BERACAH

(Berʹa·cah) [blessing].

1. One of the mighty men skilled in the use of the bow, from the tribe of Benjamin, who joined up with David at Ziklag. This was at the time David was still under restrictions because of Saul.—1 Chron. 12:1-3.

2. A low plain in Judah lying between Bethlehem and Hebron. It is presently identified with the Wadi el-ʽArrub, and the ruins of the nearby village of Bereikut seem to preserve evidence of the original name. This valley runs E-W, connecting the hill country of Judah with the wilderness area W of the Salt Sea.

Following the miraculous victory over the combined forces of Ammon, Moab and Edom, Jehoshaphat congregated the people at this low plain there to bless Jehovah, hence the name of the Low Plain of Beracah (blessing).—2 Chron. 20:26.

BERAIAH

(Be·raʹiah) [Jah has created].

Son of Shimei, and head of a paternal house of Benjamites living in Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 8:21, 28.

BERECHIAH

(Ber·e·chiʹah) [blessed by Jehovah].

1. The son of Shimea, in the line of descent from Levi through Gershom. Berechiah’s son Asaph was the principal leader of the singers appointed by King David, and through him sprang many succeeding generations of temple singers. This Berechiah may have been the same as No. 2 below.—1 Chron. 6:39; 15:17; 25:1-9; Ezra 2:41; Neh. 7:44.

2. One of the four Levite gatekeepers for the Ark when David was king. He may have been the same as No. 1 above.—1 Chron. 15:23, 24.

3. The son of Meshillemoth. (2 Chron. 28:12) At the time that Ahaz was king of Judah this southern kingdom suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the northern kingdom, but when 200,000 were being taken captive to Samaria, Berechiah and three other headmen of Ephraim acted quickly on the counsel of Jehovah’s prophet Oded. Not only did they prevent the victors from enslaving their brothers; they went so far as to clothe, feed and assist in returning the captives.—2 Chron. 28:6-15.

4. A descendant of David through Solomon.—1 Chron. 3:1, 10, 20.

5. A Levite who lived after the Babylonian exile; the son of Asa.—1 Chron. 9:16.

6. The son of Meshezabel. Berechiah’s son Meshullam worked on the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls in Nehemiah’s time, and his granddaughter married the son of Tobiah.—Neh. 3:4, 30; 6:18.

7. The son of the prophet Iddo and the father of the prophet Zechariah.—Zech. 1:1, 7.

BERED

(Beʹred) [hail, seed place].

1. A grandson of Ephraim through Shuthelah.—1 Chron. 7:20.

2. A place in southern Palestine mentioned in the account of Hagar’s fleeing from Sarai. (Gen. 16:14) The well of Beer-lahai-roi, at which Hagar stopped, lay in the wilderness between Bered and Kadesh, on the way to Shur. (Gen. 16:7) The wilderness of Shur is a region SW of Philistia and on the way to Egypt, which may indicate that Hagar was heading back to her homeland.—Ex. 15:22.

The present site of Bered is indefinite, although the name may be preserved in that of the Wadi Umm el-Bared.

BERI

(Beʹri) [possibly, belonging to a well].

Son of Zophah and family head in the tribe of Asher.—1 Chron. 7:36, 40.

BERIAH

(Be·riʹah).

The meaning of this name is obscure. If derived from Hebrew, it would mean “evil” or “calamity,” and that would explain why Ephraim so named his son. (See No. 2 below.) Some authorities, however, think it is of Arabic origin and means “prominent” or “excellent,” and that the name of Ephraim’s son was a play upon words due to similarity with the Hebrew.

1. The fourth-listed son of Asher who, perhaps with his own two sons Heber and Malchiel, came to Egypt with Jacob’s household in 1728 B.C.E. (Gen. 46:8, 17) He and his two sons are listed as ancestral family heads, his descendants being Beriites.—Num. 26:44, 45; 1 Chron. 7:30, 31.

2. A son of Ephraim, born after men of Gath had killed his older brothers. Ephraim “called his name Beriah, because it was with calamity that she [Beriah’s mother] happened to be in his house.”—1 Chron. 7:20-23; see first paragraph above.

3. One of the five sons of Elpaal and one of the Benjamite family heads who chased away the inhabitants of Gath.—1 Chron. 8:12, 13.

4. The last-named son of Shimei, a Levite descendant of Gershon. Beriah and his brother Jeush “did not have many sons; so they became a paternal house for one official class.”—1 Chron. 23:6-11.

BERIITES

(Be·riʹites).

An Asherite family descended from Beriah.—Num. 26:44.

BERNICE

(Ber·niʹce) [victorious].

Daughter of Herod Agrippa I by his wife Cypros; born about 28 C.E.; sister of Drusilla and Herod Agrippa II. (See HEROD.) Bernice and her brother Agrippa visited Governor Festus at Caesarea in 58 C.E., where the two of them, at the invitation of Festus, “came with much pompous show and entered into the audience chamber together with military commanders as well as men of eminence in the city.” The prisoner Paul was then brought in and allowed to make his powerful and eloquent defense before all these dignitaries.—Acts 25:13, 23; 26:1-30.

Secular history tells of the immoral life of this shameless woman. She was engaged to a certain Marcus at a very early age, but he died before the marriage, and at the age of thirteen she married her uncle. By him she had two boys before he died in 48 C.E. She then incestuously lived with her brother until public scandal pressured her into marrying Polemon the king of Cilicia. Soon, however, she deserted him and again became her brother’s consort, and it was during this time that she and Agrippa visited Caesarea. Though Bernice attempted to defend the Jews in 66, she did not hesitate in taking an oath of allegiance to the Romans with whom she had at least two affairs, first as the mistress of Vespasian and then as the mistress of his son Titus. The latter would have married Bernice except for Roman anti-Semitism.

BERODACH-BALADAN

See MERODACH-BALADAN.

BEROEA

(Be·roeʹa).

A populous city of the province of Macedonia visited by the apostle Paul during his second missionary journey. (Acts 17:10-14) Modernly called Verria, it was located in a fertile area at the base of Mount Bermios about fifty miles (80 kilometers) W-SW of Thessalonica. It thus lay some twenty-four miles (39 kilometers) inland from the Aegean Sea.

It was probably about 50 C.E. when Paul and Silas arrived at Beroea after a nighttime departure from Thessalonica made necessary by mob violence. Beroea had a Jewish community and a synagogue in which the two missionaries preached. The readiness of the Beroeans to give ear to their message, and their diligence in examining the Scriptures in search of confirmation of the things learned, earned them the commendation found at Acts 17:11. A number of converts resulted from among these “noble-minded” persons, both Jews and Greeks. Paul’s work was cut short, however, by the arrival of fanatical Jews from Thessalonica bent on causing further mob activity. He sailed for Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy behind to care for the new group of believers in Beroea.—Acts 17:12-15.