B i n 



9BB 



B I B 



BIBERACH, a bailiwick in the circle of the Danube, 

 nd in the south-eaterii part oftlic kingdom of WiirU-ni- 

 her:;. occup)ing an .irea of about 15-1 square miles, with 



i!'i: .m-. The seat of local admim-: 



i- ih Biberech, which is situated in the beautiful 



t alley of the Rie-.*. and on the little river of that name. 

 It i* surrounded by walls, with towers and a ditch ; contains 

 four churches, two public schools, three elementary or na- 

 tional schools, a well-endowed hospital (to which twenty- 

 M'M-n villages, hamlets, and farms were once attached ), two 

 suppressed monasteries, and has a corn-market much fre- 

 quented. The number of houses is about 850, and of inha- 

 bitants about 4600. Independently of agriculture and graz- 

 ing, the inhabitant* find profitable employment in wearing 

 fustians and linens, tanning, paper-making, brewing, and 

 bleaching. All that is known 01 it.-, earlier annals is, that 

 it* privileges as a free imperial town were confirmed by- 

 Rudolph of Habsburg in the year 1272. It was the scene 

 of severe conflicts between General Moreau and the Aus- 

 trian forces under General Latour, 2d October, 1 796, and 

 between the same general and the Austrian commander 

 Kray, on the 9th May and 5th June, 1800: the whole of 

 which three days were gained by the French. Biberach 

 came under the dominion of Baden in 1802, and was ceded 

 by Baden to Wiirtemberg in 1806. It lies in 48 5' N. lat., 

 and 9 47' E. long. The celebrated lyric poet, C. F. \Vie- 

 lund, who died in 1812, was a native of "this town. The cold 

 baths of Jordan are situated in the middle of a picturesque 

 district about two miles from Biberach. 



BIBLE, Bi/3Xia, Bihlia, meaning books, is the name which 

 was given in the fifth century by Chrysostom to the collec- 

 tion of sixty-six writings, which are recognised by Chris- 

 tians as divine. To these sixty-six sometimes are errone- 

 ously joined about fourteen apocryphal writings, so that the 

 total number amounts to about eighty, of which thirty-nine 

 are in the Old, and twenty-seven in the New Testament. 



Before Chrysostom, the more complete expressions for 

 Bible were /3i/3X/a 3ila, books divine ; or upi jpa^t}, Stla 

 fpai/ifi, afla >pflpi), sacred writings, &c. 



' Independently of all consideration of its religious advan- 

 tages, no book has conduced more than the Bible to the 

 high cultivation and moral advancement of the human 

 mind. The labour bestowed by so many of the learned 

 upon the just interpretation of this inestimable book is of 

 it-elf an attestation of its worth, and countenances the sup- 

 position that Divine Providence has appointed it for the at- 

 tainment of great designs. So long as the professors of 

 that religion, whose doctrine and morals are contained in 

 the Bible, apply themselves, as they have hitherto done, to 

 explain its contents, the learning of Christians will be emi- 

 nently conspicuous. Nay, a well grounded system of bi- 

 blical interpretation pre-supposes no slight degree of know- 

 ledge, and compels the instructors of the rising clergy to 

 apply themselves closely to literary pursuits, in order to 

 acquire a knowledge of the antient oriental languai: 

 the most celebrated works of the Greeks and Romans; of 

 antient history ; and of many sciences for which the con- 

 stant exercise of the power of thinking is required. It 

 cannot be denied, that the interpreters of holy scripture, 

 both Jews and Christians, have often swerved from the 

 truth, and introduced error, superstition, and prejudice, in- 

 stead of a sound knowledge of religion and ethics. But it 

 reciscly the want of a well regulated and systematic 

 scheme of interpretation, which produced such disorders of 

 a fanatical imagination, or, to say the least, such palpable 

 aberrations of the undcrMandmg. As, even with the pos- 

 session of much knowledge, both philological and philoso- 

 phical, numerous and long continued errors have been 

 mixed up with the important work of biblical interpretation, 

 it is evident that a system of interpretation, founded on sound 

 principles of reason on philology, grammar, and history, 

 w in the highest degree necessary for future teachers of re- 

 ligion.' (Seller's Biblical Hermtmeutics.) 



The Bible is divided into the Old and the New Testa- 

 ment. At present we confine our observations to the Old, 

 which is written in Hebrew, with the exception of some 

 chapters in Daniel and Ezra, and a verso in Jeremiah 

 written in Chaldce. 



The name Old Tettament was introduced by the apostle 

 Paul, who wrote concerning the Jews : Their mind- 

 blinded : for until this day the same vail [put over ti 

 of Moses] remaineth untaken away in the reading of the 

 OU Tettament.- 2 Cor. ni. 14. 



The Grook expression va\aia fiaOljri) (Pataia Dialfifke) 



uint or old tootaiiieiit, and wa> tran- 

 in the Latin Vulgate, . imrntum. Tin- 



came usual among th.'-e European nations who i 

 the supremacy of the Roman See and the authout) ot the 

 Vulgnte : hut Slavonic nations, for instance tne Russians 

 and I'ulcs. divide the Bible into the Old and the New Law. 

 Tertullianus (adv. Marcianem iT. 1.) and Augu^iiiii. 



ite Dei, xx. 4. epist. Pelag.iii.) nil the Old Testament 

 Vetus Jnttrumentum. 



The following antient appellations given to the Old Tes- 

 tament are more or less expressive of the \ cm-ration in 

 which it was held : 3J13 143/13 SirOn. >'i yen? ) 



T ; T T ; T 



(2 Pet. i. 20), ol fpa^ai (Matth. xxii. 29 ; Acts xviii. 2-1.) 

 a-flai (Rom. i. 2) ; iipd 



, rrrtn 



(2 Tim. iii. 15.) 



nso. 

 v ~ .... 



xii. 34.) 



o rnjioc, ol irpof fjrai rai oi ifaXpoi (Luc. Xxiv. 44.) 

 i oi trpo^>}rm (Acts xxvni. 23, &tc.), o I' 

 rai ri fAXa f3i0Xm, T. v S:!. I'r..l 



a-iNn : njaiNi crntsr 



T ; - T . IT;-: ; 7 . 



(comp. Neh. \iii. -. wiiei-e this w nl occurs, but in a dif- 



ferent sense), Knp3n .TT3. W-~~~'2 Vm n/ f 

 ' - ' 



, vetus Testamentum, sive Instrumentum, (compare 

 t'l iroXai'a JiaS^rij, t Cor. iii. 14., /3i/3Xoc rqc c'laS^rijc, 1 Mae. 

 i. 57 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 2, according to the Septuagint.) [See 

 APOCRYPHA.] 



The names of the New Testament are, rA ti/ayyiXiov ical o 

 TOffroXoc; or TO tvafff\ucl>v KOI rii droffroXucov; or >; tatvft 

 fia$!ifii, Novum Testamentum, sive Instrumentum. [See 

 NKW TESTAMKNT.] 



With the collection of the Old Testament arose its divi- 

 sion into 



1- miA vfyoc, lex, law, i. e. the five books of Moses. 



2- DW33. irpo^ifraj, prophetse, prophets. 



These 0^3-3. or prophets, are subdivided into 

 D^^N"), 'the former prophets' (containing the books of 

 Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings), and into Q*Kt'33 

 O s 3 < nnN, ' the later prophets.' The later prophets (which 



we alone call prophets, Isa. Jer. Ezech.) are again divided 

 into Q'ynj- 'the great;' and D\3Dp. 'the small,' ^"vn 



S>v Suleaa irpo^ijrwv, rt> iafmarrflxpitTov, i. e. 



the twelve minor prophets. 



3. D'3V13. ttM^Ha, a-fi&ffaijM, holy writings, containing 



the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamen- 

 tations, Ecclesiastcs, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Neheraiah, two 



nf Chronicles. 



The Jews U'ing fond of making new names of the initials 

 of other appellations, call the three first books of their 



// 

 0*3/1/13, ' holy writings,' by the name of ' the books,' /ION 



from 3frH JoL, fy&Q Proverbs, and D^?nM Psalms : the 

 .... . . . 



word J10N means truth. The books /)ON are also cal.ed 



v :. 



poetical books, and differ in their accentuation from the rest 

 of the Hebrew Old Testament. Solomon's Song, or s 

 of Songs, I-Vele-ia^ies, Ruth. Lamentations, and Esther, 

 form the /1Y-00 ^DH, ' e. the Jive rolls, so called because 



T 



they are read on certain festi\als in their synagogues from 

 manuscript rolls, and are even printed in the >hape of rolls. 

 Christians reckon the Song of Songs nnd !' i> -iastes 

 among the poetical books, and they give to Daniel the fourth 

 lining the great prophets, who are called uri'iit be- 

 cause their remains are more M'luminous than those of the 

 MI called minor prophets, although the latter are not inferior 

 in matter and st\le. 



From the ini'tiaU of FTf\F\, DW33 and D^I/13 the 



make another name for the whole Bible "pjl T''urh, 

 perhaps in allusion to the root p/1, he ceased, or was 



