Baca, the valley of

A valley through which pilgrims pass to Zion (Ps 84" AV; RV has ' weeping,' m. 'balsam-trees'). Ancient versions, including I>XX and Vulg., render vallei/ of weepimi, possibly from confusion between '7? ('weeping') and i*;?, whose plural (2 S 5-^, 1 C\\ J414, 15) designates a tree, varioiLsly identified with the mnlherr;/ (AV and RV), the pear tree (LXX 1 Ch 14), the balsam (Gesenius), and the poplar or napen (Tri,strain, Nat. Hist.) If an actual valley (the article is not quite con- clusive; .

see Ec 3"', where two undouhledly ideal places have the article), it may he identified eitlier with 'the valley of Achor, i.e. trrntble' (Jos 7-''- -'' etc.) ; ' the valley of Rephaim ' (2 S 5"'-, , Is 11^) ; a Sinaitic valley with a similar name (Burckliardt); or the la.st station of the caravan route from the north to Jerusalem (IJenan, IVe de Jesus, c. iv.)

Perseverance and trust not only overcome diflB- culties, but turn them into blessings; this is the lesson, whether the valley be real or only (as the Vulg. i'<(//is lacriimarum has become) an emblem of life. " A. S. Aglen. BACCHIDES (linKxlSri!) is first mentioned as a friend of Antiochus Epi]ihanes (Jos. Ant. XII. x. 2). Under Deiiictrius Sntcr he held the gover- norship of Mcsoiiiitamia, and w;is sent to est<ablisli Alcimus in the lii.oh priesthood (see Al.ci.MUS).

Upon the death of Judas he drove .lonathan across the .Ionian, garrisoned a number of positions in Jud;Ba, and, having thus pacified the country, returned to Demetrius (B.C. HiO), or more probably was recalled by direction of the Romans. Two years later he was sent back in response to an BACCHURUS BAG 231 appeal from the Syrian faction, who imagined that Jonathan in his fancied security might be taken unawares.

lonathan, however, threw himself into the fortress of liethbasi, not far from Jericho. To this B. laid siege; but, when his own peril in- creased through the success of the sallies against him and the rising of the country in his rear, he accepted Jonathan's proposal for a treaty of peace. Jonathan was invested (li.C. 158) with the governor- ehip of Judiea, and B.

covenanted to withdraw the Syrian forces (but not comiiletely, see 1 Mac 10'^), and he himself finally left the country (1 Mac 7*""° 9'", Jos. Ant. XII. x.-xiii. i.) R. W. Moss. BACCHURUS (Bd/f^wpo?), 1 Es 9".— One of the 'holy singers' (iepoi/.!iXToi), who jiut away his ' 8tranr;e ' wife. There is no corresponding name in the list of Ezr 10", where there are three porters and one singer to answer to two porters and two singers of 1 Es. The name here may be a cor- ruption of Uri (Tk) in Ezra.

H. St. J. Thackeray.