BIBIKOV, DMITRI GAVRILOVICH – Russian soldier, administrator, and statesman; born 1792; died 1870. In 1837 Bibikov was appointed military governor of Kiev, and governor-general of Volhynia and Podolia. During the fifteen years of his administration of the...
BIBLE CANON – 1. Meaning and Scope. The Greek word κανών, meaning primarily a straight rod, and derivatively a norm or law, was first applied by the church fathers (not earlier than 360) to the collection of Holy Scriptures, and primarily to...
BIBLE CONCORDANCES – See Concordance; Dictionaries.
BIBLE DICTIONARY – See Dictionaries.
BIBLE EDITIONS – The advantages of the newly discovered art of printing were quickly recognized by the Jews. While for the synagogue service written scrolls only were (and are still) used, the printing-press was very soon called into service to...
BIBLE EXEGESIS – Jewish: 1. Israel has been called "the People of the Book"; it may as fitly be called "the people of Scripture exegesis," for exegesis in the largest sense of the word is in a way the one indigenous science which Israel has...
BIBLE INSPIRATION – See Inspiration.
BIBLE MANUSCRIPTS – By this term are designated handwritten copies and codices of the Hebrew Bible as a whole, or of several books arranged in groups according to a certain order (see Bible Canon), or of single books. Sometimes, though not often,...
BIBLE IN MOHAMMEDAN LITERATURE – Mohammed's View of Jewish Scriptures. Through intercourse at Mecca, at Medina, and on his various journeys in the seething, germinant Arabia of his day, Mohammed learned to distinguish between idol-worshipers and such people as...
BIBLE, POLYGLOT – See Bible Editions.
BIBLE TEXTS – See Masorah.
BIBLE TRANSLATIONS – The Targums. Jewish translations of the Old Testament were made from time to time by Jews, in order to satisfy the needs, both in public service and in private life, of those that had gradually lost the knowledge of the ancient...
BIBLEITZY (BIBLISTS) – Name given to a body of religious reformers, organized in the spring of 1882 among the Jewish working classes of Elizabethgrad, South Russia, subsequent to the riots against the Jews. The founders of the brotherhood, believing...
BIBLICAL ETHNOLOGY – The view of race-relationship expressed in the Bible. It is customary to designate the tenth chapter of Genesis as the oldest ethnological division of mankind. Earlier than this, however, the Egyptians, as known from their...
Bibliography – The science that deals with the description and classification of books. As applied to books of Jewish interest, it includes (a) Hebraica, or books written or printed in Hebrew characters; and (b) Judaica, or books in other...
BIBLIOMANCY – For Protective Purposes. The use of the Bible for magic or superstitious purposes. The practise of employing sacred books, or words and verses thereof, for divination or for magic cures is universal alike among pagans and...
BIBLIOPHILES, JEWISH – See Book Collectors.
BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, PARIS – National library of France, founded in 1354. The Hebrew manuscripts in this library have always stood at the head of the Oriental collections, their number now amounting to 1,390. In importance and number of volumes, this...
BICK, JACOB SAMUEL – Austrian author; born in the eighteenth century; died in Brody, 1831. He was a satirical writer of force and ability, and one of the ablest pioneers of the "haskalah" (culture) movement among the Jews of Galicia. His...
BICKELL, GUSTAV WILHELM HUGO – Christian Hebraist and professor in the University of Vienna; born July 7, 1838, at Cassel. After graduating at Marburg, where he studied Semitic languages, he renounced Protestantism and entered the Roman Catholic Church,...
BIDKAR – A captain under Jehu, by whom he was ordered to cast the body of Jehoram into the field of Naboth (II Kings ix. 25).J. Jr. G. B. L.
BIDPAI FABLES IN HEBREW – See Kalilah wa-Dimnah.
BIE, OSKAR – German archeologist and professor at the Technische Hochschule at Charlottenburg, near Berlin; born at Breslau Feb. 9, 1864. He studied at the gymnasium and university of his native town. Besides his position at the Technische...
BIEDERMANN, MICHAEL LAZAR – Austrian jeweler and merchant; born at Presburg, Hungary, Aug. 13, 1769; died at Vienna Aug. 24, 1843. When fifteen years old he went to Vienna and was apprenticed to an engraver. In 1787 he gained a prize for modeling in wax,...