Right (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Family. BIRZAITH (nips Ketkihh, n-pa Kert, AV Blrza- vith), 1 Ch 7". — Apparently a town of Asher, prob- ably Btr-ez-Zeit, near Tyre. C. R. Conder. BISHLAM {n)xft = o)t\^ ' peaceful ' ?)— An officer of -Vrtaxerxes in Pal. at the time of the return from captivity under Zerub., Ezr 4'. Called Belemus in 1 Es 2". The LXX renders the name by «'» tlpiiyxi, in peace, as if it were the greeting at the "iieginning of the letter which follows. H. St. J. Thackbhay.

BISHOP (iiriaKOVoi) and ELDER (irpea^inepoi).— The words are too closely connected in N f and sub-apostolic writings to be separated here. First, to trace their use outside the churches. 1, iirlffKoxos is common in the genera] sense of an overseer ; rarer as an ollicial title. We have (a) in the flourishing age of Athens, i-r. sent to regu- late new colonies or subject cities like Sjjartan liarmosts. They were called ivi/jLtXrp-ai in Rom. times. (6) After Alexander, two ir. at Tl.

era are directed to receive some money and put it at interest ; and iv. at Rhodes are municipal otlicers whose duties are unknown, (c) In LX.X ir. are taskmasters, as Is 60" (i^ii), or minor officers, as Neh 11" (TpJ), or 1 Mac 1" the commissioners of Antiochus who enforced idolatry. In LXX also, as Ps 108", we first find the office denoted by iviOKOTH). (d) In the 3rd cent. A.D. we have (w.

as municipal officers in about ten inscriptions from Batanaea, the Decapolis, and those parts, where they seem to have had some authority over sacred revenues (t4 tov deoS). Of its use (e) for the treasurers of private associations there are no very clear traces. The common word was infuXitn^t, as with the Essenes. 2. Tpcapirrepos. The city councils in Rom. times were commonly called (iovXal, not ycpovclai or Tpeff^t/ripia.

Iiie ytpovffiaif of which Trpea^urcpoi were members, were not private societies, but corporations for purposes like the games, or the worship of the city-god, or the burial of their members. Their officers were rpocrriTai, dpxoi^tt, jrportyovpLfrM. (6) The Jewish cities of Pal. were governed by a ^ovXi) of 7, or, in larger places, 23 vp. (o'jpi). These formed a court of justice, and may have managed the synagogue. The organisa- tion of the Jews in Antioch, Alexandria, etc.

was on the same lines, except that In Rome there were several such corporations. Now, though the Lord commanded His disciples to form a society, there is no indication that either He or His apostles ever prescribed any definite form for it. We should tnerefore expect to find them following existing models till the new spirit of the society began to express itself in new forms. In NT we have fairly frequent mention of bishops and elders (passages collected in art.

ChiteCH GoVERNiMENT), and the two olfices seem much the same. This is proved thus : — (1) Bishops and elders are never joined together, like bishops and deacons, as separate classes of officials. (2) Ph 1' ' to bishops and deacons ' (no article). If there had been a distinct order of elders, it could scarcely have been omitted. So 1 Ti 3 passes over the elders, though (5") there certainly were elders at Ephesus, and had been (Ac 20") for some time Sast. Conversely, Tit l'"' passes over bi.

shops, escribing elders in their place, and in nearly the same words. (3) The bishops described to Timothy, the elders of 1 Ti 5", and tnose of 1 P 5^, have dis- tinctly pastoral functions. So, too, have the elders of Ac 20 and those described to Titus. (4) The same persons seem to be called bishops and elders (Ac 20"' ^, Tit I'- ' tya /caTo<rjT)(rpj vpta^uTipovi . . St'i yip rbr itlaKoiror r.T.X.) The words are also synonyms in Clement ad Cor. xlii. 44, and (by implication) in Teaching, xv.

, and Polycarp, Fhil. i. It is only in Ignatius that the bishop takes a distinct position. The gcne-al equivalence of the two offices in the apostolic age seems undeniable, though so far we must not assume that every bishop was an elder or vire vcrsd, or that there never were any minor dip'erences between them. The ditlerence of name may of it.se!f point to soma difference of origin : and this is our next (luestion.

As regards elders, it seems likely that the name comes from Jewish sources, Theofficeis already half 302 BISHOP BIT, BRIDLE hinted at in Lk 22=^" (hardly in Ac 5» peJiTepot : cf. '" KayluKoi) ; and we have every reason to tliink that the cliurches (even those not of Jewish orif^in) largely followed the arrangements of the syna- po"ue. Their meeting is actually called (ruva7c<r)T) in Ja 2', and the Ebionitea retained the name even in the 4th cent.

It may, however, be noted at once, that if the office and the name were adopted from the Jews, it does not follow that the duties were even originally quite those of the D'jpj of the synagogue. The origin of bishops b more doubtful. The name may jjerfectly well be Jewisli, though the early connexion of the word with Gentile churches is against this.

The LXX use of iwlaKoiroi and iincKOTrri may have suggested it ; but Gentile Chris- tians might have found a still readier hint in the general meaning of the word, combined with its freedom from special associat'ons with idolatry. Yet on the other side is the connexion of bishoiis ■with deacons, and Clement's direct appeal to Is 60". The question is best left undecided. Appointment. — In the first age popular election and apostolic institution seem to have been co- ordinate.

The Seven (Ac 6"- •) are chosen by the people, and instituted by the apostles with prayer and laying on of hands. Something similar seems indicated for the Lycaonian elders, though x^P"- Tov-fiaairret (Ac 14^) grammatically refers to the apostles who by prayer with fastings commended them to the Liord.

The elders in Crete are ap- pointed (Tit 1° tva /caTaanJtrj/s) by Titus, and appar- ently the bishops at Ephesus by Timothy in like manner, though 1 Ti 5^^, He 6' seem not specially concerned witn the matter ; but it does not follow that there was no popular election. In any case Timothy or Titus would have to approve the candi- date before instituting him : so that the particular description of his quaUiications need not mean that they had to select him in the first instance.

As soon as we get outside NT (Teaching, xv., Clement, xliv. liv.) popular election becomes very conspicuous, though neither does this exclude a formal institution. The elders are already attached to the apostle even in the conveyance of special gifts (1 Ti 4''', where the contrast of /«t4 with the SiA of 2 Ti 1' may indicate their secondary position) ; and when the unlocal ministry died out, they would act alone in the institution to local office.

How soon an episcopate was developed is a further question ; and very much a question of words, if the development was from below. In conclusion, it would seem that the outline of the process was much the same in all church offices — first designation, then institution by prayer with (at least commonly) its symbolic accompani- ments of laying on of hands and fasting.

But there is one all-important distinction, that if the designation to local office was by popular election, that to unlocal office was by the will of the Holy Spirit (Ac 13', of Apostles ; 1 Ti 4" 1", apparently of an Evangelist, 2 Ti 4»). Duties. — (1) General Superintendence. — Elders In Ac 20*', 1 Ti 5", Tit V, 1 P 5»- ' (/coraKi.p. is mpteiav done the wrong waj'), bishops in 1 Ti 3'. Indicated possibly in Kv^epv-fiaen, aini\-fiii\j/(i.

t, 1 Co 12" ; more distinctly Eph 4" roils Si Toifi^vat Kal i^SalrK6.\ovt, so pointedly contrasted with the nnlocal officers. So jrpoiVrrdMfi'oi 1 Th .5", Ro 12* remind us of tlie bishops and elders, 1 Ti 3^ irpoiVrrd- /levoi', 5" irpofijTwTes. The ijyovfievoi or vpoijy. also of He 13'- "• «, and of Clement, ad Cor. i.

26, 37, may be set down as bishops or elders, for (a) men entitled to obedience must have other than the purely spiritual functions of the unlocal ministry ; (6) the bishops at Corinth evidently own no higher authority, 80 that they must themselves be the Under this head we may place the sliare taken by the elders (a) at Jerus. , in the deliberations oi the apostles (Ac 15") and in the reception held by James (Ac 21"); (6) elsewhere, in the laying of hands on Timothy, 1 Ti 4". (2) Teaching.

— 1 Th 5" irpoiaTiiievoi admonishin" Ln the Lord, 1 Ti 3^ the bishop apt to teach, o^ elders who toil in word and teaching. Tit 1' the elder or bishop must be able to teach, and to con- vince the gainsayers. Preaching is rather connected with the unlocal ministry ; but in its absence the whole function of public worship would necessarily devolve on the local. This may be hinted He 13'- "•" (no officers named but rryovnevoi), and in any case it is plain enough in Teaching, xv.

, and Clement speaks of bishops TTpouipipovTes tA dwpa, which must not be limited to the Lord's Supper. (3) Pastoral Care. — This is everywhere so con- spicuous that references are hardly needed. To it we may refer («) visiting of the sick, with a view (Ja 5") to anointing and cure ; (b) care of strangers and d fortiori of the poor, 1 Ti 3', Tit 1', the bishop to be i^iX6ff»os. So far we have not discriminated the duties of bishops and elders. But was there any difference at all?

Harnack thinks that while bishops and deacons had the care of public worship and tlie poor, elders rather formed a court attached to the church, and as such were occupied with govern- ment and discipline. The apparent identity of the offices would then be no more than an identity of persons. The weightiest members of the church would naturally hold both offices, and give the tone to both. This theory explains points like the ditierence of names and the marked separation between the two classes.

It may contain more than a germ of the truth ; but it cannot be accepted without important reservations. (a) It is not likely that duties were (juite so definitely separated. If the elders began with discipline and general oversight, they would be likely soon to take up more spiritual duties, as the Seven did. Those who had gifts to minister the word and teaching, would rather be honoured than hindered ; so tliat many of them might easily be doing pastoral work (esp.

if they were bishops also) before the end of the apostolic age. In any case (b) bishops and elders are identical in the Pastoral Epistles, so that the distinction must by that time have been nearly lost. This, however, depends on their date. Harnack (Chronologic, 1897, p. 484) still places the relevant passages in the middle of the 2nd cent. LlTERATTTRB. — Loenin^, Oemeitulever/as^tng d. Urchristen. thuing ; Lightfoot, Philipjiiam, pp. 181-269; Gore, Chriilian Ministry, esp.

note K ; Hatch, Bampton Lectures (1880), tr. into Germ, with excursuses by Hamack flSS'i) ; artt. on Origin of the Christian Ministry by Sanday, Hamack. Gore, Rendel Harris, Macphereon, Simcox, and Milligan in Kxporitor, 3rd series, vols. v. and vi. ; Weizsacker, Apoet. Zeitalter, pp. 699-612. H. M. GWATKIN. BISHOPRICK Ac 1» 'His b. let another take' (RV 'office' with inarg. ' Gr. overseership.') The Gr.

is iirurKOTrl), which here and in 1 Ti 3' means the office or work of an iTriaKoiros (see Bl.sHOP) ; but primarily and chiefly in NT describes God's visi- tation, as Lk 19" ' the time of thy visitation,' 1 P 2'^ ' the day of v.' The same office is described in Ac 1^ as ' ministry and apostleship ' (SinKovla (tai arotrroX?)) J. HASTINGS. BIT, BRIDLE (jd-i, iny, Dteno, xaX"'is)- — The dis- tinction between these words is not maintained in AV and RV. 1. [51 resen (Arab, rasan) is a halter.

Thus in Job 30" RV, 'they have cast off the bridle before me,' the reference is to a horse or mule that has slijit off the halter with which he was tied, and is frisking aliout in the rough glee of discovered freedom. Such had become the behaviour of the BITHIAH BITTER, BITTEKNESS 303 rabble before Job. So in Is 30^, instead of ' a bridle in the jaws of the people,' read ' a halter on the jaws of the peoples' (c-sv ';n^ Si' |e-i). 2.

jn; metlieg; xoXii/is (2 K 19», Pr 26', Is 37', Ja 3' itV, Rev 14*) is a bridle, which includes the bit, as the primitive bridle was simply a loop on the halter-cord jiassed round the lower jaw of the horse. Uence in I's 32" KV, ' whose trappings must be bit and bridle,' the meaning is rather bridle and halter, as the two means of holding them in.

The Psalmist had been speaking of willing service that only needed a directing eye, and the contrast is to the disinclination of the horse and mule that needed bridle and lialter to bring them near. 3. ctr- inii/i.miii, is a muzzle. Hence, ' I will keep my mouth with a bridle' (Ps 39') should MODBRM sraiAM MUZZLB. clearly be 'with a muzzle,' as in liVm. To lose the distinction is here to lose the meaning, which is enforced silence. A bridle is not u.scd to kee|> a horse from biting.

The muzzle is the basket of rope network that was not to be |)ut on the o.\cn of the threshinglloor, but must be put over the mouth of the horse, mule, or donkey that bites its companions, the other baggage-animals, and causes disarrangement of their loads. G. M. Mackie.