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.