builder. Though he never built a temple to Jehovah, at Babylon he built fifty-four temples to false gods. He was also a notable builder of public works. His inscriptions concern themselves not with his military exploits but with his building projects, including temples, palaces, streets, embankments and walls. He made Babylon the wonder city of the ancient world, and in all of Babylonia no building compared with the famous hanging gardens that King Nebuchadnezzar built to satisfy the homesick longings of his Median queen. Those gardens were rated as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

King Herod the Great rebuilt the second temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem. Because of the distrust of the Jews, he was compelled to bring the materials in first, then to raze the second temple piecemeal as he constructed the new one. For this reason and for dislike of Herod, the Jews do not consider it the third temple, although it is often designated as such by others. By the year 30 C.E. reconstruction in the temple area had been under way for forty-six years (John 2:20), and it continued for many more years. Herod also built an artificial harbor city, Caesarea, rebuilt Samaria and carried on other vast building projects within Palestine and in other lands.

Jesus, when on earth, was in the building trade, being referred to as a “carpenter.”—Mark 6:3.

Building materials used in Bible times were earth, wood of various sorts, stone, precious stones, metals fabrics, plaster, mortar, bitumen whitewash made of lime, coloring for decorating wood and dyes for fabrics. At times bricks were painted or enameled.

A number of building tools and instruments are mentioned in the Bible, including the ax (Deut. 19:5), hammer (Judg. 4:21), forge hammer and anvil, nails and a soldering or joining process (Isa. 41:7), saw (Isa. 10:15), stone-saw (1 Ki. 7:9), measuring line or rope (Zech. 1:16; 2:1), measuring reed (Ezek. 40:3; Rev. 21:15), plummet (Amos 7:7, 8; Zech. 4:9, 10), leveling instrument (2 Ki. 21:13; Isa. 28:17), wood scraper and compass (Isa. 44:13), billhook (Isa. 44:12; Jer. 10:3), chisel (Ex. 20:25) and scales.—Isa. 40:12.

FIGURATIVE USAGE

The Christian congregation is considered a house or temple built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the foundation cornerstone. It is called “God’s building,” “a place for God to inhabit by spirit.” (1 Cor. 3:9; Eph. 2:20-22) Jesus applied the fulfillment of Psalm 118:22 to himself, as being the “stone” that the Jewish religious leaders and their followers, as “builders,” rejected. (Matt. 21:42; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7) The individual members of the congregation are spoken of as “living stones.” (1 Pet. 2:5) The congregation, also known as the bride of Jesus Christ, is pictured as a city, the New Jerusalem. (Rev. 21:2, 9-21) At Hebrews 11:10, 16, Jehovah is called the builder of this city.

Jesus likened his hearers to two kinds of builders, one of which built his personality and way of life on the rock-mass of obedience to Christ and was, therefore, able to withstand the storms of opposition and tribulation. The other, building on sand, was unable to stand when pressure came. (Matt. 7:24-27) Building of Christian personalities in others also is discussed by the apostle Paul, a “director of works.” (1 Cor. 3:10-15) On one occasion Jesus said to the Jews: “Break down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) The Jews thought he was speaking of the temple of Herod and used this against him at his trial, witnesses against him saying: “We heard him say, ‘I will throw down this temple that was made with hands and in three days I will build another not made with hands.’” (Mark 14:58) Jesus was using figurative speech, referring to the “temple of his body.” He was put to death and on the third day rose again. (John 2:21; Matt. 16:21; Luke 24:7, 21, 46) He was resurrected by his Father Jehovah God in another body not made with hands like the temple of Jerusalem, but a spirit body made (built) by his Father. (Acts 2:24; 1 Pet. 3:18) This usage of building as applied to one’s body is not unique, for, speaking of Eve’s creation, it was said: “And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman.”—Gen. 2:22.

Jesus Christ foretold that in the “last days” people would be involved in building operations and other activities of life, oblivious of the real meaning of the times, just as they were in the days of Lot, and that destruction would come upon them unawares in the midst of these activities.—Luke 17:28-30; see ARCHITECTURE; BRICK; FORTIFICATIONS.

BUKKI

(Bukʹki) [shortened form of Bukkiah, “proved of Jah”].

1. A chieftain from the tribe of Dan whom Jehovah appointed to assist with the tribal division of the Promised Land. Son of Jogli.—Num. 34:16-18, 22.

2. Descendant of Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas, and ancestor of the skilled copyist Ezra. (1 Chron. 6:4, 5, 50, 51; Ezra 7:1-6) He may have served as high priest sometime during the period of the judges.

BUKKIAH

(Buk·kiʹah) [proved of Jah].

Son of Heman of the tribe of Levi. Bukkiah was chosen by lot to head the sixth of twenty-four musician groups that David organized for service at Jehovah’s sanctuary. He with his sons and brothers assisting him totaled twelve.—1 Chron. 25:1, 4, 9, 13, 31.

BUL

The eighth lunar month of the sacred calendar of the Israelites corresponding to the second month of the secular calendar. (1 Ki. 6:37, 38; Gen. 7:11) It included part of October and part of November. Following the Babylonian exile this month was called Marheshvan or Marchesvan, later abbreviated to Heshvan. These postexilic names do not appear in the Bible but are found in the Jewish Talmud, the writings of Josephus, and other works.

The name “Bul” is generally believed to mean “rain [month],” and it did come at the start of the rainy season in the autumn. (Deut. 11:14; Joel 2:23; Jas. 5:7) It was a month in which the sowing of barley and wheat went on, and in northern Galilee olives were gathered. The shepherds were now bringing their flocks of sheep back in from the open fields to put them under cover during the winter months of cold and rain.

According to Genesis 7:11 and 8:14, the flood of Noah’s day began on the seventeenth day of the “second month,” and by the same month a lunar year and ten days later the earth had dried off. Concerning this, the Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, 1825, Book I, chap. III, par. 3) comments: “This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah’s government, in the second month, called by the Macedonians Dius, but by the Hebrews Marchesuan; for so did they order their year in Egypt.” So, the second month in Noah’s time corresponded to the month Bul or Marheshvan.

Following the exodus from Egypt, Bul became the eighth month in the sacred calendar, and it was during this month that Solomon completed the construction of the temple at Jerusalem. (1 Ki 6:38) Jeroboam, the founder of the separatist northern kingdom of Israel, arbitrarily made this month a festival month, as part of his plan to divert the people’s attention from Jerusalem and its feasts.—1 Ki. 12:26, 31-33.

BULBUL

(Bulʹbul) [Heb., ʽa·ghurʹ].

The name of a number of types of medium-sized thrushlike birds found in Africa and southern Asia, including Palestine. The bulbul characteristically has a short neck, short wings and a long tail. The Arabic name for the bulbul corresponds to the Hebrew word ʽa·ghurʹ, at Isaiah 38:14 and Jeremiah 8:7. While many translations