from the city.” (Acts 16:22-40) Thereby, the preaching of the good news was vindicated as being no violation of the law, for the magistrates themselves, by taking this action, made it a matter of public record that Paul and Silas had done no wrong. Paul acted in this way because it was his desire ‘legally to establish the good news.’—Phil. 1:7.

FIGURATIVE USAGE

King Rehoboam compared his rule with his father Solomon’s by metaphorically referring to the more serious punishment of the scourge as contrasted with whips. (In the Hebrew, the word for “scourges” means “piercers, stingers” or “scorpions” and apparently was a type of whip with knots, or barbed ends like a scorpion’s sting, or perhaps with knotted or thorny twigs.)—1 Ki. 12:11-14.

Jehovah spoke to David in making a covenant with David for a kingdom. He told David that the throne would be established in his line but that if his dynasty or any of his line of descent should do wrong, Jehovah would “reprove him with the rod of men and with the strokes of the sons of Adam.” (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:32) This did take place when Jehovah allowed the kings of the Gentile nations to defeat the kings of Judah, particularly when Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon removed Zedekiah from the throne in Jerusalem.—Jer. 52:1-11.

Jehovah said that the nations the Israelites failed to dispossess would become “a scourge on your flanks.” (Josh. 23:13) Isaiah 10:24-26 shows that, while the Assyrian used the rod to strike Zion unjustly, Jehovah was to brandish “a whip” against the Assyrian. A plague, disease or calamity sent out from Jehovah as a punishment was referred to as a scourge. (Num. 16:43-50; 25:8, 9; Ps. 106:29, 30) Discipline from Jehovah is likened to scourging.—Heb. 12:6.

Jesus foretold that at the time of his second coming he would appoint a “faithful and discreet slave” to care for his servants and that there would be an “evil slave” that would not be alert and anxiously watching for his coming. This “evil slave” would say: “My master is delaying.” He would not only eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, but he would go farther by beating his fellow slaves and opposing their work of providing the spiritual food at the proper time for God’s faithful slaves. This one, in turn, would be punished with the greatest severity and assigned a part with the hypocrites. (Matt. 24:45-51; Luke 12:42-46) Jesus went on then to show that one who has greater responsibility and fails to take care of it is more reprehensible than one who does not know or understand his duties so well. Such one’s punishment, the number of “strokes,” would be proportionate to his responsibility.—Luke 12:47, 48.

Isaiah prophesied concerning the Messiah, that he would bear the sicknesses and pains of those who would exercise faith in him. He said: “Because of his wounds there has been a healing for us.” (Isa. 53:3-5) Peter applies this prophecy to Jesus Christ, saying: “He himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that we might be done with sins and live to righteousness. And ‘by his stripes you were healed.’”—1 Pet. 2:24.

BEAUTIFUL GATE

See GATE, GATEWAY.

BEBAI

(Beʹbai) [fatherly].

1. A household head whose descendants, over six hundred, returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 11; Neh. 7:16) Twenty-nine more came with Ezra in 468. (Ezra 8:11) Four of the first group had taken foreign wives, which they put away at the insistence of Ezra.—Ezra 10:28, 44.

2. A prominent man or a representative of the sons of Bebai (No. 1, above), who attested to Nehemiah’s agreement of faithfulness.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 15.

BECHER

(Beʹcher) [young camel; firstborn].

1. The second-named son of Benjamin in the list of Jacob’s descendants at Genesis chapter 46. (See verse 21; 1 Chronicles 7:6.) It is omitted in the genealogical lists at Numbers 26:38 and 1 Chronicles 8:1, 2. His descendants through his nine sons as family heads numbered 20,200 “valiant, mighty men,” according to the account recorded at 1 Chronicles 7:8, 9.

2. Family head of Becherites (Bachrites, AV) of the tribe of Ephraim.—Num. 26:35.

BECHERITES

(Beʹcher·ites).

An Ephraimite family descended from Becher.—Num. 26:35.

BECORATH

(Be·coʹrath) [firstborn].

Ancestor of King Saul; of the tribe of Benjamin.—1 Sam. 9:1.

BED

During Bible times, as today, the facilities for sleeping varied in type, style and structure according to the people’s wealth, status in life and customs. The bare ground, sometimes cushioned with a pad or pallet, often sufficed for the poor, the herdsman and the traveler; very costly and ornate furnishings were used by rulers and the rich in their permanent dwellings. Bible writers did not always make a distinction between a bed, cot, divan, couch or lounge. They frequently used two or more of these terms for the same thing, calling a bed a divan (Job 7:13), a bed a cot (Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:11), a couch a divan (Ps. 6:6), a bed a lounge. (Gen. 49:4) These were used by those sleeping at night or taking a siesta (2 Sam. 4:5-7; Job 33:15), by those sick and by ones having intercourse (Ps. 41:3; Ezek. 23:17), and as a resting-place for the dead in a grand tomb. (2 Chron. 16:14) The custom of reclining at a meal required couches in banquet halls. (Esther 7:8; Matt. 26:20; Luke 22:14) A couch especially designed to carry one about in regal style was called a litter.—Song of Sol. 3:7-10; see LITTER.

Certain accessories are usually associated with beds, for example, a pillow. Jesus, when crossing the Sea of Galilee, fell asleep “upon a pillow” in the stern of the boat. (Mark 4:38) During the colder season a “woven sheet” or other covering was used (Isa. 28:20), but it was common to sleep in everyday garments; hence the Mosaic law forbade keeping another person’s garments after sunset: “It is his only covering. . . . In what will he lie down?”—Ex. 22:26, 27.

The Oriental bed was often a simple mat made of straw or rushes, and perhaps quilting or a mattress of some sort for added comfort. When not in use, these were rolled up and stored away. A more permanent arrangement employed a wooden frame or bedstead that elevated the sleeper off the ground or floor. (Mark 4:21) These served as couches or divans upon which to sit during the daytime. The simplest cotlike beds were lightweight, easily picked up and carried about.—Luke 5:18, 19; John 5:8; Acts 5:15.

The wealthy had beds draped with elegant decorations of rich embroidery work. “With coverlets I have bedecked my divan, with many-colored things, linen of Egypt. I have besprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon,” the seductive prostitute declared. (Prov. 7:16, 17) Like the “couches of gold and silver” of a Persian palace, so also “a splendid couch,” “a Damascene divan” and “couches of ivory,” were described by the prophet as the furnishings of rebellious Israel.—Esther 1:6; Amos 3:12; 6:4.

Separate bedrooms or inner bedrooms were used by those who could afford large houses. (Ex. 8:3; 2 Ki. 6:12; 11:2) During the hot summer, the cooler rooftops frequently served as sleeping quarters.

Also in a figurative sense, beds, couches and lounges are referred to in the Scriptures. The state of the dead, for example, is as those lying in a bed. (Job 17:13; Ezek. 32:25) Jehovah’s loyal ones “cry out joyfully on their beds,” in contrast with wayward ones who keep howling and scheming what is bad while