorny problems in every undertaking and thus excusing himself from moving ahead on that basis; whereas the righteous one finds his course well laid out and allowing for good progress. (Compare Isaiah 40:3.) Thorny plants were often used as hedges to protect orchards and vineyards against thieves and animals. (Isa. 5:5) Since brier plants served for little else than hedges and for fuel, the moral decay of the nation of Israel caused the prophet Micah to say of the people that their “best one is like a brier, their most upright one is worse than a thorn hedge.” (Mic. 7:4) Several thorny plants are used as hedges in the Palestinian region, one of the most common being the oleaster or Eleagnus hortensis, a plant of dense growth and strong, sharp thorns. The boxthorn (Lycium europaeum) was also used widely as a hedge, especially in the coastal regions.—See BRAMBLE; NETTLE; THORN.

BROAD BEANS

[Heb., pohl].

The Hebrew term corresponds with the Arabic fûl and is identified with the broad bean, Vicia faba L., an annual plant extensively cultivated in Syria and Palestine. This type of bean has been found in Egyptian mummy coffins, indicating the use of it in Egypt from ancient times.

The plant is hardy and erect, reaches a height of about three feet (.9 meter), and produces a sweet perfume when in blossom. The ripe pods are large and thick and the beans are brown or black in color. Planted after the early rains in the autumn, they are usually harvested in the late spring toward the close of the barley and wheat harvest. The plants are winnowed much like grain.

As a food, the green immature pods may be boiled whole as a vegetable, while the ripe beans are often cooked with oil and meat. When David moved out of Jerusalem and across the Jordan due to Absalom’s revolt, his company was greeted in Mahanaim by a delegation voluntarily offering equipment and foodstuffs, including broad beans. (2 Sam. 17:24-29) Ezekiel was instructed to mix broad beans with lentils and grains to make a coarse bread to be eaten by weight, depicting famine conditions.—Ezek. 4:9, 10.

BRONZE

See COPPER.

BROOCH

A decorative clasp made of metal and having a pin or tongue by which it can be fastened to a person’s clothing. In ancient times, brooches were worn by both men and women, as among the Greeks and Romans. The Roman brooch or fibula sometimes consisted of a curved piece of metal with a hook at one end and a pin extending from the other end, in safety-pin fashion. Being not only ornamental but useful, the brooch was often used for such purposes as pinning together two parts of a scarf or cloak. Brooches of antiquity were made of bronze, iron, gold and silver. Their use in early Palestine has been established by archaeological finds, among these being bow-shaped brooches discovered at Tell el-Nasbeh.

When the Israelites were granted the privilege of contributing toward the construction of the tabernacle, the men and women brought various ornaments including “brooches” or “buckles.” (Ex. 35:21, 22) These brooches were evidently hooked ornaments of some type, for the same Hebrew word used for them (hhahh) is rendered “hook(s)” elsewhere. (2 Ki. 19:28; Ezek. 29:4)