Babe (Hastings' Dictionary)

Two distinct words have been tr'' ' babe in NT. 1. Hirphos (^pi(pot), either an unborn (Lk 1"- ") or recently born cliild, Lk 2"- '«, 1 P 2' (with adj. apn-yivvriToi ' newborn ') ; Lk 18" RV ' they brought unto him also their b* ' ( AV 'infants'); Ac 7'" RV (AV 'young children'); 2Ti 3"RV ' from a b. (A V ' child"') thou hast known the sacred WTitings.' 2. Nepios (vriwioi), a child tliat cannot yet speak (i'7) = 'not,' #7ros = 'a word'), Mt U'^ 21", Lk 102', Ro 2", 1 Co 3', He 5".

It ia a pity that RV has not kept these words distinct. 'Infant' {in 'not,' fans 'speaking') is so evident a tr"" of nepios that it mi^ht have been used throughout for that word, and for that word only, leaving ' babe ' for brephos. Then the point of Mt 21'* would have been seen at once, ' Out of the mouth of infants (children not old enough to speak) thou hast perfected praise ' ; and of Ro 2" 'a teacher of infants.'

Besides, nepios carries the suggestion of contrast between infancy and man- hood (r^Xfios, adult, as He 5'^- ", 1 Co 14-'", or d^ip, man, as 1 Co 13", EV 'child,' Eph 4"- ", EV 'children'). And the further use of 'infant' to signify a legal minor would very well express the apostle's point in Gal 4'- » 'as long as the heir is an infant,' etc. (EV 'child').

In OT ' babe ' is given as tr" of na'ar (il'j) Ex 2', the usual word for a boy of puberty = 5rar5, piier; of 'Clel (S'piy) Ps 8- 17'*, a suckling ; and of ta'alul ('^i^I^a) from the same root, Is 3^ J. Hastings. BABEL, CITY AND TOWER OF The city of Babel or Babylon was, from the time of Kham- murabi downwards, the capital of the Babylonian empire. It was especially famous for its temple • Ramsay, in a full and interesting discussion of this word io the Elposilnr (5th ser. vol. ii. pp. 220f.

, •Xit). denies all reference to 9)>eakini;. The Athenians, be thinks, applied this slang term of contempt to St. I'aul simply as one who did nol belong to their learned and exclusive society. I BABI BABYLON m NT 213 Sag-illx {'of the exalted [lit. 'reachinjr to the clouds'] head'), Bituated upon the east bank of the Euphrates.

At Koisippa (Bira, Nimroud), the neif;libouring town to Babylon, there may be seen at the present day a ruined temple of Neoo whicli wae called by the Babylonians E-Zidda (' house of eternity'). Like the latter, the temple E-»ag-illa, deilicated to Bel, Merodach, had seven storeys, followin<; in tliis the fashion of all the largei Babylonian temples (see Babvlonia^ p. 220"). A detailed account of Babj-lon, unijuestionably based on personal observation, is given by Herodotus (i. 178 B'.)

It is now generallj' admitted that the sanctuary of Zeus-Belos mentioned by him must be identified, not with the still partially preserved temple of Nel)0 at Borsippa, but with the temple Sag-ilia, which wa« then standing, although it has long since disappeared.

The latter temple, more- over, not only consisted of the so-called zikkurnt or storied tower just mentioned, which bore the special name of E-timin-an-ki ('house of the foun- dation-stone of heaven and earth ') ; it was a whole complex of sanctuaries. In one of these stood the famous imageof Bel-Merodacli,theannual touching of which by the kings of Babylon at the New Year's festival served to contirm afresh their title and to establish their dominion. On this account Xerxes had it removed (cf.

C. F. Lelimann, Samassurn- ukin, p. 49), while he spared (Her. i. 183) the other image of Zeus (no doubt the statue of Ncbo, which also had a place in Sagilla). His removal of the first occasioned the mistake into which later his- torians {e.g. Arrian and Stralx>) fell, of supposing that Xerxes completely destroyed Sag-ilia. With regard to the site of Babylon, the ruinous heaps running from N. to S. and all on the E.

bank of the Euphrates, represent the following ancient structures: Jumj una = the great banking- house ; Tell ' AmTlin = Sag -ilia ; Kassr = one of the palaces of Nebuchadrezzar (the royal palace mentioned by Herodotus was on the \V. bank) ; Babil = the famous terraced gardens. The two great walls described by Herodotus (i. 181) were built by Nebuch. ll., who, in a special sense, was the refounder of Babylon.

'The outer wall was named Nimitti-Bel ('dwelling of Bel'), the inner /mjur- Bel (' Bel was gracious '), probably in imitation of the names of the walls of Nippur, the ancient city of Bel (Nimitti-Marduk and Imgur-Marduk). In the biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Gn U''"), v.» is probably a later addition, for li.il)el was certainly not amongst the oldest sanctuaries of the land of Shinar (Chalda'a). In lliis con- nexion a tradition preserved by the LXX of Is 10* is of the highest interest.

vVe reail there, ttjk X(6/)av T^i* iirdvui Ba/3uXui;'os Kal XaXai'i'ij (according to Talm. tradition Calneh is the ancient Nippur) of i iri5p7ot ifKoSoiiriOr}, ' the country above Babylon and Calneh where the tower was built.' Kis, to whose situation these words may perhaps refer, contained the famous tetnple Khnr.'say-ktilamTnfi (' mouutidn of the world,' cf.

Is 14'"), and in the same city Khammurabi built the temple Miti-ursagga, whose ' top (saj) he carried up (iV/a) as high as heaven' (»jnn<i-7i?n). The same Khammurabi would then have built also Sag-illa at Babel. See also ToNOUKS, Confusion op. F. Hommel. BABI (A BaS(, B Boti)p), the head of a family which returned with Ezra (1 Es 8"), colled in Ezr 8" Bebal (wh. see).